Coronavirus: Tourism Industry Update
Please follow the news reports and for latest advice regularly visit the Public Health Wales website and the Business Wales website
BULLETIN CONTENTS - Local restrictions imposed to control Rhondda Cynon Taf outbreak; Visitors from areas with higher incidence of coronavirus; REMINDER AND GUIDANCE: Further constraints on meeting socially and compulsory face coverings to help prevent new coronavirus crisis; NHS COVID-19 App – create a coronavirus NHS QR code for your venue; Keeping records of staff, customers, and visitors: Test, Trace, Protect (TTP); £14 million funding package for Wales’ sport and leisure sector; Tourism Business Barometer survey; COVID-19 UK Tourism Consumer Tracker Survey; Increase in visitwales.com product views – keep your listing up-to-date; Free listing and information for coach/group-friendly businesses; Envoys appointed to promote Wales as an investment location on the world stage; More than 100,000 jobs safeguarded by Welsh Government COVID fund; Other useful COVID-19 Guidance links, downloadable assets and toolkits for your business
Coronavirus laws are being tightened in Rhondda Cynon Taf Council area following a sharp increase in cases of the virus. A range of new measures came into force from 6pm Thursday 17 September 2020, to protect people’s health and control the spread of the virus in the area. The new restrictions will apply to everyone living within the Rhondda Cynon Taf area and will be kept under review. A full list of Frequently Asked Questions is now available. Read the announcement in full on Gov.Wales.
Visitors from areas with higher incidence of coronavirus
There is Welsh Government guidance available on taking all reasonable measures to minimise risk to exposure of Coronavirus and this includes detail relating to visitors to accommodation and other businesses.
Face coverings became mandatory in indoor public places across Wales from Monday 14 September as rules are tightened to prevent a fresh coronavirus crisis. Updated guidance has been published:
Businesses should comply with the rule of six from an extended household regardless of whether the booking is being made by guests from outside of Wales where different rules may apply.
Businesses with headquarters based outside of Wales still need to comply with Welsh Regulations for any part of their business operating in Wales.
NHS COVID-19 App – create a coronavirus NHS QR code for your venue
The NHS COVID-19 App will launch on Thursday 24 September in Wales and England including QR check-in at venues. Businesses are being urged to download NHS QR codes.
QR codes will be an important way for individuals to record their movements helping the NHS Test, Trace, Protect system. You can find more details on the Business Wales website.
Keeping records of staff, customers, and visitors: Test, Trace, Protect (TTP)
The new NHS COVID-19 App (mentioned above) will not provide an alternative for hospitality businesses and other high-risk settings for keeping records of staff, customers and visitors to assist with TTP, in case of an outbreak. This means that in Wales it will still remain a legal requirement for pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants to collect and retain contact information of staff, visitors and customers for 21 days, regardless of whether they are displaying an official QR code poster associated with the new NHS COVID-19 App. Whilst businesses will be encouraged to display the QR code poster, the App does not cover the requirement associated with this guidance, so details will still need to be collected as they are now.
Although tourism businesses are not included in this compulsory guidance, accommodation operators are reminded of the importance of continuing to collect customer details at the point of booking, and to support the NHS Wales Test, Trace, Protect service with this information if required.
Guidance on Keeping records of staff, customers, and visitors: test, trace, protect is available at GOV.UK.
£14 million funding package for Wales’ sport and leisure sector
Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Lord Elis-Thomas has announced a funding package to support Wales’ sport and leisure sector. The ‘Sport and Leisure Recovery Fund’ will support the sector with the ongoing challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and provide longer-term sustainability. The fund is intended to provide essential support to sports clubs and organisations, independent providers and sporting events who have all faced significant challenges during the crisis and continue to be severely impacted. The fund will help in driving innovation for local authority leisure centres and Leisure Trusts to complement the Hardship Fund for local government.
Read the press release in full on Gov.Wales.
Tourism Business Barometer survey
We are continuing to track the impact of COVID-19 in order to help support the tourism industry and the fifth round of our tourism business telephone survey launched this week (16 September) - telephone calls will run for around two weeks. This means some tourism organisations may receive a call from our research partner Strategic Research & Insight (SRI) to conduct the survey, without having opted-in. This is because the list SRI use is based on a number of datasets we provide. Our research partner will identify themselves as calling from Strategic Research & Insight (SRI), on behalf of Visit Wales, and it is up to the business if they wish to participate. This survey gives us vital data, helping to determine the ongoing impact of COVID on the tourism sector.
If contacted by SRI, your participation in this research will be greatly appreciated.
If you wish to know more please email tourismresearch@gov.wales
COVID-19 UK Tourism Consumer Tracker Survey
Visit Wales continues to collaborate with VisitBritain and VisitScotland and has extended the UK consumer tracker survey until the end of the year. From the 31 August, the survey will run every other week, and the first results, covering 31 August – 4 September, can be found on the VisitBritain website.
Key findings include that 27% of adults had actually taken an overnight domestic trip during July and August. In June, when we asked people for their trip intentions, just 15% thought they would take a summer domestic trip. Around 19% of adults expect to take an overnight trip this September-October; possibly more if the rate of visits to friends and relatives continues into this period.
We are seeing a huge rise in the number of searches on visitwales.com for accommodation, attractions and things to do, and anticipate that demand is likely to continue during autumn whilst we continue with our Addo promise to Wales messaging.
If you haven’t updated your www.visitwales.com product listing for a while, please check it is still up to date by visiting the product listing tool; where you can also update your Visitor, Travel Trade and Business Events listings.
If you need help logging in, please use the Login help, or if you are unable to remember your login details contact the Visit Wales Data Steward on vw-steward@nvg.net or 0330 808 9410. Help using the tool or advice on content or support is also available by emailing product.database@gov.wales.
Helping to keep our visitors safe
We’d like to thank you for working so hard to adapt your business to make it safer for visitors. We are proud to say that over 1,400 of the businesses listed on visitwales.com are registered under the ‘Good to Go’ scheme and have their logo visible on their listing. People searching can now filter their search results by order of rated products.
The Coach Tourism Association is compiling a listing of group-friendly attractions that have reopened and are welcoming coach groups on their website.
This is designed to be a comprehensive directory that will provide direct contacts, reopening times, booking processes and updates on procedures for groups at the venues to assist coach and group operators when planning forthcoming visits. They have widened this opportunity to non-members – you can add your information here. Once businesses have submitted the form the link will go live on the website straight away.
Visit Wales’s travel trade website is updated with general information for coach/group operators and includes a downloadable pdf which you could provide to relevant contacts.
Three envoys passionate about Wales have been appointed by the Welsh Government to promote the country abroad. The envoys are a part of the Welsh Government’s International Strategy, a key feature of which is to raise the profile of the nation around the world. Read the full press release on Gov.Wales.
The Welsh Government’s bespoke Economic Resilience Fund (ERF) has helped to protect more than 100,000 jobs across Wales during the coronavirus pandemic, new figures show.
To date, the fund has delivered almost £300 million of support to more than 13,000 companies in Wales, which has been vital in helping businesses manage the challenges and economic impacts of coronavirus. Read the full press release on Gov.Wales.
Other useful COVID-19 Guidance links, downloadable assets and toolkits for your business
We realise that it’s sometimes hard to keep up with what is available – the links below will help you find what practical resources and toolkits are there to help you.
Stay up to date with tourism industry news
We are committed to providing the support and assurance the business community needs during these unprecedented difficult times and have issued several Coronavirus (COVID-19) related bulletins which can be found on the Tourism Industry Coronavirus (COVID-19) Bulletins page.
Business Wales is providing businesses with tailored support and advice about dealing with coronavirus, from financial and supply chain planning to advice on staffing issues. We would advise Tourism businesses and stakeholders in Wales wanting specific guidance to visit the Business Wales website or call Business Wales helpline on 03000 6 03000, and to regularly visit the Public Health Wales website for up-to-date public health information for you, your staff and your visitors.
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