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: No changes to COVID rules as First Minister thanks Wales for helping to bring case rates down; Reminder - NHS COVID Pass: promotional pack; Flexible Skills Programme for Tourism and Hospitality; Welsh Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee officially launched; COVID-19 UK Consumer sentiment tracker survey; Advert for Event Wales Strategy Tender; Welsh Government consultation - Amendments to permitted development rights; Your chance to shape Wales’ economic future; New laws and code to resolve remaining COVID-19 commercial rent debts; Neges@Home – North Wales’ answer to Hello Fresh; Living Wage Week 2021
No changes to COVID rules as First Minister thanks Wales for helping to bring case rates down
First Minister Mark Drakeford has thanked people throughout Wales for their hard work to help reduce record-high coronavirus case rates over the last three weeks.
He has confirmed (18 November) there will be no changes to coronavirus rules following the latest 21-day review.
Wales will remain at alert level zero, which means all businesses are able to open and trade.
And the COVID Pass will not be extended to hospitality settings in this 3-week cycle.
Read the announcement in full on Gov.Wales.
Reminder - NHS COVID Pass: promotional pack
The NHS COVID Pass: promotional pack can be downloaded from Gov.Wales. Businesses are encouraged to display and share these posters, images and videos to promote and explain the NHS COVID Pass.
Skills and Recruitment:
Flexible Skills Programme for Tourism and Hospitality
Funding is still available to support employees of Wales-based tourism and hospitality businesses to attend training courses that are relevant to the sector. This can include face-to-face, or online training.
There is no requirement to use any particular training company - the applicant may choose any certified training provider. The supported training on this programme must be accredited to a recognised industry standard. Welsh Government can contribute 50% of the cost of the training.
To date, tourism businesses have successfully accessed this funding for training in ICT and digital/social media skills, sustainable strategies, outdoor adventure instructor skills, customer service and specialist food and drink training.
Find out more and complete a simple expression of interest by visiting Flexible Skills Programme | Business Wales Skills Gateway (gov.wales).
Welsh Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee officially launched
The Welsh Government's Young Person’s Guarantee - providing everyone under 25 with the offer of work, education, training, or self-employment - was launched 15 November by Economy Minister Vaughan Gething.
The ambitious programme will help ensure there is no lost generation in Wales following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Young Person’s Guarantee is a key commitment in the Welsh Government’s five year Programme for Government.
The comprehensive package brings together programmes designed to provide the right support at the right time for the diverse needs of young people across Wales. This includes new user friendly services to help young people find opportunities more easily.
Read the announcement in full on Gov.Wales.
COVID-19 UK Consumer sentiment tracker survey
The latest UK consumer sentiment covid tracker report has been published on the VisitBritain website.
Key findings from fieldwork undertaken 4-11 November show the UK public mood continues to improve and comfort levels for using public transport, visiting shopping centres and visiting attractions are at the highest level since the survey began in May 2020. Eating out, visiting outdoor areas and walking are the most popular leisure activities over the next month, but there is also higher interest in a number of indoor activities. However, plans to undertake leisure activities in the next month are subdued. Around 1 in 3 people expect to take more UK domestic overnight trips in next 12 months than they did during the last year, compared to 1 in 5 people who expect to take more overseas trips, but a high proportion remain unsure about overseas travel plans.
Advert for Event Wales Strategy Tender
Welsh Government has published a specification for the production of a new strategy for Event Wales 2022-2030.
The successful contractor will be required to research, prepare and present a draft Events Strategy for 2022-2030 which sets the strategic direction up to 2030, taking into account the recent review of Event Wales, stakeholder views both internal and external, best practice across the world and wider Welsh Government ambitions. The full details are available on Sell2Wales.
If you are interested in applying to bid to undertake this work, you will need to register on Sell2Wales to apply, which is free and easy to do. Please note that the deadline for responses to the advert is 10am on 3 December 2021.
Please therefore;
- Ensure you have completed the free registration on Sell2Wales
- Once registered send an email to Perkins@gov.wales with a request to quote for the Event Wales Strategy Advert and provide: Company Name, Contact name, Contact email (please ensure this is the one you have registered on Sell2Wales with)
- Once you have received the invitation to quote along with the ITQ response and price schedule, please ensure you submit your response on Sell2Wales by 10am on 3 December 2021.
If you are aware of others who may be interested in tendering, please forward this email as soon as possible to allow sufficient time to respond to the advertorial deadline.
Welsh Government consultation - Amendments to permitted development rights
Welsh Government is seeking views on proposed amendments to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995. This includes retention of COVID-19 related permitted development rights; temporary use of awnings and highway for hospitality servery provision.
Consultation period: 16/11/21 – 15/02/22.
Have your say on the Amendments to permitted development rights consultation and visit the Welsh Government website for information on other consultations.
Your chance to shape Wales’ economic future
Would you like to help shape Wales’ economic future? The Welsh Government is now looking for a wide range people with a variety of different backgrounds and experiences to be part of a board that will advise Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething.
Wales, along with the rest of the world, has been significantly impacted by COVID-19. The pandemic has changed the way we all live and work as well as the way in which our businesses operate. Alongside this, Wales is facing new challenges and opportunities resulting from the UK leaving the EU, and the global climate emergency has reached a pivotal moment.
As part of his work to move the Welsh economy forward, the Economy Minister is looking for new faces to help propose and develop fresh ideas.
To progress this the Welsh Government is looking for a wide range of people with different experiences to join its Economic Policy Ministerial Advisory Board.
To find out more about this exciting opportunity visit Gov.Wales.
New laws and code to resolve remaining COVID-19 commercial rent debts
New laws and a Code of Practice are being introduced to resolve the remaining commercial rent debts accrued because of the pandemic.
The Code sets out that, in the first instance, tenants unable to pay in full should negotiate with their landlord in the expectation that the landlord waives some or all rent arrears where they are able to do so.
From 25 March 2022, new laws introduced in the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill will establish a legally-binding arbitration process for commercial landlords and tenants who have not already reached an agreement, following the principles in the Code of Practice.
Visit the Business Wales website for more details.
Neges@Home – North Wales’ answer to Hello Fresh
With the dramatic increase in staycations, a new scheme has been launched to encourage visitors to spend more on local food during their stay.
Neges@Home, Menter Môn’s project is the solution to keeping visitors’ expenditure on food and drink local.
You can find more details on the Business Wales website.
Living Wage Week 2021
Living wage week takes place from 15 November to 21 November 2021 and is the annual celebration of the Living Wage movement in the UK. The movement is made up of employers, experts, organisations and people who all believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.
Visit the Business Wales website for more details.
Useful COVID-19 information
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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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