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13 January 2022


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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: Mid Wales Growth Deal reaches an important development milestone; £15.4m to help support Wales’ Arts and Culture sectors; REMINDER- COVID-19 Economic Resilience Fund (ERF) business support; COVID-19 SAFETY REMINDERS: Reasonable measures to minimise Coronavirus, Keep Wales Safe at Work, NHS COVID Pass - promotional pack; Alert level 2; Skills and Recruitment - Apprenticeship recruitment support, Chair of Wales Tourism and Hospitality Skills Partnership; We're Good To Go continues into 2022; Event Wales Strategy 2022-2030 - appointment of consultants; Second homes: local variation to land transaction tax rates; Statutory Pay Rates from April 2022; Useful COVID-19 information


Mid Wales Growth Deal reaches an important development milestone

Today, saw the signing of the Final Deal Agreement of the Mid Wales Growth Deal by the Welsh Government, UK Government and the region’s local authorities, Ceredigion County Council and Powys County Council.

It marks the commitment of all partners to deliver the Mid Wales Growth Deal, a ground-breaking partnership bringing a combined investment of £110 million from UK and Welsh Government, which is expected to lever in significant additional investment from other public and private sources maximising the impact in the Mid Wales region.

In addition, the programmes and projects supported by the Growth Deal will be expected to produce wider social and economic benefits, such as enhanced quality of life, creating business opportunities following the impact of COVID-19, decarbonisation in industry and consideration of climate change impacts.

The agreement is made after the development and submission of the Portfolio Business Case on the basis of the current shortlisted set of programmes and projects which cover a range of investment proposals across a number of themes, digital, tourism, agriculture food and drink, research and innovation and supporting enterprise.

Read the announcement in full on Gov.Wales.


£15.4m to help support Wales’ Arts and Culture sectors

The Welsh Government is making £15.4m available to support the arts and cultural sector in Wales during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The additional support, as part of the third round of the Welsh Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund, is being made available for the cultural sector in Wales as it continues to be severely impacted by the COVID pandemic.

The Arts Council of Wales launched its application process for organisations within the arts sector on 12 January. The previously announced winter stability fund has now been merged into the third round of CRF to ensure alignment with the funding support on offer.

Other impacted sectors including music venues, heritage sites, event venues and organisers, independent local museums, community and independent libraries, galleries and independent cinemas who were previously supported via the Welsh Government’s CRF will be contacted by letter during the week commencing 17 January. The letter will set out how they can access funding support.

Find out more on £15.4 million to help support Wales’ Arts and Culture sectors | GOV.WALES and Written Statement: Cultural Recovery Fund Round 3 (12 January 2022) | GOV.WALES.


REMINDER - COVID-19 Economic Resilience Fund (ERF) business support

The ERF is targeted at businesses in the hospitality, leisure and attraction sectors and their supply chains who have been materially impacted by a greater than 60% reduction of turnover between 13th December 2021 and 14th February 2022.

Applications for this fund begin to open from week commencing 17 January 2022 and will remain open for two weeks.

You can find more details on the Business Wales website and read the announcement on Gov.Wales.

Check your eligibility now for this further package of support by using this tool.

Subject to meeting the eligibility criteria the funding will also be available to newly established businesses. Details can be found on: Written Statement: Emergency Covid Financial Support Including Newly Established Businesses (7 January 2022) | GOV.WALES.


COVID-19 SAFETY REMINDERS:

Reasonable measures to minimise Coronavirus

Advice for businesses and organisations about reasonable measures to take to minimise the risk of coronavirus can be found on Gov.Wales.

Includes information on ventilation, limiting capacity, preventing crowding, cleanliness, noise levels and helping Test, Trace and Protect.

Keep Wales Safe at Work

When considering what you need to do to keep your workforce safe at work, visit the Business Wales website for detailed guidance, examples and resources.

NHS COVID Pass: promotional pack

Information on how businesses and event organisers must check the COVID-19 status of their customers is available on Gov.Wales.

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.


Alert level 2

The measures that apply at alert level 2:


SKILLS AND RECRUITMENT:

For information on support with recruiting and training staff please visit our Skills and Recruitment pages.

Apprenticeship recruitment support

Recruiting an apprentice can help you expand your workforce and its skills base. Support is available towards the cost of training and assessments.

To help businesses recruit apprentices, Welsh Government is offering incentives until 28 February 2022 (subject to budget availability).

You can find more details on the Business Wales website.

Chair of Wales Tourism and Hospitality Skills Partnership

A vacancy exists for a Chair for the Wales Tourism & Hospitality Skills Partnership, established to identify issues relating to the training, development and retention of staff in the Tourism and Hospitality sectors in Wales and to promote solutions to the relevant agencies.

The Partnership brings together industry leaders and representatives from all parts of the Education sector and Careers Service. It seeks to enable and project a comprehensive strategy for learning, qualifications and apprenticeship standards to be developed and assist and enable the sector to offer rewarding and attractive careers to potential staff of all ages and backgrounds in the years to come.

The industry-led Partnership currently meets on a quarterly basis and includes Visit Wales, which also provides the Secretariat function.

More information can be found on: CHAIR_OF_WALES_TOURISM_AND_H.pdf (ymaws.com).


We're Good To Go continues into 2022

The ‘We’re Good To Go’ industry standard which reassures customers that your business is following the latest Government COVID secure guidance, will continue until the end of March 2022.

Participating businesses can now download their 2022 We're Good To Go certificate to display on site and show you have taken the required action to welcome your visitors in line with Government and Public Health guidelines. To access your certificate, log in and follow the ‘Certificate and Logos’ tab in the header.

Download your certificate on: Log in | We’re Good To Go (visitbritain.com).


Event Wales Strategy 2022-2030 - appointment of consultants

The importance of events to the visitor economy is highlighted in Wales’ tourism strategy “Welcome to Wales: Priorities for the visitor economy 2020-2025”. The existing events strategy ran from 2010 to 2020 and whilst the recent focus has been on supporting the events sector through COVID-19, work has been ongoing, including a consultant-led external review, to consider the development of the Event Wales strategy 2022-2030. 

Following a competitive tender exercise, Purple Moon Consulting Ltd have been appointed to develop the strategy and will be working with stakeholders, the events industry, Ministers and the Event Wales team over the coming months to deliver a draft strategy for Ministers to consider. The Purple Moon team, headed by major event specialist, Stuart Turner, has extensive experience across sporting, cultural and business events and the aim is to launch the strategy in Summer 2022.


Second homes: local variation to land transaction tax rates

Welsh Government is seeking your views on proposed local variation to land transaction tax (LTT) rates for second homes, short term holiday lets and potentially other additional residential properties.

Consultation ends: 28 March 2022.

Further details are available on: Second homes: local variation to land transaction tax rates | GOV.WALES.


Statutory Pay Rates from April 2022

The UK Government has published the proposed statutory rates for maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay, adoption pay, parental bereavement pay and sick pay from April 2022.

Visit the Business Wales website for more details.


Useful COVID-19 information

As each premises is different, businesses should read all guidance. This continues to be updated so please check back regularly for the latest information.


Stay up to date with tourism industry news

Coronavirus (COVID-19) related bulletins can be found on the Tourism Industry Newsletters / 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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