Wales Tourism Week 2022 Report

​Wales Tourism Week Report 2022 - Many thanks to all those who held and attended any of the ten events or meetings across Wales this year. WTW22 has been an opportunity for tourism sites across Wales to invite their local politicians and others to raise awareness of the sector and showcase the quality of our tourism offer to both UK domestic and international tourists. It has also provided exposure for our local politicians, as it gives them a chance to demonstrate support for tourism in their constituency. It also enables us as an industry collective to get our opinions and messages across to elected representatives. 

A particularly big thank-you to all those who supported our very successful evening reception at the Senedd on the 18th May 2022. We were joined by Members of the Senedd after Plenary from across the political spectrum. Of particular concern this year has been the issues of tourism taxation, business registration and the recent consultations with 'proposed' impacts on self catering businesses - all were raised at length during the week.  

​The industry present at the reception were without exception opposed to the 182 day-threshold and the implementation of a tourism tax. Suzy Davies, Chair of the WTA opened the formal proceedings, which was followed by an update from Sam Rowlands, MS, Chair of the Tourism Cross Party Group. Dawn Bowden MS and Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport responded on behalf of the Welsh Government. Grenville Chamberlin also gave an address on behalf of the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Dawn Bowden's response was positive, but contained no commitment to drop any of the proposed measures. She also suggested that any tourism tax is several years away from implementation and further to much more consultation. 

This year's theme for the week was in  Support of the Tourism and Hospitality skills and recruitment campaign -#theexperiencemakers . In partnership with the industry-led Wales Tourism and Skills partnership, in 2021 Visit Wales launched #theexperiencemakers – which is a skills and recruitment campaign to support the sector by raising awareness of the high numbers of vacancies and of the variety of career opportunities available. The campaign actively targets young people – school leavers, students, those unsure about their future career; young adults who may be looking for flexible working around eg childcare and older adults looking for part-time work or a career change.  The message of the campaign is to join the experience makers. The campaign is being delivered in partnership with Working Wales Work in hospitality and tourism | Working Wales (gov.wales) – which provides one simple route for young people aged 16-24 in Wales to access the Young Person’s Guarantee offer. 
 
Six Case study films have been developed as part of the campaign and can be viewed on the campaign page, highlighting real people working in the sector, as well as how-to films which have been shared through social media, including Working Wales’s platforms, Tik Tok and Instagram using #theexperiencemakers. The campaign will continue into 2022 with targeted TV and cinema advertising. If you are a business that is able to share best practice on changes to recruitment and working practices and information and support to help train and develop staff, using the Flexible Skills Programme, please follow the link here: Skills & Recruitment | Business Wales (gov.wales).   

Suzy Davies, WTA chair, said: “An excellent Wales Tourism Week 2022 and Reception last night - great to see so many familiar and new faces at the Senedd. A big thanks to all those in support".  The Wales Tourism Alliance annual reception held on the 18th of May in the Neuadd concourse on the Senedd Campus was very kindly sponsored by the Caravan and Motorhome Club alongside Visit Wales.
​

#walestourismweek

---