Ahead of the Senedd debate on small businesses and tourism today, the Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy – Janet Finch-Saunders MS – has announced that she will be holding a digital hospitality stakeholder meeting to review what targeted support is required to assist with the sector’s recovery and address long-term issues such as the hospitality staffing shortage.
The virtual Microsoft Teams meeting will be held on Wednesday 11 August 2021, between 10:00 am and 11:30 am. An official invitation will be provided to stakeholders shortly.
Commenting on her roundtable, Janet said:
“The hospitality industry is vital to Wales’s prosperity, benefiting producers across the supply chain and drawing in visitors with a projected economic benefit to Conwy County of around £900 million. They are also the backbone of the North Wales economy, providing rewarding job opportunities to many local families.
“But rather than support our hard-hit hospitality sector, the Welsh Government has instead favoured exploring the introduction of a tourism tax. We should be under no doubt that this would be disastrous for the industry and have a profound impact on visitor numbers to the area.
“Cardiff Bay must look to reset the conversation around our hospitality sector, recognising the difficulties felt even before the pandemic, which is why my Welsh Conservative colleagues and I are calling for the provision of grants to tourism businesses to maintain the UK Government’s cut in VAT to 5% until April 2022.
“But support must also be given to address other long-standing issues, such as the staffing shortage faced by many hospitality firms, which will be a cornerstone of conversations during my virtual stakeholder roundtable. It will also give chance to discuss our proposals to create a comeback package for seaside and market towns via a Tourism Towns Fund to help level up our communities.
“I look forward to meeting with these stakeholders and commit to highlighting the concerns raised.”
ENDS
Photo: by Carlos Lindner on Unsplash
