Following the recent announcements by the English and Scottish governments, Wales is yet again left behind with no roadmap from Welsh Government on coming out of lockdown.

The Welsh Association of Visitor Attractions (WAVA) stresses that Welsh Government must now provide a clear roadmap to reopening with key dates to enable tourism businesses to plan for the future.

Whilst English and Scottish attractions are able to make plans for exiting lockdown, Wales’s visitor attractions are left in the dark.

Recently, First Minister Mark Drakeford and Health Minister Vaughan Gething stated that there was a ‘possibility’ that the tourist industry in Wales might start to reopen for Easter.

However, later Ministerial statements gave no indication when Welsh visitor attractions will be allowed to reopen for the 2021 tourist season.

Whilst Wales lags behind, tourism businesses continue to suffer massive losses during lockdown. WAVA members alone have reported losses totalling £44+ million over the past 12 months. They will see further lost business as ‘staycation’ visitors book elsewhere whilst uncertainty reigns in Wales.

Ashford Price, Chairman of Dan Yr Ogof Showcaves and the P.R. Officer for WAVA commented:

“This situation is untenable and cannot continue. Welsh Government must now listen to the calls from WAVA and other tourism industry bodies and set out a clear roadmap for reopening. While we all understand that no dates can by fully guaranteed and will be subject to virus levels continuing to fall, it is now time for a commitment from Welsh Government to the hundreds of businesses that make up the Welsh tourism industry which employes some 12% of the Welsh workforce.

Not being allowed to reopen for Easter, one of the busiest periods of the tourism year is going to be a financial disaster for many attractions. Some attractions are already in ‘survival mode’ having traded for just 10 weeks since March 2020.

To highlight WAVA concerns a recent survey of WAVA members paints an alarming picture of the 2020 tourist season. In this survey a comparison was made between the 2019 tourist season and 2020 season.

The 2020 season when compared to 2019 shows attractions in Wales were down £44+ million pounds in income from tourism.

WAVA Attractions had 2.9 million fewer visitors in 2020 when compared to 2019.

Finally, the survey showed that 40% of WAVA attractions would have to acquire further loans to survive, as no income is now coming in from the Easter holidays.

All WAVA attractions endorse the Welsh Governments decision that the health of the Nation must come first, but some attractions are now close to permanent closure and desperately need financial help.

WAVA attractions acknowledge with gratitude that the Welsh Government has given financial support during this difficult time, but with huge bills forecast for April, and with no Easter tourism income to look forward to, the prospect of bankruptcy, or closure looms for some attractions.”

Mr Price went on to say:

“Many staff have already left the tourism industry owing to the uncertainty of what the future holds, and those that remain are very fearful about their job prospects for 2021.

Quite simply we cannot at present give our loyal staff any idea as to when we can re-employ, the reason being that we have no idea when our attractions will be allowed to reopen this year. This is causing great stress to our staff, and several attraction owners are already seeking counselling for serious mental health issues. I am sure that Welsh Government staff would not tolerate being treated in this manner by the Welsh Government.

Without more clarity from the Welsh Government regarding when we can at least hope to reopen, the same scenario will happen as happened last year. Simply, we will again lose tourism business to England and Scotland. All we can tell tourists is that Welsh attractions are closed for business, and we don’t know when they will reopen.”

Vince Hughes the general Manager for Snowdon Mountain Railway said:

“We feel we are in a very dark tunnel. Key staff working on the railway require specific instruction and the training for some of our posts takes months. Hence, the Ministers recent remarks are not helping our decision-making regarding recruitment for 2021 and have cast a dark cloud over our future plans.”

Roy Church, Director of Gower Heritage Centre in South Wales said:

“Heritage sites and museums have had a very difficult 12 months trying to keep up with important preservation works on exhibits and maintaining old buildings with little income to rely on. All our season ticket holders are constantly asking when we can re-open and do not understand why we always seem to be the last place to be allowed to open under the lock down regimes.”

Simon Pickard, Director for the Silver Mountain Experience in Mid Wales said:

“Mid Wales survives on tourism and many jobs depend on its success. We urgently need to have a road map with dates that clearly indicate the best possible scenario when we can reopen. Whilst Wales lags behind England and Scotland we will inevitably lose further tourism business as ‘staycation’ visitors book elsewhere.

Finally, Colin Evans Director from Cantref Adventure Park near Brecon said:

“What all Welsh attractions want is some certainty about their futures and the prospect of when we can reopen. We all realise that much will depend on the virus levels dropping and staying low, but we need as a minimum some date that we can aim for to reopen, as the present situation is simply no longer tenable for Welsh attractions.”