Glyn Roberts - Head Of Quality Assurance At The Welsh Government

I had a short and frustrating email exchange with Glyn, which is worrying seeing as he is head of quality assurance, in August of 2023. Glyn did not assure me of quality at Visit Wales, indeed, he demonstrated that staff working within Welsh Government departments are really not interested in the customer, the public or indeed quality of service. Glyn was tasked with responding to an email I had sent to Jon Munro, for which I received an auto response that he’d get back to me when he was back from his month-long summer holiday. Of course, I was not happy to wait a month so that was when Glyn stepped in.

Glyn explained that the Visit Wales Adventure Activity Assurance Scheme is for ‘guided adventure activities’. He went on to explain that anything in the countryside that takes the client more than thirty minutes from the guide’s vehicle is regarded as an adventure and requires Visit Wales accreditation. This even if the provider is a professional, in my case a qualified mountain leader of over thirty years.

Glyn also explained that he had removed Crickhowell Walking Festival from Visit Wales. He lied about this as I checked and it was still live and remained live through to 2024, despite me at the time pointing out that it had not been removed.

I responded with a list of businesses that did not comply with Glyn’s assertions and then seven further emails adding more businesses to that list. In total I supplied a list of thirty five businesses that clearly deliver guided walking activities and required Visit Wales accreditation. Glyn never responded to these eight emails and the businesses I highlighted during August of 2023 remain live on the Visit Wales platform, despite not conforming to Visit Wales onboarding rules.

Wales Outdoors will not pay for an accreditation that is not fit for purpose and is government overreach on a grand scale. Visit Wales is the only tourism portal in the UK to require providers have such an assurance, which goes far beyond UK law in these matters. Because of this stance, Wales Outdoors understands that we are not able to have a listing with Visit Wales. However, we cannot allow a two-tier approach, with Wales Outdoors denied a listing but with many of our competitors, who do not have accreditation either, platformed on the Visit Wales website.

My frustration arises from a deliberate policy within Visit Wales of not responding to issues that I raise. Of course I will become angry if multiple emails are unresponded to. It appears that not answering questions, of not dealing with specific claims, is actual Visit Wales policy with regards to me and my assertions and it appears that all Visit Wales staff have been informed to ignore me.

My valid claims need to be and eventually will be addressed, as I’m not giving up or going anywhere soon.

At the end of August 2023 I did give up on Glyn and focused my attention on arranging a meeting with Heledd Owen, or anyone at Visit Wales, to look at the businesses I had flagged and to work through them, with me pointing out how those businesses were not in compliance with Visit Wales own rules, live and in person. I believed at the time that this approach could find resolution quickly and easily, as how could Visit Wales staff look me in the eye and tell me that a specific business delivering guided walks in the countryside was fairly platformed while others were not allowed the same opportunity? Of course all Visit Wales staff refused to attend such a meeting.

I then emailed Glyn once again, on the off-chance that he might respond, on December 14th 2023, highlighting Clyne Farm Centre. This business is platformed by Visit Wales and it offers a full suit of adventure activities including gorge walking, climbing and surfing all without any accreditation with Visit Wales. Clearly this business should not be platformed by Visit Wales.

I received no response from Glyn.

Glyn is the head of quality assurance.

Glyn can’t even respond to an email or work towards having Visit Wales become a fair platform for all.

One has to wonder why.

You can book our walks through the Wales Outdoors Website or, if you are a group, you can book us for a bespoke adventure, you choose the date and time, using the ‘Book Your Guide’ option.

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