Heledd Owen - Director Of Marketing - Tourism And Business At The Welsh Government

Heledd Owen willfully platforms some businesses outside of her department’s own rules while using those rules to preclude other similar businesses from entry on the Visit Wales website. I’ve been questioning why this is the case and since March 2020 have not received an explanation. Heledd agrees that there is a problem, that Visit Wales staff could do better and on multiple occasions has promised that her staff will clean up the Visit Wales platform, but, when given long lists of errant businesses, she does nothing to rectify the matter. Indeed, Heledd promotes and makes preferred partners of some that ought not to be, according to her department’s rules, platformed by Visit Wales. Again, one has to wonder why…

This post, like all others in this series, should not have had to have been written. This post only exists because Visit Wales staff and ministers responsible in the Welsh Government continue to refuse to answer simple questions and to provide evidence that my claim of corruption within Visit Wales has no weight. I have given Visit Wales staff, including Heledd, every opportunity to put my complaint to bed but all, from Vaughan Gething down, prefer a ‘conspiracy of silence’. I have also given good notice that these posts will be written, published and shared.

The Welsh Government say this about Heledd: ‘Experienced marketing and communications specialist with a proven track record in creating positive change, relationship building and issues handling.’

I take issue with that statement, having had dealings with Heledd since September 2022, and I refute that short bio in its entirety. You will see, from Heledd’s responses or absence of responses to my representations that her communication skills, grasp of subject and desire for positive change fall far short of any standard that one could expect from a senior manager working for the Welsh Government. And as for relationship building, I refer you to my accusation, now with the South Wales Police, of nepotism, as it is clear she is very happy to build some relationships whilst refusing to work on others. And ‘issues handling’? That has to be a joke, right? Heledd has refused to answer simple questions or to meet to to resolve my issues and so has turned a simple complaint into a costly and time consuming ‘circle the wagons’ defence involving all from Vaughan Gething down.

What follows is a time line of important communications with Heledd Owen. These detail her broken promises and malfeasance and where necessary, explain any response. I’ll keep this as brief as I can:

Meeting 7th September 2022

Following a few communications with Heledd and a meeting with Jon Munro in the summer of 2022 a meeting was set for 7th September 2022. Prior to this meeting the following, amongst a good few other points, were agreed. Visit Wales would:

• Tighten up the checks that are made before a business is added to the grading database and the grading file that is uploaded to the product database.

• Outline tighter requirements around the checking of new businesses with our database partner – New Vision Group / Simpleview.

• A monthly second check of those ‘new’ businesses added to the database by our internal team.

The meeting between myself, Jon Munro and Heledd Owen reviewed any progress and I emailed Jon with this summary:

‘It was good to meet with you again. I must say I found the meeting to be positive but came away feeling that Heledd wasn't really in the business of engaging with me but more wanting to draw a line under my pressuring Visit Wales to change. Her comment towards the end of the meeting, being very much her only comment, something along the lines of 'are you satisfied we have done enough' I think was an attempt to draw that line. 

I would like to continue to pursue engagement with VisitWales and I will in due course, maybe six months or so, look again at the listings and assess how well they now conform to my aim of creating a level playing field for all.’

At the meeting Heledd agreed to a change in behaviour at Visit Wales and that the Visit Wales website would be closely monitored with only accredited businesses being allowed onto the platform.

I therefore agreed to give Visit Wales further time to clean up their act but warned I would be reviewing their progress in the future.  

6th - 27th August 2023

As indicated, I looked again at the Visit Wales website and to my dismay found very many businesses that did not comply with the protocols for onboarding to that site, protocols that Visit Wales say preclude Wales Outdoors from gaining a listing. Multiple emails were sent to Jon Munro and Glyn Roberts detailing those businesses without any meaningful response, something about summer and holidays. It was clear that the level playing field I had been demanding since March 2020 was not on a Visit Wales agenda.

Almost all emails were not responded to.

Email to Heledd Owen 28th August 2023

I expect immediate action on this long standing matter. I expect a wholesome apology, consideration of reparations and at best the inclusion of unaccredited but professionally qualified guided walk providers on the Visit Wales platform and at the least the permanent removal of all similar businesses and experience providers that offer anything that could be thirty minutes from the guides/tutors vehicle. 

Your consideration of these matters is greatly appreciated and anything you can do to help expedite an end to the nonsense and time wasting generated by Visit Wales would be greatly appreciated. 

I copied this blog post for Heledd’s consideration.

This email was not responded to.

29th - 30th August 2023

I sent multiple emails, each detailing and linking to multiple businesses on the Visit Wales website that ought not be to Jon Munro and Glyn Roberts and copied Heledd into these.

None of these emails were responded to.

31st August - 4th September 2023

I sent six emails outlining my demands, suggesting further action and to resolve matter and advising I would attend government offices for a meeting, with anyone at Visit Wales, so that I could show them, in person, the problems with their onboarding process.

My main demand was this:

ALL unaccredited businesses that offer walking with a guide that is more than 30 minutes from the guides vehicle and that are in what can be considered countryside locations to be removed from the Visit Wales platform

I added I'd rather someone at Visit Wales responded. I'd rather see movement on this matter, towards resolution. But if further action is required I'm prepared to begin the process of instigating that further action.

I gave Heledd seven days notice that I would be attending her office to meet to resolve.

None of these emails were responded to.

11th September 2023

I attended the Visit Wales office as I had advised and not one member of staff was prepared to meet with me to resolve the issues I had raised. I received this email from Heledd on the 11th:

Thank you for your correspondence to us at Visit Wales – you will be receiving replies in due course.  

This is a recording of my discussion with security on the day:

21st September 2023

I wrote to Heledd as follows Please send forthwith a timeline for you and your departments responses to my questions beginning on August 6th and not responded to since 18th August

This email was not responded to.

I had made representation to Vaughan Gething requesting a meeting. I received this back from Heledd Thank you for your email to Vaughan Gething MS. He has considered your meeting request and his office have asked me to let you know he is unable to meet with you on 3 October. He feels that it would not be appropriate to meet formally given the ongoing discussions with officials.

Given I had had no response since 18th August there were no ‘ongoing discussions’ taking place…

12th October 2023

I attended the Visit Wales Roadshow in Newport where Steffan Roberts and Heledd Owen approached me and thought that a meeting to discuss my complaints would be a good thing. I made it clear I have had meetings in the past, with agreed outcomes and that those outcomes have never been implemented and that I had been calling for meetings with Visit Wales staff since late August and that I had been wholly ignored. Steffan said that what had happened in the past ought to be put aside and that we should move forward. I made it clear that simply working within their own protocols would have avoided the actions that I had been taking.

6th November 2023

I had a Zoom meeting with Heledd Owen and Steffan Roberts. It was agreed that some businesses that were being platformed should not have a listing on the Visit Wales website and Heledd asserted that she was in receipt of the list I had sent to her and that her team were looking into that.

To date no action has been taken on this list by her department.

Sent to Dawn Bowden MS at this time with the request to share with Heledd:

I met with Steffan and Heledd and it was agreed that Visit Wales had been incorrectly listing very many businesses over very many years, to the detriment of my business, and that they would continue to remove legitimate tourism businesses from the Visit Wales platform. This has been the cause of my complaint against the Welsh Government, that staff were not listening to me or taking appropriate action when clearly I was right in my assertions, as indicated by Welsh Government internal communications. I now expect the Visit Wales platform to be free of any business, both in listings and copy, that does not comply with Visit Wales rules, rules that apply solely to Welsh Government platforms and to no other tourism portals, either government, local authority or private, throughout the whole of the UK. 

18th December 2023

Sent to Heledd in response to Visit Wales agreeing to conduct a full review of their onboarding protocols.

I will cooperate in any way that I can and look forward to that opportunity but in the meantime why is Clyne Farm Centre listed despite them offering unaccredited adventure activities and why is Adventure Tours UK listed on both Visit Wales and the travel trade site and in copy when they are also an unaccredited business? These are just two glaring examples, glaring because of their business names that should have flagged them for closer inspection. Glaring also as Adventure Tours UK is a new business and only listed at the end of 2022 when listing protocols ought to have been at the forefront of your staffs minds as we had met in September and discussed exactly this. 

I do sincerely wish you a very Happy Christmas and hope that we can move forwards in good time in due course. 

This email was not responded to.

6th March 2023

I received this email from Heledd:

I understand that in his investigation of your case for the Stage 2 complaints procedure, Gerwyn Evans found that ‘in this instance and with the amount of time and correspondence that has happened, officials should have referred you to the Stage 2 process at an earlier time.’ I apologise for this oversight and accept that you should have been made aware of the complaints procedure sooner. I will be reminding all Visit Wales staff of the Welsh Government guidance around handling complaints, and will iterate the importance of referring correspondents to the procedure when necessary.

To which I responded:

Hi Heledd, but that really is not good enough. This round of complaining, basically about the same issue as since 2006 onwards, a level playing field, began in March 2020. Staff throughout the Visit Wales department have been involved, from onboarding data input staff through to Jason Thomas. Not only that, there has been a court case and the ministers have been informed and have communicated with me on various occasions, my MP has asked questions (which remain unanswered) and I have now had a meeting with my MS, Mark Drakeford. 

What an immense waste of time and effort by all involved, particularly by me. 

I believe this was not referred to earlier, not through oversight, but by design. If oversight then you expect me to believe that every member of staff working for Visit Wales, from data input, through Jon and Glyn to yourself and Steffan, and including Jason Thomas, Dawn Bowden and Vaughan Gething, all 'forgot' about how to properly deal with a complainant? I simply do not believe that. 

As 'the points Andy raises are almost always valid ones' (quote from your staff revealed by an FOI), I believe that you all know that Visit Wales is not fit for purpose and that in full knowledge it breaks its own rules, delivering a platform for some but not others. This is why there was no referral to the Stage 2 Complaints procedure as the next step, which is where we are now, is the independent Ombudsman for Wales.

Further, I have asked on multiple occasions and from sources from Dawn Bowden down for the protocols for referring to stage 2 and I have been ignored. Either you have guidance or you do not. I would suggest you do but in any case, it's irrelevant now. 

The question has to be asked, what about my time in this matter? Do you not feel collectively and may I suggest personally responsible for the efforts that I have had to go through to get to this point? All the while asking for a meeting with you, to go through my evidenced complaints about your department platforming businesses that its own rules preclude from inclusion whilst maintaining a firm stance on not platforming my business, Wales Outdoors. And those requests to meet from August 2023 onwards, were all ignored, as most of the emails were, and following our meeting in 2022 where promises were made and not delivered. Steffan arranged the meeting of November 2023, not because he wanted to be involved, but because I was applying pressure through attendance at roadshows, lobbying politicians, commenting on Visit Wales tweets and contacting tourism leaders in Wales. 

If Visit Wales staff had done as promised, in 2022, then none of this would have been necessary. If the complaint had been referred to the stage 2 complaints procedure then none of this would have been necessary. 

An apology then, received with thanks, is, as I stated, not good enough. My business, and dare I say health, have suffered because of this complaint and I have put hundreds of man-hours into simply asking Visit Wales to work to their own rules, which by the way, you are still failing miserably at. 

I think that the right thing for the Welsh Government to do at this stage is to agree compensation with me and to apply all efforts into restructuring the Visit Wales sites to ensure that the issues I raise are permanently addressed. 

This email remains unresponded to.

Where I am now…

I don’t communicate with Heledd now, as what is the point, she does not reply and she has demonstrated that she does not do what she asserts she will do. Of course, ministerial communication and short emails requesting Visit Wales advise as to why a particular business is platformed outside of the onboarding protocols make up much of the ongoing picture and Heledd is fully aware of all communications that I have had and continue to have with Welsh Government officials and Visit Wales staff.

And now, every email sent requesting clarification remains, as most emails since August 2023, unanswered. I now am beginning to use FOI requests to gain answers and will continue to submit these, gaining evidence that I will forward to the police.

There are an unknown number of businesses that Visit Wales staff favour and platform outside of their own rules, I estimate a minimum of fifty and likely very many more.

This platforming, promoting and preferring of some, such as Adventure Tours UK or Clyne Farm Centre, with full knowledge that such businesses have been flagged as non-compliant, has led me to conclude that there is a culture of corruption within Visit Wales and the Welsh Government. I have therefore taken the only route left available to me and I have reported Heledd Owen to the South Wales Police as being the person, as Director of Marketing, with responsibility for these matters and so the person most likely to be guilty of my charge of the misuse of public funds and government power.

I am waiting a response from Mark Drakeford MS who is asking questions on my behalf and I have written to the third minister within a year with responsibility for tourism, Sarah Murphy MS, to pick up the baton initially with the waste of time Dawn Bowden MS and then the short lived Hannah Blythyn MS.

You will find my posts on other members of Visit Wales staff and Welsh Government Ministers at my blog here

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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