Visit Wales - Welsh Government Staff That Refuse To Do The Right Thing
This is a collated list of previous blog posts describing the actions, emails and complaints made by me regarding Visit Wales and corruption in that department. It’s a top down listing, beginning with the First Minister and ending with data input staff.
This post is a window onto the mammoth efforts I have gone to to see justice done. And justice has not been done. Visit Wales continue to maintain a platform that is discriminatory, that favours some and not others, to the extent that Wales Outdoors is denied a listing on the Visit Wales website while some of our competitors, delivering the same or similar activities, are platformed and promoted. This is highly damaging to us in the tourism marketplace.
I will be posting in a week’s time another collated list, of evidence regarding individual businesses, posted on LinkedIn.
Chairs of the regional tourism forums are aware of this complaint as are the members of the South East Wales Regional Tourism Forum. Industry leaders in Wales not affiliated with Visit Wales and business owners across Wales are also aware of this complaint. Many of those offer support but I believe are ‘afraid’ to speak out, telling me in private that ‘I am done with Visit Wales’ or ‘Visit Wales is a shambles’ or ’Tourism in Wales needs a shake up’, but, it would appear, they are unable to directly or indirectly intervene or to act collectively to demand that ‘shake up’ or even fair play.
It looks like I am just about done. There is little else I can do. However, given the efforts I have put in, I will continue to be a thorn in Visit Wales side, monitoring their platforms and publicly calling them out, over the internet and at public meetings where they paint an undeserved rose-tinted picture of their activities.
My Meeting With Mark Drakeford, First Minister For Wales
UPDATE: It’s Friday 14th June and Mark has failed miserably to do ANYTHING apart from sending an email to the minister who responded with zero content, just platitudes. Mark shows his contempt for my complaint by agreeing to write again but twonths later… Nothing. Mark is ineffectual and quite obviously not interested in either the democratic process no…
Vaughan Gething MS: First Minister of Wales - What A Few Weeks He's Had...
I was simply going to outline my dealings with Vaughan and his inaction regarding my claims of nepotism within the Welsh Government department, Visit Wales, but… Things have moved on apace… In the light of the ongoing rows regarding Vaughan’s lack of good judgement and claims of perjury at the Covid Inquiry can it be asserted that from the top down the …
UPDATE: It’s the 30th of June and Vaughan is still in post as FM for Wales. This despite him receiving the shocking vote of no confidence against his person in the Senedd. Yes, that’s right, a majority of his peers voted against him in his position as First Minister. In any ‘normal’ democracy this would be fall on your sword time. But not for the shameless shower of politicians that we have governing Wales. Vaughan is going to tough that one out, perhaps saved by the calling of a general election. Perhaps not. I think it quite likely that eventually, Vaughan will have to go.
Dawn Bowden MS - Wilfully Presided Over Malfeasance And Lied To My MP!
Dawn was the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism when it all kicked off again with Visit Wales, back in August of 2023. It kicked off because Visit Wales, in particular Heledd Owen, Director of Marketing, failed to hold true to their and her promise of cleaning up the Visit Wales website and maintaining a level playing field for all.
The Third Minister In Wales With Responsibility For Tourism In Less Than One Year
Email trail to Sarah Murphy MS. Let’s see if another change at the top, on this occasion caused by the shit show that is Vaughan Gething’s Welsh Government and has likely perjury when giving evidence to the Covid inquiry. He sacked Hannah Blythyn claiming she was the person responsible for leaking his texts indicating he would delete ministerial WhatsAp…
Jason Thomas - Director Culture Sport And Tourism At Welsh Government
What can I say? Not a lot. And Jason didn’t have a lot to say either. But what Jason did say is a chilling reminder of the disdain for operators as espoused by those working for the Welsh Government. My brief interaction with Jason, at the Visit Wales Roadshow in Newport in October 2023, therefore, says all you need to know regarding the Welsh Government…
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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Steffan Roberts - Deputy Director, Culture, Sport and Tourism
I’ll keep this short and sweet as really I have not had many dealings with Steffan Roberts. However, those dealings I have had have been polite but, from my perspective, an utter waste of time… When I attended the first Visit Wales Roadshow in Newport in October of 2023 I was pounced upon by Heledd Owen and she introduced me to Steffan. This was a ploy t…
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 …
Jon Munro - Strategy And Digital Leadership - Welsh Gov.
I like Jon and until the breakdown in our communication in September of 2023 he stated to his colleagues that he liked me. However, Jon and I have a long history, going back to 2008, that of me complaining about Visit Wales delivering a far from level playing field and Jon promising to do better. That ‘do better’ has never been achieved.
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 w…
Clare Dwight - Senior Tourism Marketing Manager
I’ll preface this post with my assurance that I do not want to write this. However, I am making public the interactions that I have had with government officials who have refused to answer one simple question that I believe needs an urgent answer, and, Clare is one of those staff. I have given Clare fair warning of this post and although a management-le…
Rachel Cilliers - Chair Of The South East Wales Regional Tourism Forum
I first wrote to Rachel, asking for her assistance with a simple question, ‘Why is it that Visit Wales will not list Wales Outdoors BUT Visit Wales will list other similarly placed businesses that deliver similar products’. I asked for her assistance with this issue on 11th September 2023, the day before she took over as chair of the South East Wales Re…
