Will Politicians Assist Me?
To Stephen Doughty MP, Paul Davies MS, Vaughan Gething MS and Jon Munro
I have been engaged in tourism for nearly thirty years, beginning with mountain bike hire and guiding, then adventure activities and now solely guided walking, in Wales, the English borders and budget small group tours overseas.
I have been unhappy with the WTB then VisitWales for over 20 years. My main gripe has been one of a level playing field, that the government’s tourism agency should treat all providers in the same way. This has been a serious problem and on many occasions, I have had laughable responses as well as earnest affirmations of 'we will do better'. This came to a head in 2020 when I realised that VisitWales would not list me because I refuse to pay for accreditation, a pre-requisite for being listed as a guided walk provider under VisitWales rules. I complained and instead of engaging with me and others like me they simply removed almost all guided walk providers from the VisitWales site. I then noted that there were many that were re-listed who were not accredited and so I complained. For a year and a half, VisitWales did nothing and so I took VisitWales and so the Welsh Government to court. This had the impact that it deserved with Vaughan Gething being informed and despite the case not being heard things moved on and I am happy for the time being that a great deal of work has now been done to ensure that only accredited businesses are listed. Apparently, this has been onerous and expensive. This has resulted in a level playing field of sorts. But one issue, for the time being as I will review the level playing field status in a few month’s time, remains.
VisitWales has no guided walking businesses listed for the visitor to Wales, most of whom visit to... you guessed it... walk. And the anomaly is that Wales Outdoors is listed on VisitBritain.
I am a qualified and insured mountain guide with over 30 years of experience delivering group activities in Wales. There are many others like me. We, in the main, refuse to pay for accreditation because it is government interference, another hoop to jump through if you like, an unnecessary step. I have given VisitWales what I see as a reasonable path for inclusion, as a starting point, and yet we are no further forward.
My advice is as follows:
The tick box exercise you ought to be asking is simply something like this...
Do you deliver a licensable activity
If yes go to the accreditation process or evidence your license
If no
Do all staff hold relevant qualifications for the experiences that you deliver
If yes
Please upload a digital copy of your insurance along with the expiry date
Please upload evidence of qualifications held by each member of staff
Please supply links to at least two live review sites for your business - we will link to these in your business profile on VisitWales. Those with a star rating of under 4 out of 5 across the rating sites will not gain access to the VisitWales platform.
Google
Airbnb
TripAdvisor
If no then unfortunately VisitWales cannot list your business
VisitWales say Try 'Wales Coast Path'. If you do and you then click on activities you will find ONLY self-guided providers but no guided walking specialists. Further, they are allowing multiple listings by the same companies who are working around VisitWales rules by listing under different regions.
As I said before, they removed all guided walk providers in May 2020.
This is a disgrace and damaging to small businesses owned by seasoned professionals and any help with having VisitWales move on this issue would be much appreciated.
It is obviously incongruous that Wales Outdoors is listed on VisitBritain and that Wales is a walking destination but that Wales Outdoors cannot be listed without unnecessary accreditation on VisitWales.
My contact at VisitWales is xxxx
Andy Lamb has been a Brecon Beacons National Park Part Time Warden and BBNP Volunteer and Guided Walks Co-ordinator, Chair of Brecon Beacons Tourism, a D of E and The Princes Trust Co-ordinator in Powys, in RCT and in Merthyr Tydfil and is currently the owner of Wales Outdoors. Andy was the catalyst for the Brecon Beacons Environmental Charter, a statement of intent for best practice regarding environmental sustainability in outdoor activity provision and the catalyst for the South Wales Outdoor Activity Providers Group, a membership organisation bringing authorities and providers together. Andy also managed the Outdoor Professionals Co-operative, a membership-by-invite group that Andy developed that aimed for best practices in all aspects of business delivery. Andy is a Mountain Leader with nearly 30 years of guiding in Wales and further afield experience.
