A TOURISM chief has backed growing calls for a special recovery fund to be set up for tourism and hospitality businesses that have been pushed into economic freefall as a result of the pandemic.

According to Jim Jones, the chief executive of North Wales Tourism, it was also essential that existing financial support measures were extended to help them survive 2021.

Thousands of jobs had already been lost and the scale of the financial disaster has been “cataclysmic” for the region.

Visit Britain forecasts that during the pandemic, tourism revenues had fallen by £68.8billion cross the UK, while in North Wales a recent study had shown there had been a devastating drop of £2.17bn in the income generation by the sector.

The recovery fund was among a package of measures being sought by business owners and members of North Wales Tourism who responded to a survey.

Mr Jones said: “The tourism and hospitality has seen a disastrous loss of £2.17bn to the economy of North Wales. That's a loss of 63 per cent and a shrinkage in the sector to levels from over 20 years ago.

“This is a huge hammer blow. Prior to the Covid crisis, we were celebrating that in 2019 tourism had attracted record numbers of visitors and revenue had risen to an all-time high of £3.6bn.

“Until the pandemic struck, the visitor economy was continuing to grow strongly and provided jobs for more than 43,000 people. But 2020 has turned our lives upside down and our tourism and many hospitality businesses have been teetering on the edge of failure. Many have sadly already gone under. Many jobs have been lost.

“To add to our economic woes, the recent research commissioned by the North Wales & Mersey Dee Business Council and North Wales Tourism showed up to 80 per cent of business owners are experiencing a deterioration in their mental and physical health. The stresses for many in this sector are taking a real toll on individuals and families.

“There are still a lot of businesses and business people falling through the cracks for eligibility and access to help. I urge the Welsh Government to put a package of support together to help them also."

Feedback from the survey for North Wales Tourism members included:

• A clear consensus was that if the industry is to move forward and gain the real recognition it deserves, then it is more important than ever that the tourism and hospitality sector is credited with its true economic input into the Welsh economy and recognised as such.

• Business Funds - Extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

• Business Rates Relief - Business Rates Relief for tourism business needs to be extended through the 2021/22 financial year.

• VAT to stay at 5 per cent especially for accommodation, potential trade-offs with other areas.

• A Sustainable Funding Mechanism for Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) - need for Destination Management Organisation to develop and implement tourism recovery plans for their area.

• The Government need to be aware that those businesses that took out Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme will need to start their capital and interest payments in April or soon after. The ongoing pandemic and subsequent lockdowns has given businesses little chance for business recovery and they will cause a lot of strain on cash flow and job security.

• Create a tourism and hospitality recovery fund

• Mortgage holiday extensions, more pressure on the banks to extend this.

• Easter opening is critical.

Mr Jones said he remains hopeful that Welsh Government will unveil an action plan to restart the tourism and hospitality sector in the next two months.

“I foresee there will be challenges for places like Snowdonia National Park and the Clwydian Range to manage the influx of visitors appropriately," he said.

“Businesses will need this information on opening in a timely manner with plenty of advance notice so they can be prepared.

“The framework is already in place, most businesses already invested heavily in becoming “Covid-secure” and will be ready to welcome back visitors safely as soon as they are allowed to do so.

“The multiple vaccines being rolled out are obviously a source of great hope with the number of people across North Wales receiving the vaccine now been increased significantly.

“Our region has not lost any of its beauty or appeal in the last year and we know that once people are allowed to visit, they will come back and hopefully our businesses can try and get back on track to some form of normality."