Tourist attractions to strike on Tuesday

Following an emergency meeting, The Welsh Association of Visitor Attractions (WAVA) which represents over 100 of the leading visitor attractions in Wales has passed a resolution recommending that members close down for one day on Tuesday.

They said it is in response to the Welsh Government’s proposed tourism tax, claiming that where their own government reports indicate that such a tax would damage the Welsh tourism industry. 

Members also commented at the meeting that last year there was a 23% drop in the number of visitors staying overnight in Wales, and 60% of Welsh attractions saw less visitors than in 2023.

Also, they claimed that no WAVA attraction is achieving the visitor numbers they once had pre-Covid with Welsh Tourism said to be the slowest to recover from Covid compared to other UK tourism regions.

Tourism is Wales’ second largest industry, but members said they felt the future looked increasingly grim owing to what they called “the Welsh Government’s negative attitude towards tourism, and subliminal anti-English rhetoric”.

“Members felt they had to take the strongest possible action to show their anger with the Welsh Government, hence their call for strike action,” a spokesperson said.