Dear Members,
I hope you are well and coping in this difficult situation; the industry has really pulled together and there has been lots of lobbying to elected representatives cross-party to ensure the voice of our industry is heard.
The announcements from the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer were extremely positive last week, and I am assured that further assistance will be announced tomorrow for help with the self-employed as many of you may be. I attach a response from Ken Skates, Welsh Government Minister of Economy, regarding his approach to financial solutions to the issues within our industry. There are some direct links on this letter to Welsh Government announcements – there is a considerable amount of misinformation circulating so it is imperative that we go to reliable sources for the facts. Our own website is being constantly updated.
I am aware that we have not received our initial aid package – for those eligible – that was announced by the UK Chancellor over two weeks ago and have been in contact with ministers to express urgency in this matter; and whilst we are all in agreement that we need to protect our workforce so we can implement an immediate recovery, the notion that we can continue paying even 80% of salaries up to the end of April – when the government suggest they will have organised financial recompense for employers – may well be somewhat hopeful from a cashflow perspective.
In terms of NWT, some of the employees have now been furloughed under the governments employee compensation scheme – TIC’s & distribution; there is a limited amount of work that Jim Jones, our MD, can now do given the he is out and about promoting NWT so much but the office will keep going for the time being, albeit largely remotely.
NWT continues to be the voice of the industry here in North Wales through thick and thin and so shout out if you need anything – we will help as much as we possibly can.
I am in Ruthin – blue skies and all – so spending much time in the garden; do make sure you get some me-time whilst we cope with these unprecedented times so that once we are in a more positive position to once again shout loudly about the joys of North Wales we are all fit and able!
Stay safe and see you on the other side!
Best regards
Chris
Christopher Frost
Chair – North Wales Tourism/Go North Wales
