Tourism Tax Is Backwards Business Step
The owner of a major holiday parks group in Wales has told ministers they risk devastating the visitor economy if they push ahead with a tourism tax.
Thomas Scarrott, owner of Vale Holiday Parks, said that such a move would undermine all the fantastic work done by the Welsh Government to encourage tourism.
Thomas warned that a visitor levy would hit not just accommodation providers such as his seven parks but would also have a damaging knock-on effect on the many businesses which rely on the tourism industry such as pubs, shops, cafes and visitor attractions. “Many of these are smaller family-owned businesses such as Vale Holidays which sustain thousands of jobs throughout Wales,” said Thomas.
“Reported industry figures show that tourism is worth around £5bn to the Welsh economy, with more than 10 million overnight stays being recorded annually.” He highlighted this year’s £5m Visit Wales’ Year of Legends campaign which, he said: “Did a great job in promoting the many different experiences on offer to Wales’ holiday visitors. The only possible consequence of a tourism tax, would be fewer visitors and an additional administration burden on tourism businesses.”
Thomas’s family has been involved with the parks industry for almost 50 years, providing holiday homes to rent and to own, and pitches for touring caravans, motorhomes and tents. Ministers say they will decide early next year on which of the four possible taxes they would prefer to implement, subject to go-ahead from the UK Government. Meanwhile, the park industry body BH&HPA and many of its park members in Wales are making urgent representations to Welsh ministers and assembly members.
Red Letter Event
World Leisure (UK) is a multi-award winning provider of a complete range of design, technical and installation services for the water leisure industry. With expertise in pool and plant design and installation, the company delivers projects ranging from exclusive domestic developments through to large international projects. Associated with the best manufacturers in the world for specialist equipment supplies, energy conservation is always at the forefront of design. As well as pool finishes, other core areas of expertise include water treatment plants, wave machines, water features, water slides, moveable floors, wellbeing controlled environments, and all other aspects of swimming pools that developments require. The company also has a dedicated wellness division, working throughout the UK, installing high quality climate-controlled environments and treatments rooms, including fully automatic rasul and serail mud treatments, Japanese salt steam rooms, Turkish hammams, and ice baths, for skin, respiratory and immune system health.
Energy Controls is the UK`s leading supplier of electricity SMART Meters and prepayment metering systems to Holiday Parks throughout the UK. The company specialises in providing customers with ‘cost neutral’, fully managed metering solutions including installation and support for prepayment meters as well as data collection for SMART Meters. Through their exclusive relationship with PayPoint, Energy Controls customers can now top up their meters using a variety of consumer-friendly options such as: Paypoint retailers nationwide, online or via the new ‘Smart Prepay’ mobile app for greater prepayment flexibility. Energy Controls appreciate the importance of safe, reliable and accurate metering and have become market leaders, not only by supplying the highest quality UK manufactured metering products, but also in terms of keeping customers informed about important changes in metering legislation. With 30 years of knowledge and expertise Energy Controls are perfectly placed to help businesses to plan and prepare for the future with confidence. Energy Controls guarantee to supply only the very latest metering products that have been designed and tested to Utility Company standards and therefore comply with the UK and EU`s current and future legislation such as MID (Measuring Instruments Directive).
Gemapark is a cloud booking and park management solution. Offering you the benefits of access from any location, reliable infrastructure and automated backups, they can get you up and running in just a few weeks. GemaPark provide a comprehensive range of easy to plugin booking widgets or a full booking API. Their booking widgets allow you to easily add online booking to your website and can provide an availably search, availability calendars, or park maps from which you can check availability and book. Features such as interactive chart, check-in dashboard and task lists make managing bookings easy. Automated emails for balance reminders, welcome and post visit emails, coupled with the ability to take online bookings and online balance payments, greatly reduce booking admin. At the show GemaPark will be able to demonstrate the system and give out an idea of the costs and benefits of the system.
Achieve transparency and efficiency savings with EliteParks Park Management Software. EliteParks comprehensively provides functionality to control the management of the whole business using the following business processes – Leads, Sales, Park Management, Owners, Reservations and Finances. EliteParks was created to disrupt a market saturated by archaic technology and systems using Microsoft Dynamics NAV technology. Their team includes consultants, developers and project managers with situational experience of working within the Caravan and Holiday Home industry. They work with the likes of Michael Paul Holidays UK, Park Holidays, Park Leisure and Shorefield Holidays. EliteParks is the most advanced management solution in the market to date being scalable for both multi-discipline income streams operating one park to multi park operators. If you are a holiday park operator and are looking for a consulting partner from the holiday park sector with Microsoft experience then book a demonstration to see how you can get better transparency and analysis across the whole business.
Wish You Were Here - Highlands End Holiday Park
Pick Of The Crop
A survey of 2,000 people revealed that for 54 per cent, exploring the great outdoors is their main motivation, while half of Brits said they’ll be camping because it’s a more affordable option than holidaying abroad. A total of 41 per cent describe camping as ‘the perfect way to spend time with family’, while one in four look forward to switching off from the stresses of modern life.
Crowd Funding
Green Footprint Scheme For Parks Trio
Set in 12 acres of landscaped grounds it provides 84 individually hedged pitches. The park caters for touring caravans, motorhomes and tents with a choice of fully serviced, all-weather and grass pitches. Trethem Mill is owned by Ian and Jane Akeroyd, their son Jake and Ian’s father Derek.
business near Aldeburgh brings the number of parks operated by the group in Southern England to 27. Carlton Meres has long been a popular choice for holiday home buyers, and more than 200 lodges and caravan holiday homes are located in its extensive grounds. There are also holiday homes to rent, and pitches for touring caravans and motorhomes. Facilities include an outdoor swimming pool, a fully-equipped gym and spa suite, tennis courts, an adventure playground, plus restaurant, bar, and games and snooker areas.
