Wales is an incredibly popular holiday destination, which has often come to the detriment of locals. Legislation targeting cutting down on the number of holiday lets and second homes has come into effect in the last few years, but people fear that could mean less people holidaying in Wales.
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00:01The Welsh tourism industry has found itself in a precarious situation.
00:05On the one hand, thousands of people across parts of the country rely on tourists coming to the area,
00:10particularly in places like North and West Wales.
00:13But then on the other hand, it's the tourism industry itself which is making it more and more difficult
00:18for Welsh people to buy houses where they're from.
00:21House prices have risen steadily for years across the country,
00:24but in some of the holiday hotspots, they've skyrocketed and driven locals out of their communities.
00:29In recent years, local councils, as well as the Welsh Government, have put legislation in place to curb the influx of second homes and holiday lets.
00:38Council tax hikes in particular have been a high-profile effort to help locals.
00:42There have now been calls that these plans have meant less and less holiday lets and therefore less and less tourists.
00:48It's a tricky line to tread and people aren't sure how exactly to tackle it.
00:52I think it all depends. I don't know. I think they're focusing more on the local industry, which is, yeah.
00:57I think there will be a pushback like whenever something big is going to happen, regardless of what it is.
01:09So that could be like food industry, entertainment industry, whatever it is.
01:14There's always going to be a pushback just because people don't like change.
01:19But eventually, like whatever the corporates, the higher-ups, whatever they want to do, it will happen anyway.
01:26Just because they have more power and more say.
01:29Yeah, I believe that keeping to your absolute culture is key and also teaching people about that culture is key as well because then tourists can have the experiences that you've had,
01:41which is absolutely key to an experience whilst going on holiday.
01:45I mean, I feel like the tourist industry is quite important in Wales, but like, then again, the locals shouldn't be pushed out just to benefit like, just to benefit the area as like an economy maybe.
01:59Yeah, I'd say that, well, there's lots of tourism around here, so I'd say it's pushing a lot of, like, local people out.
02:07If they can get more money from, like, foreigners, why wouldn't they do that?
02:10Why, you know, why not displace the current population?
02:13They can then, you know, if they share the money around, they can then spend it, you know, get a house for themselves maybe.
02:18And we could have a lot of foreigners in the holiday lets.
02:22Although there are clearly issues behind the scenes, people I've spoken to are clearly confident that our tourism industry will survive and flourish in the future.
02:30Yeah, I think it actually will. Like, Wales is very strong.
02:33And to be honest, like, day by day, it's getting stronger.
02:36Like, there's more recognition in Wales of, like, OK, people now know Wales exists around the world.
02:42So I think it will actually grow.
02:45It's just, like, in a little bit of a slump, but it will eventually, like, skyrocket up.
02:49That's what I think personally, and what I'm, like, seeing and hearing.
02:52Depends, I think, what they're doing now, because it's in a bit of a position.
02:56It can go either way, I feel like, but I hope so.