The Scottish Government have announced they're providing grants for Scottish hostels and bunkhouses with a £2.3 million hostel support fund. Several operators of rural bunkhouse and outdoor alternative businesses in north Wales have written to me calling for a Welsh hostel and bunkhouse support fund from the Welsh Government, equivalent to this. As they said, 'We provide a service to our local community, bringing in visitors all year round who use local pubs and shops, but we're being catastrophically affected by the COVID rules and reduced social mixing, because we provide shared accommodation for people from different households.' How do you therefore respond to the Independent Hostels in the UK report, 'The Case for Extra Financial Support', which states:

'Without extra financial support this winter 34% of hostels are predicted not to survive until the tourist season next year' and

'An ideal support would be a "Support Grant" directed specifically at hostels and group accommodation in the tourism sector'?