3. Statement by the Minister for Economy: Statutory licensing scheme for all visitor accommodation in Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:10 pm on 15 November 2022.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:10, 15 November 2022

Thank you for the comments. I think there was one question at the end around a complaints mechanism, and that's part of the point about having a licence with registered properties that acquire a licence—to meet the standards and then to make sure that it's operating in a manner that's in accordance with its licence. That's the point I made towards the end. I think most businesses will want to comply with the conditions and will want to be within the law on operating their business and turning a profit. But, we do need in almost every system where we're looking to have some form of outline measures that are set out in statute, you need to have some way of actually trying to enforce those. So, that's what we're looking to test in the consultation. It will be important to hear both from communities and from stakeholders, because a number of businesses themselves, I'm sure, will have ideas about how they think it could be a fair way to deal with people. It's sometimes typecast as businesses won't want any kind of regulation that's effective, and yet, actually, lots of businesses want effective regulation that makes sure that they're not undercut by people with less scruples and less care for their impact on the local community. So, it's part of what we're definitely looking to test in the consultation. 

I broadly agree with a range of your points made in the contribution. We do want sustainable tourism, and it's the variety of the offer, whether it's major events, whether it's the good news that the Tour of Britain is going to finish in Wales, whether it's things like traditional family holidays, long weekends, whether in rural Wales, a city or a town, but to do that in a way that doesn't take away from community sustainability. And that's why we're at this point, because over the last two decades, there has been a significant expansion in the change of use of accommodation in different parts of the country. And in that sense, in Wales, we're just like other parts of the world. Barcelona themselves are looking at the impact on accommodation of short-term lets within their major city. So, we do need to look at things like Airbnb and Booking.com, and actually most of those people want to engage in the consultation because I think they recognise that it won't just be Wales having this as a policy answer, there will be answers around the world to try to get that balance: a healthy economy of which the visitor economy is a significant part but in a way that doesn't undermine community sustainability. And I'm quite confident that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport over the border in England will be looking with genuine interest at the answers that we'll be coming to and the impact and outcome of our own consultation.