Holiday company is preparing to open its parks

HAVEN Holidays has announced it is preparing to open its Welsh holiday parks in July.

Last Friday, First Minister Mark Drakeford unveiled the broad package of lockdown changes and also put hairdressers and the tourism sector on standby to potentially reopen in three weeks and rescue some of the summer season if the spread of Covid-19 continues to decline.

The Welsh Government has said that at its next review on July 9 it will consider whether self-contained holiday accommodation, such as self-catering properties but also en suite B&B and hotel rooms or caravans, can be allowed to reopen.

Mr Drakeford said people are likely to be able to go on holidays in Wales from July 13.

Now, Haven’s guest and proposition director Gerard Tempest has told North Wales Live the company is preparing its nine Welsh sites to reopen from July 13.

In England, Haven parks will open to owners on July 4 as restrictions are eased, with a July 6 opening for holidaymakers. In Scotland, they are provisionally earmarked to open on July 15.

To restore public confidence, the company has unveiled a number of measures to help keep guests safe, including increased cleaning, social distancing and additional cancellation rights.

But while parks are set to open next month, restaurants, swimming pools and bars on site will not.

Mr Tempest said he was hopeful these facilities would follow suit and reopen over the summer.

He said: “We hope they will open but we don’t know they will.

“We are looking at our bars, restaurants, pools and how we can best maintain social distance if guidelines allow us to open these facilities.

“We believe we will at some point in the summer be able to open them and we are looking at how we manage that. We will then tweak those changes depending on the advice given.”

The tourism sector has been hit hard by lockdown in Wales, and it is hoped a July reopening would be able to rescue some of the summer trade that would have been seen so far but for the pandemic.

Mr Drakeford confirmed last week that the “stay local” five-mile restriction is due to be lifted on July 6, and added he has had lengthy discussions with tourism bosses.

From July 13, he said people are likely to be able to go on holidays:

■ to a static caravan with its own kitchen and toilet ■ to a rented cottage

■ to a hotel that has turned itself into self-contained accommodation.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales, he said: “The visitor economy in Wales needs to use the coming three weeks to prepare to reopen self-contained accommodation in Wales during the month of July.

“Self-contained is very important. Stay local remains for two weeks because coronavirus spreads where people come together where they share facilities.

“If you have a static caravan that has got its own kitchen and bathroom, if you are renting a cottage, if you are going to a hotel that has turned itself into selfcontained accommodation, there is a clear signal from me today to use the next three weeks to get everything you need in place. You will be able to start taking bookings for after July 13.”