Bookings being taken as Easter getaways may be on the cards

HOLIDAY accommodation providers in Wales are looking forward to a record season in 2021 after the First Minister has hinted holidays could be back for Easter.

It’s still early days with no dates set in stone, but Tim Rees, owner of Quality Cottages, says many in the industry are desperate to be back in business after a year of repeated lockdowns.

Mr Rees, who runs Wales’ largest Welsh-owned cottage agency, warned people need to start booking up their favourite locations sooner rather than later or else risk missing out.

The latest announcement from First Minister Mark Drakeford has hinted that, as long as things stay the same, self-contained holiday accommodation such as caravans, cottages and campervans may be able to open by Good Friday.

The market is like “a coiled spring”, said Andrew Campbell, from the Wales Tourism Alliance (WTA), who added the announcement was very welcome indeed and hopefully the start of things reopening in Wales.

Mr Rees echoed Mr Campbell and said so far, people are spending on average a third more for their long-awaited breaks compared to previous years and are planning on staying around 20% longer.

“Quality Cottages would love to see us open by Easter, but not at the cost of another lockdown,” said Mr Rees, emphasising that was a very important point.

“We have circa 400 bookings in place for Easter so it’s a challenging situation for tourism providers who haven’t had cash coming in for months despite very high booking levels.

“It’s a situation where tourism businesses are very busy, but until holidays take place, the cash is not guaranteed. This is the main challenge for operators like ourselves.

“We’ve had 12 months now with big periods where we’ve not been able to take any income yet costs are still high because of all the cancellations and the refunds.

“No business will have budgeted for the tens of thousands of pounds in credit card fees that go with refunding money.”

At the Three Cliffs Bay Holiday Park, on Gower, a holiday hotspot for many caravanners and campers, Tom Beynon reacted to the Welsh announcement with a positive spin that he might be able to welcome his first customers in 2021 from April 2.

“Nobody is more disappointed than ourselves,” he said about not being able to fully open the caravan and campsite on the top of the cliff. But Mr Drakeford has given us a six-week warning if things continue as they are, then self-contained and non-sharing facilities can reopen.

“It’s positive news that the lockdown seems to be working and Mr Drakeford is talking about tourism and we thank him for that. Maybe one of the criticisms of him last time was that we didn’t seem to be in his thoughts as much as we felt.”

Mr Beynon, who runs the family-owned business alongside his parents and three siblings, said Easter was a “very important” time for the sector.

However, Mr Beynon said things were still a “moving picture” and the industry would have to wait and see what the next three-week review said before he could offer customers certainty.

For now, he is counting on being able to welcome visitors from April 2 provided they are staying in selfcontained accommodation such as caravans or camper vans.

He is working on the basis that tents won’t be allowed until April 23 at the earliest, which will tie in with another three-week review period.

For now, he’s paused bookings for tents between April 23 and May 14 while current bookings for April 23 to May 14 will be held until he receives further updates on March 12.

The holiday park took 300 bookings in just one day when self-contained accommodation reopened in Wales after the first lockdown in July.

Mr Campbell said the WTA and many in the tourism industry hadn’t expected anything to change before Easter and said while nothing is “set in stone”, Friday’s announcement was an “important first step”.

The UK’s largest holiday park operator, which also owns Pendine Sands, Carmarthen Bay, Brynowen, and Ty Mawr, said Easter was a “make or break time”.

A spokesperson for Parkdean Resorts said: “The First Minister’s comments are good news for Wales, particularly the coastal regions, whose local economies are so dependent on tourism.

“Easter is a make-or-break time of year for us, and for the local suppliers who depend on us and our holidaymakers, and we proved last year we could give visitors a safe, much-needed break to the beautiful Welsh coast with lots of fresh air.

“Our parks are Covid-safe and benefit from rural, isolated locations. They are not located in densely populated urban areas, which makes it easier for people to avoid close social proximity, and all units are located at least fivemetres away from each other and enjoy their own services and facilities, which allows our customers and owners to be independent. Each unit is separate with no shared doors or communal areas and they are, in our view, more suited to social distancing and isolation than many flats, shared houses or terraced houses.”