Welsh self-caterers were originally served by WASCO (Wales Association of Self-Catering Operators) and in 2019 PASC UK went into partnership with WASO to provide them content for their newsletters. Sadly, by early 2020 WASCO had decided to cease charging Members subscriptions whilst the organisation tried to determine its future. With the arrival of the pandemic, support for the sector in Wales became critical, and PASC UK worked again with WASCO, and it was agreed that PASC UK would take over the role of supporting the sector in Wales.
As part of this agreement WASCO Members were entitled to a 50% discount on PASC UK subscriptions if they signed up in the first three months. This came into effect in January 2021. This opened the door for PASC UK to become full paid-up Members of the Wales Tourism Alliance, with whom we had already had a longstanding working partnership.
PASC UK is an active partner in lobbying in Wales utilising its relationships with both the WTA (Wales Tourism Alliance) and UK Hospitality Wales as well as many regional organisations.
The massive onset of Welsh Government Consultations since the summer last year into the self-catering sector has meant that this has been an incredibly busy time, as we work with others to try and head off the worst impacts of much of the proposed changes to legislation and taxation in Wales.
Currently the biggest threat is the change in letting threshold from 70 days to 182 days as well as looming Tourism Tax. PASC UK has been leading on generating more funds for lobbying in Wales and we have so far managed to raise support for a further 26 days of lobbying between now and the end of June 2022. We have also created the Survey that was supported by both the WTA and UK that generated over 1200 responses, a record for Wales.
With this we will be providing evidence to the Welsh Government on the damage that these measures will cause, plus providing owners in Wales with Guidance notes on how to support lobbying and how to respond to the Consultation into 182 days letting threshold. We have just put out a call for ‘Case Studies’ of the economic and social impacts of these measures at the request of Welsh Government Officials.
On the website there is a Five Point Plan explains all this. It can be found here. https://www.pascuk.co.uk/reports/
We have a really good spread and number of Members in Wales including self-catering agencies, and hope that other Welsh business will join us to try and offset the worst of the threatened changes.
Click the banner at the bottom of the page to find out more about becoming a member.
