Issue - meetings

To submit, for information, a letter from the Chief Executive of the Snowdonia National Park Authority in response to Councillor Glyn Daniels’ notice of motion to the 1^st October, 2020 meeting regarding the possibility of charging tourists for visiting parts of the National Park.

Submitted for information – a letter from the Chief Executive of Snowdonia National Park Authority, in response to Councillor Glyn Daniels' notice of motion to the meeting on 1 October, 2020, regarding the possibility of charging tourists for visiting parts of the National Park.

A member noted his dissatisfaction that it had taken five months to present the response to the Council members.

Cabinet Member – Councillor Gareth Thomas

To consider a report on the above  (attached).

To accept the report and to note the observations submitted during the meeting.

The Leader of the Council, the Cabinet Member for Economy and Community and the officers were welcomed to the meeting.

Submitted - the report of the Cabinet Member for Economy and Community inviting the committee to scrutinise the steps taken thus far to formulate the draft visitor economy principles and the steps proposed to draw up the Gwynedd Sustainable Visit Economy Plan 2030.

The Cabinet Member set out the context by noting that the visitor economy was an important part of the county's economy, with a large number being employed in the industry directly and indirectly.  However, as Covid struck the industry, it had become apparent that the Council had to revisit its principles in the field.  There had been a significant change in the way we perceived the visitor economy.  Previously, everyone had been viewing the visitor as central to any visitor economy, by now however, the opinion was that the residents of Gwynedd should be central to any principles around the visitor economy, and this had been at the forefront of developing the principles.  If the people of Gwynedd saw the benefit and that the visitor economy was acceptable to them, this then fed through to the visitor's experience.  It was noted that a workshop had been arranged for all Gwynedd councillors on 2 March, 2021 to submit the draft principles, with the intention of submitting them to the Cabinet before the end of March to be adopted in draft form to consult on them with the people of Gwynedd.

The Leader agreed that developing these principles was a significant change of direction for the Council.   We saw last year what 'unsustainable' tourism was, and this was the type of tourism that damaged the environment, and had a bad impact on communities.  Stating that we were setting a new direction was very important.  It was believed that the industry was also seeing the need to reflect our society much better, and the principles formed the basis for the type of support and direction the Council had given the industry.  Meetings with the industry had demonstrated that tourism was an important industry for our people, although there was a perception that it was owned by others.  The pandemic had demonstrated that rural areas such as Gwynedd were by now very nearly fully reliant on tourism, and this was a motivation to continue with the work of seeking to create a much more varied economy.  Although Gwynedd was getting £1.3 billion through the industry, Gwynedd's household income was among the lowest in the country, and there was a need to develop a hospitality industry that provided good careers and good employment.  Examples of this already existed, and there was a need to work to improve the quality of the industry in Wales.

The Leader then referred to a letter of response from the National Park to the Council's decision to urgently research the possibility of charging visitors who visited parts of the park.  He noted that the letter stated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7