Labour's extraordinary plan to rainproof Wales

Yahoo

04-05-2025

One of my bleakest teenage memories is standing in the middle of a Welsh field while sheep eyed me balefully and horizontal rain mercilessly pummelled me and my miserably lost Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition group. With that experience of a signature Wales downpour in mind, I'm puzzled by the Welsh Government's announcement that it has created a new £1 million 'weather-proofing' fund, offering businesses grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 for measures such as canopies and shelters.
The scheme was created in response to Visit Wales data showing that 55 per cent of businesses cited poor weather as a reason for fewer visitors in summer 2024. But can a rickety canvas really cope with the might of Welsh rain, and will it actually make a significant difference to the tourist exodus?
Ashford Price is PR officer and membership secretary for the Welsh association of visitor attractions, which worked with the Government on setting up the scheme. 'The reason we're doing this is, sadly, Wales has falling visitor numbers,' he explains. 'We want to make sure that the visitors who are going to our attractions feel looked after. We can't pretend we're going to put an umbrella over all of Wales. But we can do things like stoning a path that gets muddy to make it more solid. One of my colleagues takes people out in Newquay to look at dolphins, but they get soaked in the boat, so he wants to put a cover over it.'
Price now plans to apply for a grant on behalf of the Dan yr Ogof cave system in Swansea. He's thinking of getting a cover for the land train that transports visitors, but most important, he says, is shelter for the ticket office queue. 'There's nothing worse than a line of people getting soaked through – the children are getting wet, granny's getting wet.'
Rowland Rees-Evans, the chairman of the Wales Tourism Alliance, says there's no escaping the prevalence of rain. 'It's because we've got more mountainous regions and we're on the west coast. Mind, some visitors actually expect it. I recently heard about some Japanese tourists complaining because they'd gone to Wales and it hadn't rained.'
Portia Jones, a Cardiff-based travel writer and host of the Travel Goals Podcast, agrees. 'It's definitely a preconception that it's really rainy. Being Welsh, I think you just embrace it: my mum always said, 'Never mind, get your wellies on and get outside.''
Jones points out a major flaw in the Government's scheme. 'What draws most visitors here is the huge, lovely landscapes. Adding a little shelter won't help if you're coming for a beach day or a mountain walk. You can't say to the kids 'Just sit under this canopy and look at the sea, but you can't go in.''
Rees-Evans, who is the director of golf and leisure complex Penrhos Park in Llanrhystud, notes that the grant wouldn't be enough to put substantial weather-proofing or new structures in place, unless you've already got an ongoing project and can put the money towards it. But in the current challenging circumstances for Wales's visitor economy, it's difficult to commit large sums. He might be tempted to add a canopy to the driving range at Penrhos, he says, 'but if that costs you £40,000, the grant is nice but you might not want to spend all that at the moment'.
Porter also questions what kind of shelter would actually work. 'We specialise in sideways rain here! I hope that shelter has got sides and heating. The weather can be wild, so something flimsy is just not going to hold up.'
Anna Thomson, a charity worker from London whose family regularly holidays in Wales, has many vivid memories of incessant Welsh rain. 'It's been our chosen spot for about a century. My husband's family has been coming to Pembrokeshire for decades, and he talks about sleeping in bunk beds in a shed in the garden of old family friends, hearing the rain on the rooftop. It's become a running joke – we just assume it will rain – and obviously you get an absolute downpours. But Welsh rain is different; it's like a cloud has landed on top of you. Welsh rain doesn't just fall; it envelops. Umbrellas and raincoats are pointless as it dwells in the air and sweeps into every pore from every direction.'
Thomson is baffled as to how a modest structure or cover could possibly help. 'Fat lot of good a pergola would do,' she proclaims. 'I think it's a potty idea. The whole thing is wildly optimistic.'
However, she also says that they've never been put off Wales by a bad weather forecast. If it rains, she and her husband take their children, aged 10 and 12, to look at a church or Pembroke Castle. 'I can't see this scheme changing anyone's mind really. You either take the weather in stride or you don't.'
Fellow holidaymaker and keen hiker Jonathan Woodward, a marketing manager from Bristol, has had his fair share of wet weather in the valleys, but likewise can't see the return on this sizeable investment. 'I love going to Wales because it's a chance to get immersed in a wild, tranquil landscape,' he says. 'I can't think of anything worse than having some eyesore tent or bus shelter erected in the midst of that natural beauty. If it's really chucking it down, you either tough it out or you go dry off in front of the fire in a lovely pub. Any sort of in between measure seems bonkers to me.'
Besides, argues Rees-Evans, is this really top priority? There are surely more significant ways in which the Government could be helping – or at least not hindering – the struggling tourist industry. 'The National Insurance increase on employers has put everyone on the back foot. So has the visitor levy, and the new holiday let tax rule saying you can only be eligible for business rates if you let the property for 182 nights or more, otherwise it reverts to council tax. It's having a huge impact on us.'
Thomson's parents-in-law ultimately sold their holiday home because they fell into that double council tax trap.
Instead of spending a million pounds on feeble rain shelters, 'the money could be used to improve the outside facilities for when the weather's good,' thinks Thomson. 'There are so many things that could be done to improve infrastructure,' agrees Jones. 'Look at the roads and public transport.' Rees-Evans notes that people are being more careful with their money thanks to the cost of living crisis, so it would help if Welsh visitor spots had funding for eye-catching new attractions. 'You need to keep upgrading or you get left behind.'
Jones believes the Government should rethink their whole communication strategy. 'There's so much more we could be doing to promote ourselves. We have lots of movies being filmed here, like the new Tom Hardy action movie Venom – why aren't we telling people about that? We could also join the 'coolcation' movement: countries like Iceland and Sweden are luring in visitors who now find southern Europe too hot in the summer. Wales invented the coolcation! That would make more sense than calling attention to the climate in a negative way. We're Welsh, we're rainy and we're proud.'
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