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Business News Wales

Capturing the Local Impact of Hospitality in North Wales

When you live and work in North Wales, the value of hospitality and tourism is not something you need to be told – you see it every day. It's in the young people gaining skills and confidence through a college course or first job. It's in the family running a rural pub that holds a community together. And it's in the visitors who return year after year, not just for the scenery but for the welcome. But showing that value – proving it in a way that's recognised by decision-makers – hasn't always been straightforward. That's why I see the introduction of UKHospitality's Social Productivity Index as such a significant step forward. It gives us a way to capture not just the economic impact of our sector, but its social value, too. And for those of us working across hospitality in North Wales – whether through training and education or directly in our communities – that shift in how we measure impact is long overdue. At Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, we work with learners, businesses and communities across the region. Tourism and hospitality are key sectors for us, not only because of the number of jobs they support, but because of the opportunities they offer. We've recently secured Growth Deal funding for a Tourism Talent Network project – now called Academy Croeso – which supports people into the sector and helps them progress once they're in it. This isn't just about frontline roles. It includes leadership and management, digital skills, sustainability, and wider development – the sort of wraparound support that allows people to grow into long-term careers. That wraparound support matters most when it's rooted in the local community. We're working directly with businesses across the region and running a programme that includes engagement with schools, both primary and secondary. It's about making opportunities visible early on – not just for young people but for parents and teachers, too. When people see clear pathways, they're more likely to see the sector as a viable, worthwhile career and stay in the communities where they grew up. That local focus is something I've also seen first-hand through my involvement with Yr Eagles, a community pub in Llanuwchllyn near Bala. When the owners decided to retire, the village came together to buy the pub – not because it was a business opportunity, but because it was a vital part of community life. It's where groups meet, where events are held, and where neighbours connect. We established a community benefit society – Menter Gymunedol Cyf – raised funds through a community share offer and were able to secure additional grant funding to make it happen. Any income generated now goes back into the community, supporting, for example, the local after-school club, which in turn supports the viability of our village school. This is what social productivity looks like in practice – local action, local benefit, and long-term value. But it takes time, skills and support to get there. One thing we've learned is the need for greater capacity building at community level. These kinds of projects can't happen in isolation. They need to be recognised, supported, and enabled through wider policy frameworks. That's especially important in rural parts of Wales, where tourism and hospitality are particularly important for delivering real potential to spread prosperity. They offer work to a diverse workforce, help keep the Welsh language vibrant and connect directly with other foundational sectors like food, agriculture and energy. For example, we've run Agritech and Agrifood programmes from our Food Technology centre on Anglesey for many years, and are building a critical mass and momentum around land based knowledge transfer at Coleg Glynllifon. The links between the food and drink sector and the visitor economy are clear and mutually reinforcing. This is about systems and systems thinking/delivery, not silos and the Social Productivity Index helps us reflect that. The challenge now is not just to measure this impact, but to lock it in. That means ensuring the value created through tourism feeds back into the infrastructure communities need, from housing and transport to broadband and public services. It also means recognising that this sector plays a foundational role in attracting inward investment. High-quality hospitality and vibrant communities make a place investable, not just visitable. There are already encouraging signs of change. Strategies like the new sustainable tourism plan for Gwynedd and Eryri focus on reducing seasonality and spreading benefits more evenly and sustainably across the year. We've seen similar approaches elsewhere in Europe, and there's much we can learn from how others link tourism income to reinvestment in communities. But to build momentum, we need tools that can help us make the case. That's where the Index comes in. It provides the evidence base to support what many of us already know: that hospitality brings economic, social and cultural value in a way few other sectors can. That's where the real opportunity lies – in using it to inspire, to influence, and to invest in the future of a sector that plays such a central role in the life of our region. Gwenllian Roberts talks about this and more in the Business News Wales Tourism & Hospitality podcast episode How Should We Measure the Impact of Hospitality? Listen to the podcast HERE