Statutory Registration in Wales



There has long been a concern about how to improve the quality of tourist accommodation across the UK and in particular how to upgrade those establishments which don’t partiicpate in the voluntary grading and quality schemes operated by the tourist boards and others. We were commissioned by the Wales Tourist Board (now VisitWales) and the Welsh Assembly Government in 2000 to explore the idea of introducing a system of statutory registration for accommodation. In effect this would mean that all accomodation would have to pass a certain threshold of quality in order to be able to trade legally. We initally prepared a discussion paper outlining the pros and cons of such an approach, looking at the lessons from elsewhere, different options for its operation and some outline costs. This paper was widely circulated and we presented it at two national workshops aimed at accommodation operators. Subsequently, in 2003, we were asked to preoare a follow up study, looking in more detail at how the preferred scheme might operate, the role of the WTB and local authorities in inspection, and the likely costs of introducing it.