Following months of lobbying by the Farmers’ Union of Wales, significant changes have been made to the Tourism Investment Support Scheme, which will now allow small and medium businesses to benefit from Welsh Government support to upgrade their facilities.
The new initiative ‘Building for 2012’, is intended to provide small and medium sized Welsh tourism business the opportunity to apply for between £5,000 and £25,000 of grant aid, up to a maximum of 40 per cent of eligible upgrading costs, allowing businesses to upgrade the quality of their facilities irrespective of business size, number of units, bedrooms or visitors.
Welcoming the announcement, FUW farm diversification chairperson Deilwen Breese said the union had been lobbying hard to improve the support available within the Tourism Investment Support Scheme, for smaller farm-based tourism enterprises.
“Farm diversification provides an important second income for many farming families in Wales which is why the new initiative is a welcome move. However this opportunity is time limited and all applications have to be made by March 31 2012,” added Mrs Breese.
“Small, tourism businesses in Wales need help to invest and upgrade their facilities, particularly in the current economic climate. The ‘Building for 2012’ project means that, businesses of all sizes will now have the chance to make vital improvements.”