Archdruid says Welsh language has no strongholds left, calls for tourism tax
The Welsh language has no strongholds left and a tourism tax is required to keep key services going in Welsh speaking communities, the Archdruid has said.
Myrddin ap Dafydd was speaking at the ceremony to announce next year’s National Eisteddfod which will take place in Llyn and Eifionydd.
During the ceremony in Porthmadog, he said that it would be a “Welsh language festival in a Welsh language area – but we know that there is no such thing as a Welsh language stronghold anymore”.
“It’s all under pressure. What became apparent during the pandemic was that the tourism we have in west Wales is not possible without a legion of key workers available to support those visitors and the services they provide,” he said.
“Without local doctors, nurses, air ambulances, coastguards, wardens and route workers, mountain and mountain rescue and rescue teams, police, council workers, recycling service, police, and everyone else – you can’t sustain a tourist industry.
“It turned the common phrase ‘we can’t live without them’ on its head and we saw a new truth: ‘they can’t come here on holiday without us’, which includes the key workers and all of us who are paying taxes to support them.
“The only way we can value our key workers is by ensuring that they can get decent wages and homes in the areas they serve. Tourism must therefore contribute more to the local economy on which it depends.
“A tourism tax is found in most countries and tourist areas of the world. This is the money that supports services such as tourist information centers, public conveniences, walking and cycling routes, blue flag beaches, beach showers, security teams and essential workers.”
‘Support’
To illustrate his point, the Archdruid told a story of a man who worked at a garage in the Conwy valley which was busy with summer visitors.
“He noticed one visitor arriving, heading straight for the air pump, pumping a front tire on a driver’s side, and then going back to his seat without buying petrol or a packet of crisps or anything,” he said.
“He was about to drive away when the man who worked at the garage knocked on his window. The local businessman said three words: ‘Air costs money’, bent down and let the wind out from the tyre.
“No, Wales and its heritage are not for sale – and it’s not to be shared for free either. When you come in your tens of thousands here to Llyn and Eifionydd next year, remember to support the local economy.
“We must see our local societies live and breathe; the culture that hosts this festival will then live on. Remember this is still the case: ‘Air Costs Money’.”
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Myrddyn is correct in saying there are no ‘ Welsh language strongholds ‘ left – well certainly in the geographical sense. The definition of using a percentage has gone. The definition of saying ‘ the west ‘ or rural this or that area or collections of villages has gone …. Y fro Cymraeg … if it ever existed has gone with the chapels and the imaginary ‘ Welsh ‘ rural idol of a post WW2 Wales. This was however a world of english medium education, not a bilingual sign or form or right in sight ! It was the world… Read more »
The Archdruid doesn’t seem to grasp that whilst we Local tax payers contribute toward the running of the tourist economy, we also benefit from it. Plus he failed to mention that we also use services outside of Wales, such as airports, the roads and rail networks to get from North to South Wales, travelling to hospitals and shopping centres in England to name but a few. The people in those areas pay council taxes for these services which we visitors also enjoy.. so it is NOT a one way system. If the council tax isn’t enough to cover these Servies,… Read more »
So what about the tourist taxes being announced in regions all over England? I take it you think their councils should raise council tax rather than penalise one section of society? “Shackling children to tradition”? That sounds like a very One Nation accusation. One Nation bound to Victorian “tradition”.
This is not a game without consequences.
Mae Myrddin ap Dafydd yn llygaid ei le. Da iawn iddo am leisio ei farn yn gyhoeddus.
yn anffodus, tra’n lleisio ei farn, nid oes iddo unrhyw sail ffeithiol ac nid yw’n adlewyrchu realiti
Mae dy sgiliau gwgl ‘translate’ yr un mor uffernol a dy farn
Os nad oes cadarnleoedd mae angen creu cadarnle newydd fel niwcléws ac wedyn ehangu tir fesul tŷ mewn cylchoedd.
He’s not wrong, is he?!
‘Let their tyres down.’
The Road Traffic Act 1988 states: “A person is guilty of an offence if he intentionally and without lawful authority or reasonable cause … interferes with a motor vehicle, trailer or cycle.” Though there is no specific offence I believe it is illegal to deflate someone’s tyres without permission. To then use such an example in a speech suggests to me that the speaker is stating that unlawful direct action is okay if it gets your point across. Clearly letting someone’s tyres down is really Ill-advised and is clearly wrong. We all need to inflate a tyre now and then.… Read more »
By your standards the odd travelling tourist who may be taken short is at liberty to take a pee or a dump in your front garden, or do you have the signage that denies the right of access to do so ?
Don’t be silly. Things that are illegal, the things you suggested, don’t need a sign. But spite will drive tourists away.
A spokesperson for Portmeirion said recently that 90% of their workforce were Welsh speakers…Free air was once commonplace and a good way of advertising your petrol station, while driving with underinflated tyres is a danger to all road users…
I agree with whatever the posters who are also moderators think. That way there is a chance my post will not be removed
This man is spot on point , I have been observing tourists coming over the border and destroying Wales in every way imaginable ……I for one welcome the tourist tax …….trouble is Westminster will eventually benefit from it …….. independence for Wales I’m sick of suckling off the poisoned breast of the Anglo saxons , time for celts to unite and starve the tired and depleted lion …….. its Dragon time