Plaid Cymru MP for Arfon Hywel Williams and AM Sian Gwenllian have called on the Welsh Labour government to issue a directive to holiday letting agents Booking.com and AirBNB to cease accepting bookings for properties in Gwynedd with immediate effect.
Both the MP and AM have been inundated with calls from local constituents concerned that holiday properties in the area are still accepting bookings despite an official Govt directive against all non-essential travel.
Hywel Williams MP and Sian Gwenllian AM have now called on the First Minister of Wales to issue an immediate instruction to all local AirBNB providers, hostels and Booking.com to cease advertising their properties in order to stop all but essential travel in the area.
Hywel Williams also raised the issue today during a Government briefing with the Paymaster General who agreed to look into the matter.
Hywel Williams MP and Sian Gwenllian AM said,
‘We understand that holiday booking websites such as AirBNB and Booking.com continue to enable people to book accommodation here in Snowdonia despite official guidance against non-essential travel to the area.’
‘From our own research, we have identified several local accommodation providers who are continuing to accept guests. This is very worrying given that the weekend is upon us and those seeking to escape from populated areas will be under a false impression that Snowdonia is open for business when it is not.’
‘If decisive steps aren’t taken immediately then the situation will further encourage those who don’t think it necessary to stay at home to travel to Wales. We are receiving anecdotal evidence that visitors are still arriving with accommodation providers in Snowdonia still accepting bookings.’
‘We call on the Welsh government to issue an immediate instruction to AirBNB and agencies such as booking.com to stop any advertising on their sites which entice visitors to journey here. Visitors should not be incentivised to travel to Wales during this public health crisis.’
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