Alma Economics was commissioned by the Welsh Government to analyse the responses to a consultation seeking views from tourism stakeholders and the public on the design and operation of a statutory licensing scheme for all visitor accommodation providers in Wales. The consultation, which was conducted by the Welsh Government, received over 1,500 responses.

Our research methodology consisted of: (i) the manual reading of a sample of responses – in addition to responses selected at random, we also included the most detailed responses to ensure the sample was representative and insightful; (ii) an automated approach assigning theme labels based on the initial manual reading analysis; and (iii) an iterative process through which researchers reviewed the theme labels assigned automatically and fine-tuned the algorithm to increase the robustness of our thematic analysis.

The findings from our analysis will be used by the Welsh Government to inform the future design of a statutory licensing scheme, with the aim of raising standards of health, safety and quality across the industry and providing a level playing field for all operators.

➥ See our full report here.