Nearly half of all employees in Aberystwyth work in shut-down and at-risk sectors, a report has revealed.

Data collected by Centre for Towns shows 47.1 per cent of employees in Aberystwyth work in shut-down and most-at-risk sectors: accommodation, non-food retail, pubs and restaurants, and arts and leisure.

Aberystwyth is seventh in the UK in terms of number of employees in sectors currently shut down by Covid-19.

Chair for the Mid Wales Tourism group Rowland Rees-Evans told the Cambrian News of the “disastrous” impact of Covid-19 on a tourism-based economy like Aberystwyth’s.

In light of “Aberystwyth as one of the highest furloughed places” in the UK, Mr Rees-Evans, who is also a director of Penrhos Park in Llanrhystud, said: “That puts things into perspective of what the tourism industry is and how important it is to us in rural Ceredigion, but also Gwynedd and Powys. From that point of view you start to understand the economic impact.

“We’re going to come out of this, we have to. But then we have to look at how we’re going to adjust, social distancing isn’t going away until we at least have a vaccine.

“We had a meeting to see whether if you have a restaurant, for example, can you work at a 30 or 40 per cent capacity. The National Trust in England is reopening, but only at a 30 per cent capacity.

“It’s disastrous for the economy but we’ve always got to bear in mind why this is happening or what the effect of the lockdown is for, we’re talking about the frontline.

“But we have to balance that with when and how we’re going to come out of it, and how the world is going to look coming out of this.”

While Mr Rees-Evans is grateful for the UK and Welsh Government for providing support and “breathing space” for the industry, he says this is not enough. He has been working with the team at Mid Wales Tourism and the 600 businesses that are members of the organisation to lobby politicians for further support.

“The tourism industry shut down before the government ordered us to. We took the decision.

“But then we’ve had this issue with second-home owners who have been giving the tourism industry a bad name – it’s turned people against us.

“There is a lot of work we have had to do to say that they don’t represent the whole industry.”