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Tight immigration controls after Brexit could be a serious threat to the hospitality industry in Llandudno as it is revealed 75% of the workforce are from the EU.

The British Hospitality Association (BHA) has today issued a warning about a UK staffing shortfall if immigration from the European Union is too tightly controlled.

In Llandudno around 75% of the hospitality workforce is from the EU according to the BHA, with the group saying operators struggle to recruit enough local people to the industry.

Llandudno Hospitality Association said Brexit posed a serious risk to the continuing success of the industry in the town unless a new immigration system could meet their demand for staff.

Guest house owner Berin Jones, who is chairman of the Llandudno Hospitality Association, said his members had serious concerns.

He said: “Ideally the hospitality industry would like to recruit locally, to have people with loyalty to the area and a good knowledge of North Wales that adds to the experience of the visitors to the region.

“But the reality is that not enough young people want to join this industry, there now seems to be an expectation that you leave school and walk straight into a very well paid job.

“Historically this industry was seen as being low paid but this has changed, for a start there is now the minimum wage which ensures a decent starting wage for everyone.

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“Employing workers from the EU is not about doing things on the cheap - they have the same minimum wage rights as UK workers, it is because there are not enough local people wanting to work in this sector.

“Part of that has been the view this is not an industry to have a long term career in, which is wrong because a job in this sector can lead to many other opportunities.

“There is still an issue with benefits, where people feel they can have a better live on benefits. This has improved with the higher minimum wage and changes to benefits so it is less of an issue but it is still there.”

The hospitality industry represents three million workers and about a tenth of the UK’s economic wealth.

A report by KPMG for the BHA says that it will take 10 years to reduce the need for EU workers by training British staff, targeting older workers and encouraging younger people to take jobs in the sector.

Mr Jones warned that losing that European workforce would create problems for hotels and restaurants in Llandudno.

He said: “As things stand it will be very difficult to replace staff with local people, this could leave places without enough staff to cater for people wanting to come here.”

He said the BHA wanted a twin-pronged approach to deal with this.

This was a points based immigration system that ensured that they could access workers with the skills they required and a push to train up more young Welsh people to take the roles available.

He added: “We need to change the attitude to this industry and show people they can have a successful career and that this can also lead to people running their own business.”