Hotelier Angela Saunders said her business rates are rising 75%

Guest houses and hotels in Wales are having their business rates reassessed.

Owners say they are being hit by rates increases as well as extra costs brought on by new licensing laws.

However a tourist chief says hoteliers need to ensure they provide a high level of service even, if that means some outlets go out of business.

Tourism is one of Wales' biggest industries, contributing over �6m a day to the economy and providing employment for 100,000 people.

But business leaders in the sector claim that, even though the summer season it approaching, many operators face uncertain times.

Angela Saunders of Griffin Leisure, which runs the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli has seen her business' rates rise by 75%.

She also says the industry is also facing uncertainty over the changes in April 2006 when the Wales Tourist Board and the Welsh Development Agency are set to become part of the assembly government.

Both quangos have a major influence on tourism policy.

Tourism chief Philip Evans wants set standards for accommodation

However Wales Tourist Board Chair Philip Evans is optimistic about his quango becoming part of the assembly government.

Mr Evans is happy with the announcement in last week's Queen's Speech that accommodation providers will shortly have to be registered by law, guaranteeing a minimum service standards.

He said he could not see a problem if there was a "culling" of those outlets which did not reach adequate standards.

He said: "If you get a bad doctor or a bad nursing home, or a bad fire service, it needs to be sorted out as it's life threatening.

"This is a great threat to the economic future of Wales so therefore that issue needs to be sorted out in just as much of a clinical manner as anything else.

"If it's not good for Wales it needs to be moved away."

Tourism operators are also finding the higher cost implications of the new licensing law hard to handle.

Business rates

Colin Rouse of the Wales Tourism Alliance (WTA) a body which assists the development of the industry, runs a guest house in Carmarthenshire with his wife Jacquie.

He says tourism providers are going under due to business rates increases of 60% or more.

"We know people are going out of business," said Mr Rouse.

"They did not plan for it because they did not realise that there was going be this percentage increase."

Lisa Francis wants to see ways of encouraging skills into the industry

The WTA argues that businesses like Crossways Guest House near Cowbridge are not operating on the same level as their English counterparts.

Over the border a transitional relief scheme staggers the impact of larger business rates increases.

The assembly government decided against offering transitional relief and says it unfairly penalises some businesses.

But Conservative AM Lisa Francis wants to know what regulating B&Bs and hotels will cost the taxpayer, and how it could be proven an establishment should close.

"If you talk to people about what their biggest problems are they would probably say excessive regulation, the increase in business rates, a deficit in skilled help.

"I would think it's far more worthwhile for this Government to be looking at ways of encouraging skills into the industry than chasing a scheme like this." Ms Francis added.