7. How is the Welsh Government growing the Welsh tourism economy? OQ61412

Thank you. Our tourism strategy, 'Welcome to Wales', sets out our approach for growing the visitor economy. It emphasises the core areas of delivery that focus on increased spend, spreading economic benefit and helping to address seasonality issues, with sustainability at the heart of all our activity. This is backed by a £50 million Wales tourism investment fund for major projects and a £5 million 'brilliant basics' fund for capital investment on a smaller scale.

Diolch yn fawr iawn. You will know, with the crucial summer months coming, that there is widespread concern about the Welsh Government’s potential introduction of a tourism tax in Wales. That concern is so widespread that it has, in fact, spread to the new Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who, last week, when asked if she supported the introduction of a tourism tax in Bournemouth, said, ‘I’m not in favour of making the staycation more expensive than it already is. I want more people to holiday in Britain. I want to support our vibrant hospitality and leisure sector. So, when we’re in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis like we are today, I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.' So, can the First Minister explain why a Labour Chancellor in one part of the United Kingdom is saying that this tax would be damaging to our economy and make the staycation more expensive than it already is, and a Welsh Labour Government here in Cardiff Bay is pursuing exactly that policy?

Quite apart from the irony of a Member of the Senedd not understanding devolution, it's worth pointing out that a tourism levy won't come into place until 2027 at the earliest. It will be a permissive power for local authorities to decide what to do, and they will then have choices to make over how to use it. It's worth pointing out that this isn't just commonplace in many parts of the rest of the world. If you go on a sun-and-sand holiday to European destinations, you're probably paying a tourism levy of some sort, if not two different types. If you go to North America, you're almost certainly paying a state and often a city-level levy as well. If you look in the UK, greater Manchester have used a levy that they've invested in supporting events, to generate more return for their night-time and visitor economy. Being creative about how we support the sector is important to understand what sustainable looks like. And this is actually about us making sure that devolution doesn't just stop in Cardiff Bay. We're looking for legislation to give powers to local authorities to make choices, for them to be accountable for those choices, to demonstrate the benefit or otherwise of using those powers or not. I think this is a good example. In the longer term, I think people will see this as a real success. Of course, the Member is entitled to carry on making his argument that has had such great success with the people of Wales last week.