2. What are the Welsh Government's priorities for increasing the number of tourists who visit Wales? OAQ(5)0156(FM)

Our tourism strategy, ‘Strategy for Tourism 2013—2020: Partnership for Growth’, sets out our priorities for developing and promoting Wales’s tourism offer both at home and overseas.

Today is World Tourism Day, as I’m sure you know, First Minister, and it’s so important that we highlight what is on offer in all parts of our country to visitors. My own constituency, the Cynon Valley, possesses world-famous attractions like the Penderyn whisky distillery and unique events like the Nos Galan road races, which commemorate the memory of Guto Nyth Brân. So, how does the Welsh Government ensure the wealth of similar opportunities throughout the south Wales Valleys are highlighted within its tourism strategy? In addition, as the theme of World Tourism Day 2016 is ‘tourism for all’, how is the Welsh Government engaging with partners to ensure attractions are accessible to all possible visitors?

The Visit Wales website does list a wide range of events being held throughout Wales, including many in the Valleys, and the annual Nos Galan road race in Mountain Ash is listed in Visit Wales’s main annual tourism brochure, ‘This is Wales 2016’.

She asked, of course, as well about accessibility. The Visit Wales website does include a filter for the provision of disabled visitors to allow visitors to search for attractions that cater for those with disabilities, and that information is based on the details provided by the attractions themselves, while exact facilities can be confirmed by visitors at the enquiry or booking stage.

You’ve been First Minister for seven years, so every day you pass the dilapidated Cardiff Bay train station. You also pass the crumbling yet magnificent façade of the Corys building opposite the Wales Millennium Centre. Do you not realise how embarrassing it is for Wales that those buildings are the first things that many tourists see when visiting Cardiff Bay? A Westminster Government would never allow such eyesores literally within a stone’s throw of the UK Parliament. So, what are you going to do about these eyesores in Cardiff Bay?

I don’t know what he did when he was deputy leader of Cardiff, because, of course, the council does have a responsibility, not for the railway station, I accept, but certainly for Central Square, now being developed, of course, by a Labour-led council in Cardiff. So, the new bus station is being built and the city has a proper gateway. He raises an important point about central railway station. I’ve certainly met with Network Rail. They have plans for the station, and we’ve been urging them to develop those plans as quickly as possible, keeping the character of the station, of course, whilst, at the same time, modernising the facilities available.

First Minister, Visit Scotland spends over £50 million on promoting Scotland. In Wales, Visit Wales, £8.3 million was spent on Wales as a whole. But none of that spend is spent specifically on promoting mid Wales as a specific destination to visit. We have the coastal path, we have beautiful market towns overlooking fantastic scenery in mid Wales. Can I ask, First Minister: is it good enough that we do not promote mid Wales as a specific destination?

He makes a strong case for the area that he represents, which I appreciate. We do look, of course, to promote all areas of Wales, including areas that traditionally have not been seen as areas that have traditionally attracted tourists. I can say that expenditure by staying visitors in Wales in 2015 was over £2.3 billion, well above the target that we set in place. We know that tourism is a major employer in Wales as well, and we’ll continue to look to increase the number of visitors, both day and overnight, to all parts of Wales, so that those who don’t have the good fortune of living here can enjoy what we have to offer.

First Minister, I welcome the successful summer for tourism in Wales in terms of day visits and also the recent Welsh Government investment in my constituency, including improvements to Flint castle, and the exciting Let’s Skate initiative, which is coming to Theatr Clwyd later in the year. Can you give assurances that this investment will continue to be built upon so that we can continue to grow our crucial visitor economy in north Wales?

Yes, of course. In response to the point I made earlier on, we want to encourage tourism to all parts of Wales, not just the areas that have traditionally been the areas that have attracted most tourists. And we’ll continue to look to provide investment to improve those facilities for visitors in the years to come.

First Minister, many businesses in north Wales are dependent on tourism and have long been disadvantaged in north Wales, partly due to the failure to adequately advertise local attractions along the A55. It’s an ongoing problem experienced by local attractions—visitors get on the 55, stop at their destination, having no idea of the diverse activities off the 55 and which aren’t signposted. The opportunity to use the 55 as a means of generating income for local businesses is being missed. Could you explain to us please what you’re going to do to address this problem?

Of course, working with local authorities, we’re able to investigate, for example, the provision of more brown signs. We see those going up across Wales. It is right to say that we are working on making sure that we get more capture of the visitors that are travelling along the A55 to Ireland, many of whom have said to me in the past, ‘Well, we’ve travelled to Ireland that way but not really stopped on the way.’ I can say though, when it comes to international tourists, that figures continue to go up, and, for them, of course, many of them will visit Ireland and travel through north Wales in order to get there. But, working with the local authorities, we believe that we can continue to provide information to visitors both digitally and in terms of the signposting.