6. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline the Welsh Government’s plans to increase visitor numbers to South Wales West? OAQ(5)0133(EI)

Wales enjoyed two record-breaking years in 2014 and 2015, and then again in 2016, with visitor numbers crossing the 10 million mark for the first time back in 2014 and growing still further with record spend from staying visitors in 2015. South Wales West has been a significant contributor to that growth, with its wide range of heritage offers and beautiful landscapes and coastal regions.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Rhossili has once again been named one of the top-10 beaches in the UK and also enjoys being one of the most dog-friendly beaches in Britain. The Gower beach has just lost out on the top spot, but competes with the top beaches in Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. Cabinet Secretary, if we are to capitalise upon this and increase the number of visitors to my region, we have to ensure that we have adequate public transport links. What plans does your Government have to improve the transport infrastructure to top tourist destinations in Wales?

Can I thank the Member for her question and congratulate Rhossili beach? It’s a magnificent coup and I think it’s fair to say that it is now recognised around Britain and around Europe as one of the continent’s finest beaches. We’re keen to ensure that more people can visit Wales in a convenient way for that reason. We continue to support Cardiff Airport, we continue to support rail travel and we continue to support our bus network, but we do believe that further improvements can be made, not just to our rail infrastructure and rail services, but also to the bus network. As I’ve outlined in a series of statements now to the Chamber, in the coming four years it’s my belief that we can radically change the way that services are provided and operated and see significant improvements for passengers, not just those who are visiting Wales, but for the citizens of Wales as well.

Cabinet Secretary, a few weeks ago, you told me that when it comes to the protection of heritage so that we can promote faith tourism, it’s essential that Visit Wales uses its skills to promote Wales around the globe and to offer advice as well. While you outlined to me that Cadw has seen an increase in visitor numbers in Tintern and Valle Crucis, neither of those is actually in South Wales West. Can you give me some detail about how you hope that Visit Wales can use an anchor site like Neath abbey—you knew I was going to say this—to draw attention to what is, after all, a gateway site? The Neath and Swansea valleys are absolute treasure troves for visitors. So, what support can Welsh Government give to Neath abbey as a specific site in order to open up those floodgates for visitors to those two valleys?

Our heritage is remarkably important in our cultural and tourism offer and Neath abbey is a very important component of the heritage landscape in the Member’s region. I’m very pleased to say that Cadw are now supporting Neath abbey by having a dedicated in-house craft team working at the site. As a consequence, some areas of the abbey at the moment are inaccessible to the public, but with that dedicated work from the in-house craft team, I hope to be able to transform the abbey into a far better and more attractive tourist destination and visitor opportunity. But it’s not the only site in the Member’s region that is receiving support from Welsh Government. There are other assets, such as Oxwich castle and Hafod-Morfa Copperworks and Oystermouth castle, all of which are receiving funding. I’m keen to make sure that we can channel as much resource as possible through to south-west Wales because it is an incredibly attractive region of the UK, and I think the Member may, this evening, if she watches television, see the new advertisement from Visit Wales, which showcases some of our finest natural environment, but which also invites people in 2017 to generate their own legendary tales in Wales.