5. How is the Welsh Government promoting tourism in North Wales? OAQ53591

I thank the Member for that. North Wales is featured in all Visit Wales marketing activity, including its current Year of Discovery campaigns in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in Germany. There is also, via competitive application, financial support given to partners to collaborate on particular projects to market the north Wales area.

Thank you for that response. But with the north Wales growth deal hopefully moving forward, and the approach by the North Wales Economic Ambition Board as team north Wales that Visit Wales should invest more in supporting the regions to target our UK domestic market while leaving Visit Wales to focus on Wales's profile internationally, how will the Welsh Government engage with our regional destination marketing organisation, North Wales Tourism, representing approximately 1,500 tourism-related businesses in north Wales, who are doing a great job already with their 'Go North Wales' brand, but could do a great deal more if more support from the Welsh Government and Visit Wales was forthcoming?

I thank the Member for that. I agree with him that fantastic efforts are made by tourism operators in north Wales to promote the area and to make it an attractive destination to visitors from the rest of the United Kingdom, but also from the rest of the world. We've talked already this afternoon, Llywydd, about Japan, and when Wales is in Japan for the Rugby World Cup it will be a major opportunity for us to showcase Wales as a destination for visitors from that part of the world, and north Wales operators particularly have already worked very hard to increase the number of visitors from Japan visiting north Wales. In fact, 27 of the top 30 Japanese tour operators now include north Wales on their UK itineraries, and that is a tribute to the work that has gone on in the region to promote it as a destination. We will continue to work through the regional tourism forum from north Wales to make sure that the work that is done by Visit Wales to promote the whole of our nation fully reflects the needs of north Wales and goes on making it such a successful destination for visitors in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. 

We’re all also aware, of course, that it’s not just rugby that's played in this country; there’s an important football match tomorrow at the Racecourse in Wrexham, and there’ll be many thousands of people visiting north-east Wales. Sporting events are very important in terms of the tourism offer that we have in north Wales, as it is in Cardiff, of course, therefore, the question I want to ask is: what work is the Government doing jointly with Wrexham football club, the local council and the football association, in order to redevelop the Racecourse to ensure that we do have more opportunities such as this one, and that it's not just one football international every decade that comes to north-east Wales, but that we see that happening regularly?

Thank you, Llyr Gruffydd, for that question. What he says is true: when you mention Wales throughout the world, people immediately think about sports, and that’s the first thing people think about when they think of what happens here in Wales. And, of course, I receive information almost on a weekly basis from the local Member in Wrexham about what goes on at the Racecourse. She sends Wrexham’s football results to me almost every Sunday, and both she and Ken Skates are working on the things that Llyr Gruffydd has raised, to develop what’s going on Wrexham and to draw more matches to Wrexham, and to use the north-east to attract more people into the area.