Economic Priorities for Aberavon

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 22 October 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:13, 22 October 2019

Llywydd, let me agree with Suzy Davies about the potential that Aberavon has for tourism. And, the Member is absolutely right to say that there is a real challenge for that industry in reshaping its reputation amongst people who go to work for it, and emphasising to people the opportunities that exist within the tourism industry and that it isn't regarded as something you do only when nothing else is available to you. So, that's a reputational challenge for that sector. I met recently with representatives from the tourism industry in Wales, and they know themselves, particularly if a supply of labour that they have relied upon coming from other parts of the European Union won't be available to them in the future, that they are going to have to do more to make that industry attractive to people who are already here in Wales.

We will work with them to do that, to find new opportunities, because the tourism industry is important in all parts of Wales, but there is a challenge for the industry itself. They are going to have to do things that demonstrate that the skills are important, that the career paths exist, that the rewards are available, and that if you commit yourself to leisure and tourism in Wales, then the opportunities that my colleague Dafydd Elis-Thomas is helping to develop in that industry, levelling it upwards so that it has a different profile in Wales, that that profile communicates itself to potential workers as well.