Can I start by just welcoming the fact that the Deputy Minister is inviting us to make our own contributions in terms of the ongoing approach to expand the tourism sector and is open to ideas? I think that many of the ambitions that have been set out will be shared. So, anyway, this is my opportunity to tell the Assembly, and the Minister in particular, about what I think needs to be in the plan and priorities for the visitor economy in the first half of the 2020s.

I think we do need to recognise the dual nature of the market. We have a large market that comes from the rest of the UK, and that's very, very important, but there's also an international market, and I think, for driving up the standards, trying to get higher end tourism and a green offer, many of the things that are now there and demanded by tourists, that needs to be remembered, because I don't think both elements of the market necessarily always work together. So, some different approaches are needed between the UK market and the international market. So, that's my first thing, and I want to see some very precise planning around that. 

I think we also need to seek growth in our international market. I do think we have just world-class offers, and I should say the Minister and I were at a seminar run by the National Museum earlier today, and one of the participants raised Caerleon, just saying said that it's such an excellent Roman site, but people go to the slightly more meagre—well, not slightly, the more meagre—site in Bath, which has this wonderful constant campaign, I suppose, going on to attract visitors. And Conwy Castle, for instance, is probably the greatest—that is, the most terrible—castle ever built by man. It is part of our heritage and people from around the world, if they want to visit a medieval castle, they should be visiting Wales. And, indeed, if it's Conwy, it also has one of the best preserved medieval town layouts still in existence anywhere in Europe. So, I do want to see a greater emphasis on the international market and also on the green tourism that is often demanded in that market. I mean, hiking holidays—Wales is completely blessed in being able to provide the most wonderful range of walking destinations, and mix that in with high-end culture and I really think there's a winning combination. 

I think there needs to be more work on the brand, frankly. This is difficult, because it costs a lot. But if you look at Ireland—perhaps Ireland's not the best comparator, given how vast their budget is on marketing, but Scotland, I think, has been driving forward and spending more on marketing. And I do think it's a great failure of the private sector, really, because it can't combine and produce that capacity to market something like a nation or its tourism offer. This is where Government needs to step in, because, really, if Government doesn't do it and lead it, it just doesn't get done at anything like the optimum level. 

I welcome your talk about a more commercial approach, because I do think that some of the standards we have need to be higher. We need more boutique hotels, we need more high-end restaurants, and that's good for the UK market and the international market, and it's good for our own local economies. Hi-tech, really good green offers, boutique hotels and all the rest of it, they can be a part of the foundational economy as well. The foundational economy means it's something that can work around the year, locally, and stays local—the money that is generated. It doesn't mean that it's a basic level of the economy, necessarily, so I would mention that.

I think in Scotland they have a very ambitious draft strategy. They've set the target of Scotland being a world leader in tourism by 2030. I think that's the sort of ambition we should state as well. And, if you do state it, I know that everyone in the Assembly would be behind you in trying to achieve that ambition.