I’d like to begin by thanking the Minister for bringing this statement today. The tourism and visitor economy has certainly been a creative programme and a great success to date, but it is more than tourism, as has already been stated. Creating a distinctive brand, Wales has been a significant part of this success, but it must also have a sustainable and strategic interoperability with Creative Wales. We are all very familiar with the magnificent landscapes of Wales, which attract hundreds of thousands of tourists each year, and we say that glibly, but that’s hugely important. And though our iconic coastlines, mountains and valleys must of course be a cornerstone of our tourism offer, I firmly believe that our tourism offer must be a strong cultural offer as well. In particular, I would like to ask the Minister what more can be done to utilise Wales’s reputation as a land of song as a means of attracting visitors.

We have a very proud musical tradition, thanks to our choirs and brass bands, eisteddfodau and orchestras, but we also have a thriving and successful international pop scene in both of our languages, and more, which continue to put Welsh music and Welsh talent on the map—far too many for me to list today. Ours is not just a European musical reputation, but an international one too. And I know that we have already done a great deal to celebrate our culture in attracting visitors, but I believe that music should be at the very heart of our international tourism offer. And we can be doing more to attract music festivals alongside our literary international festivals. And I’m sure that many of us who watched our quarter-final triumph over France last Sunday will have noticed the young Japanese mascot singing along to our anthem, and if ever we needed any proof of Wales’s musical international appeal, I think that is a very, very great example right there.

So, Minister, what more can we do to make Wales the land of song a priority for our visitor economy, whether that is celebrating our world-famous signers, our bands, or orchestras, or on a grass-roots level supporting venues and performers, so that more of our visitors can actually access Welsh music along the way, supporting our cultural economy in the process, alongside and cohesively working with a vibrant national music strategy—a plan for Wales for a sustainable and creative and international Wales of the future?