3. Will the Minister outline the Welsh Government's strategy to attract events to Wales? OAQ54870

We proactively work with partners in Wales, the UK and internationally to identify and pursue long-term hosting targets for attracting major cultural, sporting and business events to all parts of Wales. In addition, we support the establishment, growth and development of a wide range of home-grown events in Wales.

Thank you, Minister. In December last year, the new International Convention Centre Wales in Newport hosted the BBC Welsh sports personality of the year. It was a tremendous success and I was extremely pleased to see the peerless Alun Wyn Jones win the top prize.

Following this, I've written to the BBC and the ICC urging them to consider the venue for the UK sports personality of the year. Three of the last 13 UK sports personalities have been Welsh, yet the event has never been hosted in Wales, the only country in the United Kingdom not to. So, now is the time to correct this.

Newport, along with the ICC, is the perfect place to host the UK BBC sports personality of the year, and offers huge potential for similar events and the benefits that they bring. Please could you add your support and your cajoling to bring this event to Newport and Wales?

What a brilliant idea. That's certainly something that I'd like to follow up on. I have regular meetings with the Celtic Manor hotel and the people responsible for the ICC, and that's certainly a great idea that I'll pursue with vigour. Thank you.

Minister, you may remember that I asked you in November last year about maximising the benefit for Wales of the 2022 Commonwealth Games being held in Birmingham. Then, you confirmed that you had met the games' organisers to see whether some of the teams competing could be based here in Wales. In view of your answer, could you say whether you have made some progress on this to attract some of the sporting events themselves to be facilitated in Wales, or is there still a possibility of this happening? Your update on this issue will be highly appreciated by our hospitality sector in Wales.

Thank you. Well, I haven't had a recent meeting with the Commonwealth Games people, but I'll attempt to see if I can find out if they have made any progress in trying to get teams to base themselves here in Wales. So, this is something that we're obviously very interested in progressing, because we want to get as much focus as we can during that time on Wales. 

I'm aware that the Urdd Eisteddfod, for example, have now got a strategic alignment with the Welsh team in terms of promoting Wales, and they're using the Urdd mascot as the method to really promote Wales during those Commonwealth Games. So, I'll pursue that and see if we've got any further in tempting people to base themselves here. 

I'd like to push the Minister on that, if I can, about any bid in the future to host the Commonwealth Games and whether you've actually learnt or spoken to the Scottish Government about the benefits that came to Scotland, not just in terms of sports, but also the cultural benefits and public health benefits that that country received after hosting the Commonwealth Games. Obviously, we were disappointed alongside millions—well, millions internationally—of sports fans when the plans to try to host fell through. The bids for 2026 and 2030 have been decided simultaneously, but can you commit to putting work in place now to pave the way for us to be able to bid for the 2034 games? 

I think 2034 is quite a long time frame, it's quite a long horizon for us to be working towards. It's got to be made clear that this has got to be balanced out against other initiatives that are also in play. For example, the new Prime Minister has said that he's very keen to host the football world cup. There are opportunities and we just have to work out—we can't do everything—which one of these we want to plump for. Of course, they're expensive, to host these events, but there are real opportunities as well. To get the attention of the world on us is an opportunity that we shouldn't miss. But I think 2034 is probably too far away in terms of the horizon scanning that we're doing. 

One of the advantages of the international convention centre and Jayne's excellent proposal is its location on the east side of Newport at Celtic Manor, so that people coming to events there from England by road don't need to travel through the Brynglas tunnels. Wouldn't a wider strategy of events coming to Wales, for instance to Cardiff, and making it possible for more people to get to them without being stuck in very long delays, as, again, has happened over the Christmas and new year period and indeed today, be to build an M4 relief road?

Well, I know that the events people at the ICC work very, very closely with Cardiff council and understand that, actually, if they do have a major event and they don't have the capacity, even with the Celtic Manor and the other hotels that they own nearby, that actually, they need to share the prosperity and they're anxious to share the prosperity. The ICC, I think, is a really unique development for Wales. There's a real opportunity for us to bring people to Wales to business events—we had the space conference held there as one of the opening events, which was a great success. But what happens with business events is that people come back as visitors. Very often, they're high net worth individuals who are anxious, then, to come and spend some money in Wales. That's certainly something we're interested in. You'll have seen recently that we are very proud to see that we will be hosting a major golf event in that area in the near future as well.