5. Statement by the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:50 pm on 10 June 2020.

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Photo of David Melding David Melding Conservative 2:50, 10 June 2020

Minister, do you agree with me that a coherent and ambitious tourism strategy requires, also, a partnership approach with the rest of the UK? And whilst what we can do in Wales is very, very important, it needs to be connected to some wider issue as well—you've already mentioned the furlough scheme. One hopes the shared prosperity fund, when that's operating, will be able to invest heavily in tourism. It's such a crucial sector in Wales and in other parts of the UK, and it's going to require sustained support over the next 18 months in all probability. Because even when we get to what, I hope, will be a much fuller tourist season next spring, there will be a lot of rebuilding to do. So, I think it's important we do what we can in Wales in terms of business rate relief, for instance, but we do need to be part of a wider UK-partnership approach, as well, especially on some of those potential big funding sources.

And here, I do believe that our marketing strategy can feed into a UK one as well, but I think that we've probably not done as much as we could have in the past, probably since the days of the Welsh Development Agency. I don't think we've had a world-class marketing strategy for Wales. I think that that's what we should aim for again, because Government is in a wonderful position to deliver a marketing strategy, particularly for tourism, because there is just market failure there, with so many more small providers who can't join together to fund a marketing strategy, but Government can do it. But we need, also, to feed into UK infrastructure. Foreign embassies, for instance, and trade missions are a key thing to be reminded of, because if we're promoting Wales for tourism, we're promoting it for wider business too.