2. Will the Minister make a statement on the promotion of mid Wales as a tourist destination? OQ55352

I'm very pleased to make a statement about mid Wales because, as no doubt you know, Russell, I used to live there for 20 years, and in those days, of course, there was a lot of interest in promoting the identity of mid Wales. When it came to my role in tourism, I was very keen that we maintained mid Wales as a region.

Thank you, Minister. I very much welcome that answer. Tourism businesses, I think, are looking to the Welsh Government for some kind of aspirational timetable on when they can reopen their doors again—operating, of course, under social distancing guidance. In order to avoid irreversible damage to the mid-Wales economy—and I know you care about the mid-Wales economy as I do—what do you and the Welsh Government plan to do to promote mid Wales as a post-COVID tourist destination? Can you commit to putting a long-term package of financial support in place for the sector, which of course is continuing to be adversely affected and is likely to be for some time to come?

Well, I'm pleased to say I look forward to discussing this with Steve Hewson, who represents mid Wales on our tourism conference, which is a regular fortnightly, and sometimes weekly, event that we hold. In the discussions that I've had with him, the whole question of mid Wales as a major centre for national events—and obviously Steve himself is a chief executive of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society—that centre, although obviously not going to hold an event this year, remains a key focus for tourism. We must remember that so much of tourism is in fact not just leisure tourism—it's business tourism, it's people visiting other regions in order to share experiences. I'm certain that in this case mid Wales is in a very strong position because of the distinctive centres of events that we have there.