Support for Businesses

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 23 March 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:17, 23 March 2021

Llywydd, can I thank Angela Burns for that very constructive question, and indeed for the tone with which she always raises questions here on the floor of the Senedd? I don't dissent from the points that she makes at all. It's why we have tried to give the industry as long a lead-in time as we can to the reopening of self-contained accommodation, which I still hope will be possible for the Easter period, and have said that, in the period beyond 12 April, then the start of the opening of outdoor hospitality, which is an intrinsic part of the tourism industry, of course, in south-west Wales—that that will be on the table for us to consider at that point, provided the public health circumstances of Wales allow. 

Llywydd, I don't suppose, if I do this, you probably will be able to see the front of this document—I wanted to do it, simply because it has such a fantastic picture from the Member's own constituency. And this is the document we published last week: 'Let's Shape the Future. Working in partnership to reconstruct a resilient future for the visitor economy in Wales.' This is a document drawn up in partnership with the sector itself, and it tries to answer some of the questions that the Member has raised with us this afternoon. The picture there of North Beach and Harbour Beach in Tenby reminds us all of what fantastic natural assets we have here in Wales and which the Member has represented here in the Senedd. And we will work alongside the sector for as long as we can, to make sure that it can reopen as it did last year, carefully but successfully and in a way that allowed it to deal with the challenges that the Member has identified.