5. Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Small businesses and tourism

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:07 pm on 7 July 2021.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 4:07, 7 July 2021

Thank you, Hefin, for proposing this debate. Inspired by you, I'd like to tell you about the wonders available in Cardiff Central; for example, the treasures available for free at our national museum in Cathays Park, much of it there thanks to the ingenuity, love of art and entrepreneurial attitude of the Davies sisters. Their extraordinary collection of impressionist paintings, bequeathed to the nation, is one of the most important collections of impressionists outside London.

Cardiff castle is free to enter for residents of Cardiff. Bute park contains wonderful herbaceous borders, as well as a fantastic bike and walking route along the Taff, all the way to Caerphilly castle.

So, it is most unfortunate that many families who live a mere bus ride away from these wonderful attractions never visit them. It is one of the definitions of poverty that people never leave the confines of their own communities. I know that the national museum is doing a lot of work to broaden the number and diversity of their visitors to both the national museum and the prize-winning St Fagans, and its other assets. But, many people still don't know how to get there, and we have to recognise that people living in poverty are restrained by the cost of public transport for a family day out.

According to the most recent Office for National Statistics figures, about a quarter of all households across Britain cannot afford one week's annual holiday, and the figure for Wales alone is likely to be higher because the level of deprivation is higher in Wales. So, we need to bear that in mind, this year of all years, when there are such opportunities for the Welsh tourism business, to ensure that we are endeavouring to do the maximum possible, so that everybody gets some sort of a holiday after what has been the most challenging 16 months that all of us have ever experienced.

I agree, absolutely: we need sustainable all-round tourism so that greater numbers of people who are not locked into school holidays can enjoy Wales's many sites of outstanding natural beauty, which are with us all year round. Edwards Coaches, I know, do a fantastic job of getting people who don't have the means of transport to go places on their own, and that's a really valuable service valued by many, particularly older people who don't wish to go places by car. But if we all go to Barry Island when the sun shines, all we'll get is a traffic jam. So, it's really important that we support people like Natural Resources Wales, Snowdonia National Park and Brecon Beacons National Park, to ensure that we are encouraging people to go to the lesser-known places and everybody's not trying to go up Snowdon, and we've seen some of the appalling sights that happened in Easter last year.

So, given the strong encouragement from the Welsh Government for people to holiday in Wales this year, I'd just like to probe what loans are available to expand the capacity to accommodate people in Wales, given that, for most people, endeavouring to book a B&B or a hotel is completely outside their possibilities, what loans might be available. For example, for farmers who might want to build toilets and showers to enable them to offer camping to families who live in our cities, or other businesses who might want to expand their caravanning provision and need to ensure that it meets the requirements for public health restrictions. So, I think it's a really important debate, but, I think, we really, really do need to realise that holidays are such an important part of people's well-being, and for probably a quarter of our households, it is something completely beyond their reach.