3. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of staycations on the economy of Wales during the 2021 tourism season? OQ56850

I thank Vikki Howells for the question, Llywydd. Early indications confirm what many Members will have seen for themselves: that this has been a buoyant summer for the tourism sector in Wales, with high numbers of people from within Wales and across the United Kingdom choosing to enjoy all that Wales has to offer.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister, and, without doubt, Wales has benefited economically from the increase in staycations this year. We have such a wonderful country to showcase, so how can the Welsh Government encourage people to continue holidaying in Wales as the worldwide tourist market opens back up in the future?

Well, Llywydd, I feel confident—and I was told this many times myself over the summer by people I met on holiday in Wales—that, having discovered Wales, they will want to be back. In a way, that is the greatest advert, isn't it, that, when people come here, they see everything we have to offer and they realise just what a chance there is to come and have a good vacation in Wales. The aims of the Wales tourism strategy are to spread tourism in Wales so that we open up other parts of Wales, including many parts of the Member's own constituency, to people who come to visit us; that we extend the season so that you can offer sustainable jobs for people who we want to work in tourism and hospitality; and then we find new ways to make sure the people who do come and visit Wales have good ways to spend their money and make a contribution to the local economy. All of those three things, Llywydd, seem to me to be very well captured in the zip wire experience in the Member's own constituency. I was very pleased to be there with her earlier this year—a huge tribute, if I could just say a for a moment, to Tyrone O'Sullivan, who led the Tower colliery initiative and has done so much to be determined that a long-term legacy will be left at that site, creating jobs and prosperity for local people. It brings people into the area, it extends the season, it gives people something exciting to spend their money on, and I think it shows us a very fine example of how we can do exactly what Vikki Howells asked in her supplementary question.

Can I thank the First Minister for his previous answer? I agree with him. I think Wales does have a lot to offer, and whether it's the wonderful beaches of Gower in my region or a zip wire in Cynon Valley, I think the more people come to Wales the more they experience and enjoy it and want to come back. But it was this time last year the Welsh Government had already started introducing local lockdowns around Wales, and, as a result, tourism businesses and local economies in those areas really suffered, and some businesses are very fearful that they simply couldn't survive another lockdown. So, whilst the need to protect public health and people's lives played a part in that decision last year, thankfully, this year, due to the tremendous success of the UK-wide vaccination scheme, the link between cases and hospitalisations has broken. Therefore, given this success, as well as the imminent start of the booster programme, will the First Minister give these tourism businesses an assurance that local lockdowns won't follow later this year?

Well, I'm afraid, Llywydd, that things are just not as simple as the Member implies. He says that vaccination has broken the link between falling ill and hospitalisation, and that simply is not true. It has amended the link, thank goodness, and it has very significantly reduced the risk that people who fall ill will end up in hospital, but it certainly hasn't broken it. You heard the leader of the opposition's questions quite rightly pointing to the pressures that the health service is under today—pressures exacerbated by the fact that we have over 500 people per 100,000 people in Wales now ill with coronavirus, 2,500 new cases yesterday, a rising number of people in beds with coronavirus, real pressures in our acute intensive care area, and all of this being carried by staff who are exhausted by the experience of caring for us all during the last 18 months.

I don't want to see lockdowns return here in Wales. I hope the blunt instrument of a lockdown will absolutely not be necessary, but, in the end, if there were to be a new variant of the virus, if the health service were to be so dedicated to dealing with coronavirus because of numbers continuing to increase, this Welsh Government will not turn our back on any measures that, in the end, are necessary to protect the health of people, and, by doing so, to protect the economy as well.