Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:47 pm on 29 September 2021.
Yes. Look, we are very fortunate to have a tourism industry that has had lots of extra demand coming into it, but that's been a challenge for some of the communities that host some of those tourist hotspots. I have enjoyed it myself, taking my own family around Wales. I've enjoyed time on the Llŷn peninsula, and I've enjoyed time on the island up in Ynys Môn, and we've had a great time seeing parts of Wales we haven't seen before. And most tourists—we certainly have been—are respectful and have appreciated the opportunity to spend time and money in Wales. Our challenge is how we have, as you say, a thriving industry and have local infrastructure that supports that and doesn't push aside the interests of people who live in those communities year-round but recognises the economic benefits that they can produce.
The tourism levy is part of that consideration, and our starting point has been a tourism levy that does, as you've indicated, build on successful practice in other parts of the world, including in Europe. And many of us, pre pandemic, were going abroad to major destinations like Italy, Spain, Portugal and France. They have tourism levies, and they're normally designed for local choice and for local circumstances to be taken account of. So, when we go out to consult, it will be myself working with the finance Minister, because it is looking at the tax principles, which the finance Minister's department look to ensure, to understand how that could work, how it could work with local authorities making choices about what to invest in, to make sure that tourism is a real positive for those areas and takes proper account of facilities and infrastructure.