Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 1 December 2021.
On the omicron variant, I think it's fair to say that we're living through a period of uncertainty, so it's hard to have a specific programme when we're not certain what the end outcome is going to be. I think that would be the same response for any Minister in any of the four administrations across the UK. I think it's really important that I don't try to set out an artificial level of certainty that will prove to be incorrect and may lead to people making choices that they then regret on the basis of what I've said. I'm sure the Member understands that.
On your point about enabling sectors, we already have support for tourism within the UK as a visitor economy, but also, going back, if you like, to one of Jack Sargeant's points about a sustainable future for aerospace, we still expect that there will be travel between different countries for leisure and for businesses, and how Wales is seen in the rest of the world is important for that. So, we are looking at international visitors in terms of what does that mean for a sustainable model of an international visitor economy, what does it mean for Wales's image around the world, not just in things like our sporting and cultural traditions, which are an important part of the offer. I think people sometimes underestimate the cultural offer that Wales has in itself. But, actually, in the last two years, I think Wales as a country has had a significant interest in other parts of the world more generally. I have done more international media in the last year and a half than I have done in the previous six or seven years as a Minister within the Government, and I think it's also true that the First Minister has done much more international media than his predecessor.
So, actually, the profile of Wales is on a different level now, and that's a good thing, because it's been broadly seen as being a positive as well. We're looking to then work alongside businesses to understand what their aspirations are, how we present Wales in some of the developing international fora—the world expo, for example, being a good example—but also working alongside businesses and organisations like the CBI. My recent speech to the CBI was exactly in this space about what we can do for British businesses, including Welsh businesses, to be much better at gaining new markets internationally. So, I don't think, on those points, the Member will find there's disagreement between us.