10. Short Debate: Restoring our seaside towns to their former glory: A necessary task or an impossible ask?

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:46 pm on 16 March 2022.

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Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 5:46, 16 March 2022

I thank Gareth Davies for introducing this debate. He's taken us already on an excursion to Rhyl, and we've been also on an excursion to Aberconwy and the wonderful resorts there. But I want to take you to visit places in my own constituency: Colwyn Bay, Rhos-on-Sea, Towyn and Kinmel Bay—wonderful resorts, many of them competitors to Rhyl and Prestatyn down the road.

But all of these resorts, as has already been said, have their fortunes closely aligned with the tourism industry, and those price-sensitive tourists who come to get their kiss-me-quick experience in Towyn and Kinmel Bay will be choosing to go elsewhere, frankly, if there's a price differential between the beautiful places on the north Wales coast that people can visit versus elsewhere. So, we must do what we can to overturn this dreadful proposal for a tourism tax here in Wales.

Just one other point: I think the fortunes of our seaside towns can be revived and reversed. We already heard from Janet Finch-Saunders about her experience in Llandudno. Well, Colwyn Bay has turned a corner as well. It has seen some significant investment from the Welsh Government in terms of its coastal defences, which has improved the coast a great deal and created a new beach. But, on top of that, it has reinvented itself in recent years. It has had a renaissance as the events and sporting capital of north Wales. And it's because it has hung its hat on that particular idea that I believe it has been a success. All of the tourism towns, the seaside resorts, that we have spoken of today, can only really turn their fortunes around by looking for a niche that they can hang their hat on. So, I wish Rhyl, Prestatyn and all of those other seaside towns that we've mentioned today every success in following the success of Colwyn Bay.