Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 2:55 pm on 11 May 2022.
Thank you for that response. You'll be aware that there's a great deal of concern in north Wales about these proposals for a tourism tax on the economy. Many tens of thousands of jobs across the region rely on the tourism industry and visitor spend. One of the strange things that people have suggested that the Welsh Government need to listen to is the fact that the majority of spending is from overnight stays. Those who stay overnight spend more in the Welsh economy. What your proposals are actually going to do is to penalise people who want to stay overnight. It's not going to make much difference to the day visitor market. Do you accept that overnight taxing of individuals who want to visit Wales to spend in our economy could actually do a lot of damage to our tourism sector, and if the economic assessments that you are commissioning demonstrate that that will be the case, will you reverse this decision to introduce these appalling taxes on what is a very important part of the economy in my constituency and region?