Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 29 June 2022.
Thank you, Minister. This is really good to hear, because I'm sure you would agree that tourism is vitally important to the Welsh economy, but, of course, with the rapid rise in self-catering units, there is a risk that some towns and villages will cater more to visitors than to residents. This is something that's been raised with me by concerned residents in Llangollen on numerous occasions, where parts of the town—as many as one in five properties—are now advertised as Airbnb self-catering units. Would you agree that we have to ensure that towns and villages across Wales are alive and active 12 months of the year, and can you guarantee that the measures that you have outlined will lead to a careful balance between our interests in driving the visitor economy and the need to ensure that towns and villages are living towns and villages?