Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I move the motion tabled in my name.

Dirprwy Lywydd, the hospitality, tourism and retail sectors are really at the heart of our nation. Their importance to supporting and enhancing life in Wales will be clear to everyone in this Chamber. Whether it's in the form of a bustling high street, a nice country pub, or a restaurant selling locally produced food cooked by expert chefs, the retail and hospitality industries are at the core of our communities across Wales.

As well as making use of and often enhancing our retail and hospitality offer, tourism allows us to show off the best of Wales to the rest of the world and provides 12 per cent of jobs in the Welsh workforce. In short, these industries are absolutely vital to foster, support and promote culture and the good life we all want to pursue.

The hospitality, tourism and retail industries were one of the first areas we identified to explore when we met to plan the new committee's priorities. Initially, we identified these sectors as we knew that they were facing big challenges as a result of the pandemic. Retail and hospitality were facing the huge challenge of recovery and adapting to the new post-pandemic world. Tourism was facing a slightly different challenge. The industry had also been hit hard by the pandemic, but was facing a situation of feast or famine. During the lockdown restrictions, tourism businesses, as with most retail and hospitality, had to close, but then as the UK started to reopen but international travel was still off the table, the industry found itself overwhelmed by demand.

We decided to look at these industries from two sides. One was the economic viability and sustainability of the sectors, particularly looking at COVID recovery and long-term viability. The second element we wanted to investigate was the workforce. This included improving the quality of jobs in the sector, addressing labour shortages, and looking generally at skills in the workforce. The committee is very grateful to those who gave evidence to our inquiry, in particular the anonymous individuals from across the country who completed our survey and gave us a real insight into what it's like working in these sectors.

Those participants told us about the long hours, low pay, job insecurity, lack of worker voice, and a lack of respect from customers and employers. However, they also told us that they enjoyed working in the hospitality, tourism and retail sectors as it allowed them to work in their local community, gave them flexibility in their lives, and provided them with a social environment. One participant told us that, and I quote,

'Working in retail means that I don’t have to move out of my community for work. I can live in the area I grew up in where my language is used.'

Another told us that, and I quote,

'The flexibility generally allows me to work around other aspects of my life. It also allows me to work in my local community. So many jobs require you to commute or move, but I can stay and work in the community that I grew up in.'