Enterprise and Business Committee - Inquiry into Tourism

Representatives across the tourism industry in Wales were given an opportunity to meet with Assembly Members to discuss and assess progress made by the Welsh Government towards achieving its Programme for Government commitments relating to tourism. This was part of the Enterprise and Business Committee Inquiry into Tourism.

The events, which were held at Oriel y Parc in St. David’s and the National Museum Cardiff, were broken into two focused discussions, with ideas and views shared between the two areas via Twitter Board.

The group discussions in Oriel y Parc was facilitated by Joyce Watson AM, Suzy Davies AM and Julie Morgan AM, with group discussions in Cardiff facilitated by Keith Davies AM, William Graham AM and Eluned Parrott AM. The discussions focused on (but were not limited to) some of the following themes:

• The clarity and strength of Wales’s tourism "brand";
• The effectiveness of Welsh Government attempts to maximise the value of the domestic and international tourism market;
• Performance of Visit Wales compared with tourism development agencies in the rest of the UK;
• The work of Visit Britain as it relates to Wales, and the extent of coordination between Visit Britain and Visit Wales;
• The extent to which the marketing and development of tourism in Wales makes the most of Wales’s cultural, historical and natural assets; and
• The impact of major events on Wales’s tourism economy, and the success of Welsh Government attempts to maximise this.

The group discussions lasted for 45 minutes, with a short feedback session at the end to re-cap. A note of the main discussion points from the events will soon be published on the link here. You can also watch the Committee evidence sessions online via www.Senedd.tv.

The Committee hopes to produce a report with recommendations to the Welsh Government in the next term, following a final meeting with representatives from the North Wales tourism industry. The conclusions of the events will help inform the report and recommendations. You will be able to see the full report here when it has been completed.