I'm delighted to be supporting you, Tom Giffard, with your first legislative proposal, and what a really good call it is, and that's for a Wales tourism Bill. The lack of joined-up thinking across the tourism industry and policy is clear for all to see, and this doesn't come from those operators. The whole remit of Visit Wales is actually meant to be about driving trade in tourism. After all, this important industry supports one in seven Welsh jobs, and yet it is the Welsh Government's tourism tax that is now putting at risk those same jobs. I have seen very little, if any, support from Visit Wales with regard to the condemnation of this retrograde tax collection.

Now, we're very fortunate in north Wales. We have the tourism chief executive of Go North Wales or North Wales Tourism chief executive, Jim Jones. He himself has said that he's found it staggering that Welsh Government continue to talk about a tourism tax. He said,

'A tax on tourism would be a hugely regressive step that would damage an industry that is already reeling after being battered by the pandemic.'

Many owners of self-catering holiday lets have contacted us to say that they are considering selling up and leaving the market due to the Welsh Government's added red tape. Three hundred per cent council tax premium for second homes does nothing to address the housing crisis in Wales. Added together, these policies would amount to a disaster for thriving local tourism hotspots. This is a slap in the face to hospitality businesses, but where Visit Wales is concerned, as has been said by my colleague Rhun over there, we all remember the days of the tourism board. What we need from Visit Wales, what we need is something that's outward facing, stands up to Welsh Government on occasion and actually defends the very people who actually put that remit in their hands.

I have raised, but to be fair to the Deputy Minister, about how Visit Wales does not offer the same accommodation search features that VisitScotland or Visit Northern Ireland do, and I know we're meeting soon to actually look at this. The current centralised structure of Visit Wales means that our local operators, as well as those in other parts of Wales, can often feel left behind and they just see Visit Wales as another cohort of Welsh Government. We need a new board that would be above party politics, would help to put those businesses directly into the driver's seat. This would make sure we have a strategy, devised by local tourism operators, not by bureaucrats and civil servants.