TOURISM generates less money for the Welsh economy than seven years ago, figures obtained by the Welsh Conservatives have revealed.

News that visitors spent £159mn in Wales last year than in 2000 demonstrates the need for a review of the Assembly Government's tourism strategy, the party said today.

Figures obtained by Assembly Opposition leader Nick Bourne AM also reveal that visitor spend in Wales last year was £280mn lower than the year before the Wales Tourist Board was abolished.

Commenting on the figures, Shadow Heritage Minister and Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies said:

"These figures make for worrying reading. Tourism is an increasingly competitive market and yet despite rising prices it seems the Welsh economy gets less money from the industry than it did seven years ago.

"While I accept that tourism still plays a major part in the Welsh economy, it is a matter of concern that the amount of money it generates appears to be declining.

"The Assembly Government's decision to scrap the Wales Tourist Board was a strategic blunder which appears to be having serious consequences for the industry.

"At a stroke ministers abolished one of Wales' best-known international brands and replaced it with the dead hands of bureaucracy and centralisation.

"Tourism is one of the key drivers of the Welsh economy yet here, at a time of rising costs and an increasingly intense global marketplace, we have concrete evidence that Wales is losing out.

"The Assembly Government needs to look urgently at its existing tourism strategies, assess where policies are working, and resolve those which are not."