Welsh tourism grows year-on-year

It’s encouraging news for Welsh tourism, as the latest figures from the Great Britain Tourism Study show that domestic visits to Wales have grown year-on-year for the last two years.

In the first five months of 2013, Wales received 3.03m overnight domestic tourism visits and this has risen to 3.61m for 2015, with expenditure up by 21.5 per cent, to £685m.

Wales is pushing the adventure angle: this summer Surf Snowdonia, the world’s first inland surfing lagoon, was launched and 2016 will be marketed as the 'Year of Adventure' in Wales, focussing on giving people compelling reasons to visit.

The deputy minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Ken Skates, welcomed the results and expects Wales to build on them going forward: “We are continuing to work closely with the industry to sustain these good figures," he said. "Last year was a record breaking year for the tourism industry in Wales and early indications suggest this year will also be strong, with many customers pre-booking to visit earlier in the season and Cadw sites reporting an 8.2 per cent increase of overall paying visitors in July.

“To see such continued positive figures for the early parts of the year is further encouraging news, not just for the tourism industry but for the economy as a whole.”