As 2016 looks set to be a vintage year for Welsh football, early indications suggest that the tourism industry in Wales is continuing the success of recent record breaking years.
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
The Great Britain Tourism Survey reveals that the number of overnight visitors to Wales from GB continues to increase during early 2016 – even compared to a record breaking 2015 – when more Brits holidayed in Wales than ever before.
The figures also show that the amount of money spent by these visitors has also increased. Expenditure on visits to Wales in the 12 months ending in February 2016 has risen by 12.4% compared to the same period one year earlier. This is more than the increase for GB as a whole where spend rose 7% compared to the same period in 2015.
Following his return from seeing Wales beat Russia 3-0 at Toulouse, Cabinet Secretary for the Economy and Infrastructure, Ken Skates, said:
“These figures for the early season are excellent news for tourism in Wales. As our national team are already exceeding expectations at Euro 2016, our fans are being the best ambassadors for Wales. I'm sure we’ll see renewed interest in Wales for the coming year.
“This also shows that our tourism strategy for Wales is working and is creating the right conditions for growth. Positive figures for the early part of the year are very encouraging, and I hope that this positive trend will continue. Confidence for the coming season was reported as high during a survey of the industry after the Easter holidays and I’m confident that the industry, with Welsh Government support, is making strong progress. Investing in innovative and high quality products and events have helped secure growth and have created compelling reasons to visit Wales by a diverse range of target markets.”