Wales tourism accommodation occupancy surveys: July to September 2023

This Accommodation Occupancy report provides information on the occupancy levels of serviced and self-catering accommodation, as well as hostels and camping/caravan sites. There is also third-party data from Transparent (short term lets), and STR Global (large hotel chains).

Serviced accomodation

• Occupancy has risen steadily throughout 2023, peaking in August and starting to decline in September.
• Regional occupancy continues to hold a similar pattern with North Wales having the highest occupancy levels (80%).

STR

• Occupancy data from STR continues to show parity or slight underperformance year on year compared with 2022.

Self catering

• Unit occupancy rose 19% from Q2 to Q3 (85% occupancy)
• During Q3 South West data, a key contributor (92%), did not supply data, which has pushed the average for this month higher than it would have been. 
• Businesses with properties with more than 11 beds achieved the highest occupancy levels (91%)
• Smaller properties (1 to 3 beds, and 4 to 10 beds) achieved identical levels at 76%.
• Occupancy levels for short term rentals saw an increase to 68% in Q3.

Hostel

• This sector has shown large quarterly growth bringing occupancy levels slightly closer to other sectors within the WAOS. Peaking at 71% in August.

Camping and caravan

• Overall, the sector appeared to be performing stronger earlier in the year, peaking at 77% in June, with a trend of decline throughout the year, this stands in comparison to other sectors that show a higher peak towards July and August.