Wales tourism accommodation occupancy surveys: 2020

Main points

The hotel industry was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Overall, room occupancy among reporting hotels was just 45% in 2020 and bedspace occupancy was 31%.  Prior to the pandemic, hotels in Wales achieved consistent room occupancy of around 65% and bedspace occupancy close to 50%. 

The guesthouses/B&B sector was also severely affected.  In 2020, room and bedspace occupancy was 36% and 30% respectively. 

The self-catering sector fared much better overall than the serviced sector.  Unit occupancy was 52% in 2020, a fall of 5 percentage points on the previous year.

As with the self-catering sector, both static caravans & holiday homes and touring caravans & campsites recovered well once restrictions had ended in July.  Self-contained static caravans and holiday homes fared better, with a seasonal May-October average occupancy similar to previous years at 89%, whereas touring caravans and camping sites saw a seasonal pitch occupancy of 32%, somewhat lower than previous years.

Hostels and Bunkhouses struggled in 2020, reporting on average just 25% bedspace occupancy, as restrictions on the number of guests from different households staying in dorm rooms made it difficult to fully reopen. 

Revision note

Due to a processing error, data relating to hotels with 51 to 100 rooms for 2018, 2019 and 2020 have been revised in this publication.