 data released by Visit Britain, there were 33 per cent fewer inbound visitors to Wales in 2022 than 2019. The amount international visitors spent also dropped by 24 per cent, from £515 million in 2019 to £391 million in 2022. Tourism statistics are notoriously unreliable. Wales has no passport control on its border with England. Does the IPS capture Wales-bound arrivals using Bristol airport? Are students and short-term workers separated out? But 33 per cent, give or take, is, indisputably, a huge drop in a country that relies on tourism for more than 150,000 jobs. As recently as 2021, Wales was being lauded in travel media and guidebook rankings as a must-visit destination. The Welsh government's Trade and Invest department wrote gleefully of ' How Wales became a worldwide tourism hit ', claiming overall tourist spending of £14 million a day – amounting to £5.1 billion a year. This impressive sum has been contradicted by the UK government. So how did Wales' fall from worldwide fame and financial health come to pass? Is it a blip or a downward trend? Some factors are obvious. The cost of living crisis and the long tail of the pandemic have impacted tourism in all countries. Wales is probably a secondary or discretionary option for many travellers. If you live in England (or, for that matter, Swansea or Dusseldorf) and have a budget for one annual holiday, are you going to go to the South of France or Spain, or would you prefer a week in Barmouth ? 'The cost-of-living crisis has had an impact on people taking holidays,' says William McNamara, chief executive of Bluestone National Park Resort in Pembr){kind=link}
The country has lost a third of its tourists – so what is it doing wrong, and can it be fixed?
Wales has everything that the tourism industry loves to sell us – the great outdoors, photogenic landscapes, sandy beaches, a proud indigenous language and history, great food and a handful of cracking cities – including one, Wrexham, that has its own Disney+ TV series thanks to some famous Hollywood football fans.
Yet, according to International Passenger Survey (IPS) data released by Visit Britain, there were 33 per cent fewer inbound visitors to Wales in 2022 than 2019. The amount international visitors spent also dropped by 24 per cent, from £515 million in 2019 to £391 million in 2022.
Tourism statistics are notoriously unreliable. Wales has no passport control on its border with England. Does the IPS capture Wales-bound arrivals using Bristol airport? Are students and short-term workers separated out? But 33 per cent, give or take, is, indisputably, a huge drop in a country that relies on tourism for more than 150,000 jobs.
As recently as 2021, Wales was being lauded in travel media and guidebook rankings as a must-visit destination. The Welsh government’s Trade and Invest department wrote gleefully of “How Wales became a worldwide tourism hit”, claiming overall tourist spending of £14 million a day – amounting to £5.1 billion a year. This impressive sum has been contradicted by the UK government.