Wales tourism numbers increase on 2013 but business travellers are staying away

The number of tourism related trips into Wales between January and March 2014 increased by 3.2% compared to the same period in 2013, however the number of nights those people stayed fell by around 11%

Across the whole of Great Britain the volume of nights spent on trips fell by 14.3% meaning Wales did considerably better.

Business travellers, a lucrative market for hotels, appear to be deserting Wales in their droves with a drop of 21.5 per cent in terms of trips and 30 per cent in terms of related expenditure versus the same period last year.

Of the 19.42 million trips taken in Great Britain from January to March 2014 7.8% were to Wales, an increase on the same period 2013 of 1%

With the number of nights spent in Wales reducing for the quarter, there has been a clear knock on effect in terms of revenue, with overnight domestic tourism revenue down 14.6%

Holiday and leisure trips made up just over half of all trips to Wales during the first quarter of 2014.

The volume of holiday trips increased by 2.6 per cent but expenditure on these holiday trips fell by 11.3 per cent compared with 2013.

Wales’ market share of holiday trips in Great Britain rose by 0.7% on the comparable quarter to 10.1%

Visits to Friends and Relatives showed an increase of 12.6 per cent in terms of trips though related expenditure fell by 11.8 per cent.

Source: Great Britain Tourism Survey