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Tourism in Wales makes up a significant portion of theWelsh economy and attracting millions of visitors each year. The tourism industry in Wales was worth around £5bn in 2017. The tourism industry also makes a significant contribution to the Welsh economy, supporting over 100,000 jobs and more than 8% of the Welsh workforce. Wales attracts visitors from overseas, particularly from theUnited States,Australia,Germany and theRepublic of Ireland.
Wales is an emergingtourist destination, with 9.39m visitors to Conwy alone in 2018[1] and 8,078,900 visitors toNational Trust andWales Tourist Board destinations in 2002.[2] As of 2017 the tourism industry in Wales has been estimated to have an annual turnover of £4.8 billion.[3]
In 2005tourism contributed to theeconomy of Wales supporting over 100,000service-sector jobs, more than 8% of the country's workforce. The most popular activities undertaken by tourists in Wales were walking, shopping, hiking in the mountains and visiting historic attractions, museums and galleries. 970,000 overseas tourists visited Wales in 2015 spending £410m.[4]
The capital,Cardiff is the most popular area in Wales for tourists, with 14.6 million visitors in 2009,[5] which provides 26,300 jobs in the sector. In 2004, tourists spent the most money inGwynedd, followed byConwy andCardiff.[6]
The main countries of origin of overseas visitors were theRepublic of Ireland, theUnited States andGermany. The majority of tourism however, is from other parts of theUK (predominantlyEngland).[7] A 2016 study showed that 15% of overseas visitors to Wales came from the USA, followed by Australia at 13% and Germany at 12%.[8]
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The varied landscape of Wales attracts tourism. There are three national parks: theBrecon Beacons National Park, theSnowdonia National Park and thePembrokeshire Coast National Park. Popular activities in the national parks includehill walking,hiking,canoeing,mountain biking,kayaking andclimbing. Wales is also becoming increasingly popular for 'extreme' sports, such assurfing,hang gliding anddownhill cycling (in which Wales hosts the 'Dragon Downhill Series'). The terrain of Wales has also attracted theWorld Rally Championship (WRC). TheWales Rally GB is held annually. The 2005 Wales Rally GB saw the first WRC stage to be set indoors, at theMillennium Stadium. InCardiff, the regeneratedCardiff Bay area is one of the most popular destinations.
Wales'history andculture also attract tourists. TheMuseum of Welsh Life, which focuses largely on the industrial past of Wales, is currently the most popular tourist attraction in Wales, attracting over 600,000 visitors annually. The scars of theIndustrial Revolution and Wales'industrial heritage can still be seen on parts of the Welsh landscape today. Many other places of historical interest attract large numbers of tourists: for example the manycastles, such asCaernarfon Castle andCaerphilly Castle—most of them built to enable or to consolidate the English conquest of Wales, during the reign of the English kingEdward I.
Another increasingly popular reason for visiting Wales, as with the rest of the United Kingdom—especially for those fromNorth America—isgenealogy, with many visitors coming to Wales to explore their family and ancestral roots. 1.8 millionUnited States citizens are estimated to have Welsh ancestral roots, including former presidents,Abraham Lincoln andThomas Jefferson.[9]
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TheWye Valley witnessed the birth of Britishtourism in the 18th century. The area became widely known afterObservations on the River Wye by the ReverendWilliam Gilpin was published in 1782. The first illustrated tour guide to be published in Britain, it helped travellers locate and enjoy the mostpicturesque places, such asTintern Abbey. A particular attraction of the Wye Valley was its river scenery, and the many guidebooks, engravings and paintings encouraged a continuing steady stream of visitors which grew after the building of a newturnpike road up the valley in 1822 and the opening of a rail line in 1865.
However, whenGeorge Borrow wroteWild Wales in 1862 it is clear from his descriptions that the notion of tourism in more mountainous parts of Wales hardly existed except for the most intrepid traveller. Indeed, he records that many locals regarded the mountainous and wild landscapes as monstrous and ugly rather than romantic or picturesque. However, later in the 19th century the concept of mountains and valleys as both interesting and visually pleasing landscapes developed; andNorth Wales in particular benefited, as towns and villages such asBetws-y-Coed developed to accommodate the increasing numbers of visitors.
The changing face of industrialisation in theNorth West ofEngland and in theMidlands, with increasing pay rates and the provision ofpaid time off for industrial workers, allowed many people to enjoy an annual holiday for the first time. Many chose to visitseaside resorts such asLlandudno,Prestatyn andRhyl inNorth Wales,Aberystwyth andBarmouth inMid Wales andBarry,Tenby,Swansea andPenarth inSouth Wales, which among others were developed to respond to this trend.
Wales is connected to the rest of theUnited Kingdom (its principal tourist market) byroad,rail and domestic flights. TheM4 Motorway connects South and West Wales withSouthern England andLondon. TheA55 road is the principal route linkingNorth Wales withNorth West England.
There are severalrail links between England and Wales, and trains run toCardiff Central,Newport andSwansea fromLondon Paddington, and to Cardiff Central fromPortsmouth,Gloucester,Birmingham New Street,Manchester Picadilly,Nottingham andNewcastle.Cardiff Central offers connections to theSouth Wales Valleys, theVale of Glamorgan andWest Wales, and Swansea offers connections toWest Wales. There are direct services fromLondon Euston and Birmingham toHolyhead via the North Wales Coast. Internally, there are services from Cardiff to Holyhead.
Cardiff Airport has domestic and some international flights. Somebudget airlines operate from Cardiff toEurope,Africa andNorth America. Internally, there are twice daily return flights from Cardiff to Anglesey withHighland Airways. Many daily flight operate to and from other major UK cities such asNewcastle,Edinburgh,Glasgow,Aberdeen andBelfast.
The country is also connected toIreland by car ferry services operating daily from Welsh ports, principallyHolyhead. These services are frequent and usually operated by fast ferries.
During much of 2020 and well into 2021, the restrictions and lockdowns necessitated by theCOVID-19 pandemic negatively affected all sectors of the economy and "tourism and hospitality suffered notable losses from the pandemic" across the UK.[10] As of 6 April 2021, visitors from "red list" countries were still not allowed to enter unless they were UK residents. Restrictions will "likely be in place until the summer", one report predicted, with June being the most likely time for tourism from other countries to begin a rebound.[11] On 12 April 2021, many tourist facilities were still closed in Wales but non-essential travel between Wales and England was finally permitted. Wales also allowed non-essential retail stores to open.[12] The outdoor areas of restaurants and pubs would reopen on 26 April 2021.[13]
... health and economic crisis ... In particular, tourism and hospitality suffered notable losses from the pandemic.
It is too early to say which countries will be on the green list when non-essential international travel resumes
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