The Welsh Government has released its accommodation occupancy report for July 2016.
Highlights for June 2015 through July 2016 vs. June 2014-July 2015:
- Hotels: 67% occupancy (flat)
- Guesthouses and B&Bs: 38% (+2%)
- Self-catering: 52% (-2%)
- Static caravans: 77% (+17%)
- Touring caravans/camping: 26% (-6%)
- Hostels: 49% (+1%)
Regional differences:
- Hotel occupancy was up slightly in North and Mid Wales, but down 4% in South West.
- Guesthouse/B&B occupancy was up in North and South West, but down 4% in South East.
- Self-catering occupancy was up in Mid Wales, but down in all other regions.
- Caravan and campground occupancy was up in coastal locations, down inland.
- For accommodation types for which data are available, overseas bednights were up or flat.
Other factors:
- Weather effects for the 2 periods were pretty much a wash.
- The recently weaker pound favored both domestic and international tourism in the later period.
- The timing of Easter, and terrorist attacks abroad, also favored the later period.
Some possible inferences from these data:
- Factors that should have favored Wales tourism in 2015-2016 including a weak pound, Easter timing and terrorist attacks at competing destinations for some reason didn’t act to increase hotel occupancy. Are there quality or pricing problems?
- Guesthouses, B&Bs, static caravans and hostels may have taken market share from hotels, self-catering and touring caravans/camping; but without knowing how accommodation supply for these various sectors has changed over time, that’s not a sure thing.
- Caravans and campgrounds in coastal locations look like a good investment.
