The tourism industry of Wales had a busy summer in 2016, with 84% of businesses reporting as many or more visitors as in summer 2015.
Key points:
- Weather was decent, which was beneficial.
- Some industry leaders said that marketing by Visit Wales was helpful:
- “Find Your Epic” campaign
- “Year of Adventure” campaign
- All tourism sectors and regions shared in the strong summer business.
- Caravan and campsites did exceptionally well.
- Visitors from Germany and other Continental Europe source markets were up.
- “More British people staying in the UK” was top reason cited for strong summer business.
- Two out of 3 businesses said Brexit had no effect on them; but some industry leaders credited the weak pound with increasing the popularity of staycations.
- Also some believe that in the longer term the weak pound will result in more UK leisure tourism business from both Brits and foreigners.
- There are concerns about continued availability of non-UK European workers post-Brexit.
- There are also concerns about possible loss of EU grants and other funding.
Concerns of those in the Welsh tourism industry about how the post-Brexit future will turn out are understandable. But their compatriots did, after all, vote in favor of Leave, unlike the Scots and Irish.
