Tourism & the Welsh Economy

In 2008, 77% of UK tourists to Wales came for a holiday, 10% to visit friends or relatives and 11% for a business trip.
Just under 1.1 million trips were taken to Wales by overseas tourists in 2008. The most popular origins of overseas visitors are Republic of Ireland, France and Germany.
In 2008 UK visitors accounted for 89% of overnight trips but international visitors stayed longer (accounted for around 20% nights), thus international visits contribute more to the total spent (i.e. international visitors spend more).
In 2008, overnight visitors to Wales spent just over £ 1.7 billion.
In 2008, the most popular activities undertaken by tourists in Wales were: walking, shopping, visiting historic attractions such as castles and visiting museums and galleries.
The Wales Millennium Centre and the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans were amongst the most popular attractions in Wales in 2008 and attracted nearly 1.7 million visitors between them.
The most recent day visitor survey indicated that yearly expenditure attributable to tourism trips amounted to £1.5 billion.
Tourism related employment in Wales in 2007 was circa 100,400 full and part time employees (provisional figures).
In direct terms, tourism contributed 3.2% of whole-economy value added in Wales (2002). It is important to note that this figure does not include indirect value added that occurs

Source: Visit Wales