Tourism in Wales

Wales is an emerging tourist destination, with 8,078,900 visitors to National Trust and Welsh Tourist Board destinations in 2002. The industry has been estimated to have an annual turnover of £3.1 billion.

In 2005 tourism contributed to the economy of Wales supporting over 100,000 service-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. Over 1.1 million trips were made to Wales by overseas tourists in 2006. The main countries of origin of overseas visitors were the Republic of Ireland, the United States and Germany. The majority of tourism however, is from other parts of the UK (predominantly England).

The capital, Cardiff is the most popular area in Wales for tourists, with 14.6 million visitors in 2009, which provides 26,300 jobs in the sector. In 2004, tourists spent the most money in Gwynedd, followed by Conwy and Cardiff.

The varied landscape of Wales attracts tourism. There are three national parks: the Brecon Beacons National Park, the Snowdonia National Park and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Popular activities in the national parks include hill walking, hiking, canoeing, mountain biking, kayaking and climbing. Wales is also becoming increasingly popular for 'extreme' sports, such as surfing, hang gliding and downhill cycling (in which Wales hosts the 'Dragon Downhill Series'). The terrain of Wales has also attracted the World Rally Championship (WRC). The Wales Rally GB is held annually. The 2005 Wales Rally GB saw the first WRC stage to be set indoors, at the Millennium Stadium. In Cardiff, the regenerated Cardiff Bay area is one of the most popular destinations.

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