Industry | Tourism |
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Website | www |
Visit Wales (Welsh: Croeso Cymru) is the Welsh Government's tourism team within the Department for Heritage to promote Welsh tourism and assist the tourism industry.
Visit Wales has taken over the functions of the former Wales Tourist Board, an Assembly Sponsored Public Body. The role of Visit Wales is to support the Welsh tourism industry, improve tourism in Wales and provide a strategic framework within which private enterprise can achieve sustainable growth and success, so improving the social and economic well being of Wales. The mission of Visit Wales is to "maximise tourism's contribution to the economic, social and cultural prosperity of Wales".
The baseline budget at the Wales Tourist Board for 2005/2006 was £22.6 million.
Tourists spend over £8 million a day on trips in Wales, amounting to around £3 billion a year. In direct terms, tourism contributes 3.7% of whole-economy value added in Wales. It is important to note that this figure does not include indirect value added that occurs. Approximately 100,000 people in Wales are employed in tourism, representing about 9% of the workforce.
Over one million trips are taken to Wales annually by overseas tourists. The general United Kingdom accounts for 93% of tourism trips to Wales. Seventy percent of tourists to Wales come from other parts of the United Kingdom for a holiday, 20% to visit friends or relatives and 7% for a business trip. Fifty percent of trips by UK tourists to Wales go to the countryside or small towns/villages. The most popular origins of overseas visitors are Republic of Ireland, United States, and Germany.
The most popular activities undertaken by tourists in Wales are: walking, swimming, visiting historic attractions such as castles and visiting museums and galleries. The most popular attraction in Wales is the Museum of Welsh Life which attracts over 600,000 visitors annually.
In serviced accommodation in Wales, there are over 80,000 bed spaces available.