People love Wales when they visit – new research shows

The reports from the Visit Wales consumer re-contact survey provides information on the trip-taking behaviours and intentions of Visit Wales’ consumer contacts. Consumer contacts are people who engaged with and provided their contact details to Visit Wales in 2022 – they are also referred to as ‘enquirers’.

Some findings on enquirers from the UK and Ireland include:

• 61% of Visit Wales enquirers from the UK and Ireland took a holiday or short break in Wales in 2022.

• Those who visited Wales in 2022 were very satisfied with a wide range of areas. They were the most satisfied with the ‘quality of the natural environment’ in Wales (83% very satisfied), followed by ‘feeling of safety’ (80%), ‘cleanliness of beaches’ (77%), ‘the welcome you received’ (76%) and ‘places to visit (75%).

• On the experience of a holiday in Wales, 78% of overnight visitors rated their experience in Wales as ‘excellent’, a notable rise on 2021 ratings.

The aim of the Welsh Government tourism strategy is to spread tourism benefits throughout Wales, encouraging increased spend in our economy and tackling seasonality by promoting Wales as a nation you can visit all year round. 

Meanwhile, 22% of people from the UK and Ireland who visited Wales in 2022 stated Visit Wales communications influenced their decision to take their holiday or short break in Wales. The main reported changes to trips taken to Wales because of Visit Wales communications were making visits outside the summer season and visiting new and more places than originally planned.

Beyond ‘wanting to visit again’, those who take a trip to Wales were most likely to be motivated to visit Wales by the opportunity ‘to get away from it all and have a rest’ and ‘to connect with nature/be outdoors’.

Communications from Visit Wales also appear to have impacted future trips. Around 1 in 4 people who intend to visit Wales in 2023 indicate that Visit Wales communications have already had an influence on their decision to take their 2023 trip.

Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, Dawn Bowden, who is responsible for tourism within the Welsh Government, said:

“With the Easter holidays fast approaching, we’re looking forward to welcoming new and returning visitors to our beautiful country. We also want to encourage the people of Wales to discover parts of the country they may have never been to before - there’s something for everyone to see and visit in all parts of Wales.

“It’s excellent to see the positive influence Visit Wales marketing campaign are having on those visitors who have engaged with Visit Wales prior to their visit. Our Visit Wales’ marketing campaigns will continue to keep Wales front of mind, especially with the industry reporting a trend in much later bookings aligned to the economic climate.”