Wales Tourism Performance Report : 7 March 2019 SFR 105/2018 (R) January to June 2018 This report is a revision to the previously published edition to include About this release revised results for the Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS) 2018 data due to an error in the data provided by the contractor. This is a new comprehensive report that includes the most This report presents the results from the main official tourism surveys for recent quarterly data from Wales covering the period January to June 2018. Data is reported for the the main tourism surveys combined 6 months from January to June 2018 as well as totals for the 12 covering overnight domestic months ending June 2018. Details of each survey including links to further GB trips, international information is provided in section 8 at the end of the report visitors, day visits by GB residents, Accommodation Occupancy rates and Main points findings from the Wales Top line results are summarised below and each survey is covered in more Tourism Barometer. The aim detail in the rest of the report. The results indicate a largely positive first six of this report is to present months of the year, driven by higher volume of overnight and day visitors the results from the taken in Wales by GB residents. individual surveys on the overall performance of the Overnight visits by GB residents tourism industry in Wales. The results in this section have been revised as a result of the correction The report includes data for to GBTS data the whole of Wales and, In the six months from January to June 2018, there were 5.6 million where available, for Great overnight trips to Wales by GB residents. This was an increase by 7 Britain/UK for comparative per cent compared to the same time this year. purposes. During this period the expenditure in Wales was £817 million, which was an increase of 12 per cent year on year. In this release There were small increases in the levels of overnight holiday trips, Domestic GB overnight and substantial increases in business trips and visits to friends and visits 3 relatives in the six months between January and June 2018. Domestic GB tourism Outbound trips by UK residents day visits 8 There were 21 million holidays taken abroad by UK residents International visits 10 between January and June 2018. This was an increase of 1.2 per Accommodation cent compared to last year and shows continued strong demand for occupancy rates 12 overseas holidays, despite the lower value of sterling. Business performance 16 Overseas travel by UK residents 18 Key quality information 19 Contact: David Stephens ~ 0300 025 5236 ~ [email protected] Enquiries from the press: 0300 025 8665 Public enquiries : 0300 025 5050 Twitter: @statisticswales Main points (continued) International visitors During the first six months of 2018 there were 430,000 trips taken in Wales by international visitors and expenditure of £167 million. This was a decrease in the volume of trips by international visitors to Wales, but there was a similar fall across the UK as a whole, and overall expenditure in Wales increased. Trips for holiday and business purposes both increased but a decrease in visits to friends and relatives was one of the reasons for the lower overall volume of trips taken in Wales. Day visits There has been an increase in the volume of tourism day trips taken in Wales during the first six months of the 2018 with 46.7 million trips taken and an expenditure of £1.9 billion. The expenditure for this period was substantially lower than in 2017, but the level of expenditure is well above the average for the last 5 years. Accommodation occupancy There is a general pattern of lower average occupancy rates during the first six months of the year, including the Easter period, but rates have strengthened during May and June 2018. This follows the pattern of visitor levels reported during the first half of the year. Industry performance The Tourism Barometer, undertaken in September, reported a strong summer following the positive spring period reported previously. Eighty four per cent of the businesses surveyed reported a greater or equal level of visitors compared to last year. Following on from the good peak summer season, most businesses are confident for the remainder of the year. 2 1. Overnight visits by GB residents The results in this section have been revised as a result of the correction to GBTS data All purposes of trip Table 1.0 Volume of Trips and Expenditure by Overnight Domestic GB Visitors. All Purposes of Trip Trips taken in Wales 12 month total % change Jan to June 2018 % change from ending June 2018 from year (millions) year before (millions) before Trips 4.560 +7.6 9.346 -2.2 Nights 14.480 +5.4 31.726 -8.9 Spend (£) £817 +12.8 £1,721 -1.7 Trips taken in Great Britain 12 month total % change Jan to June 2018 % change from ending June 2018 from year (millions) year before (millions) before Trips 55.271 +4.1 122.836 +3.8 Nights 162.219 +9.2 383.141 +6.2 Spend (£) £10,810 +6.4 £24,330 +3.7 In the six months between January and June 2018, there were 4.5 million overnight trips to Wales by GB residents, which is an increase on the same period in 2017 of 4.2 million. During the period from January to June 2018, there was a total expenditure of £817 million Figure 1.0 shows the number of trips taken in Wales were higher than last year in January, March and June, which was particularly strong registering record trip levels. In comparison, the volume of overnight trips taken across GB as a whole and related expenditure have also increased in the first 6 months of 2018 with trips growing by 4.1 percent and expenditure by +6.4 per cent compared to the same period in 2017. The longer term trend in figure 1.1 shows that annual trips and spend to Wales peaked in 2015 with around 10.5 million annual trips and £1,975 million in expenditure. There was a fall in trips 3 taken in Wales during 2016, which continued into 2017 driven by a range of factors including fewer visitors during the summer period in 2017 and fewer visits by Welsh residents. The first 6 months of 2018 saw a slight fall year on year resulting in decreases in trips taken in Wales of -2.2 percent and in expenditure of -1.7 per cent during the 12 months ending June 2018. Wales share of trips and spend Figure 1.2 shows that Wales’ share of overnight trips (any purpose) taken by GB residents peaked in 2014-2015 with an 8.8 per cent share of trips and 8 per cent share of spend. The share of trips and spend fell during 2016 and 2017 but have been increasing slightly the first six months of 2018 with an average share of 7.6 per cent of trips and 7.1 per cent of spend in the 12 months ending June 2018. 4 Overnight holidays Table 1.1 Volume of trips and Expenditure by Overnight Domestic GB Visitors Trips for holiday purposes. Holiday Trips taken in Wales 12 month total % change Jan to June 2018 % change from ending June 2018 from year (millions) year before (millions) before Trips 2.808 +1.2 5.746 -5.9 Nights 9.605 +3.4 21.283 -12.6 Spend (£) £574 +5.1 £1,231 -7.8 Holiday Trips taken in Great Britain 12 month total % change Jan to June 2018 % change from ending June 2018 from year (millions) year before (millions) before Trips 26.358 +2.1 59.696 +3.2 Nights 84.583 +6.3 207.365 +4.7 Spend (£) £6,166 +5.4 £14,450 +2.7 In the six months between January and June 2018, there were 2.8 million overnight holiday trips to Wales by GB residents, which is a small increase on the same period in 2017 of 2.77 million. During the period from January to June 2018, there was a total expenditure of £574 million. In comparison, the volume of overnight holiday trips taken across GB as a whole also increased during the first 6 months of 2018. (000s) and Spend (£ millions) in Wales by GB Residents 5 Visits to friends and relatives Table 1.2 Volume of Trips and Expenditure by Overnight Domestic GB Visitors. Visits to Friends & Relatives (VFR). VFR Trips taken in Wales 12 month total Jan to June 2018 % change from % change from ending June 2018 (millions) year before year before (millions) Trips 1.185 +14.6 2.518 -2.2 Nights 3.369 +14.1 7.325 +2.5 Spend (£) £141 +51.6 £280 +11.1 VFR Trips taken in Great Britain 12 month total Jan to June 2018 % change from % change from ending June 2018 (millions) year before year before (millions) Trips 18.848 +4.4 42.601 +3.0 Nights 52.920 +14.3 125.829 +10.0 Spend (£) £2,063 +7.2 £4,791 +4.7 In the six months between January and June 2018, there were 1.18 million overnight trips to visit friends and relatives in Wales by GB residents, which is an increase on the same period in 2017 of 1.03 million trips. During this period, there was a total expenditure of £141 million, which was also an increase compared to 2017. In the 12 months ending June 2018, there were a total of 2.5 million overnight visits to friends and relatives in Wales by GB residents which is a decrease of -2.2 per cent on the total for the previous 12 months.