Marketing call as tourism falls

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Tourist numbers in Wales dropped by more than 1.2m in three years, according to figures obtained by the Welsh Conservatives.

The statistics show that there was an 11% fall between 2006 and 2008, from 10.75m to 9.56m.

The Conservatives said more must be done to market Wales as a destination.

But the assembly government said the figures covered very wet summers, figures across the UK had fallen, and visits from Britain rose last August.

Welsh Conservative economy spokesperson David Melding said the figures for last year showed the assembly government did not take advantage of the trend for more people to stay in the UK for holidays.

"It's been clear for some time that we need to do more to market Wales as a place to visit and for investors to set up business," said Mr Melding.

"These figures show that the recent cuts to the marketing budget are now taking effect with fewer people holidaying here.

"It is particularly worrying that fewer people from the UK have decided to holiday in Wales."

'Not surprising'

Nick Bourne, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, asked how many tourists visited Wales in each year since 2006.

In reply, Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones gave figures which showed the drop in total visitor numbers.

The numbers from the UK dropped from 9.61m in 2006 to 8.45m in 2008.

The numbers from overseas dropped from 1.14m to 1.07m over the same period.

The last assessment of tourist experiences in Wales, in 2006, gave an overall satisfaction rating of 4.2, where 5 is the most positive.

The assembly government said: "Given that we experienced two of the wettest summers on record during 2007 and 2008, the fact that the number of trips by visitors to Wels declined, whilst disappointing is not surprising.

"These figures also need to be seen in the context of a fall in figures across the UK generally... provisional figures for last August - the key holiday month - show an increase of 18% in the number of trips by visitors from the UK to Wales in August 2009 compared to August 2008."