Published: 10/09/2026
Summary of Key Findings
How has this research been conducted?
Visit Wales commissioned Strategic Research and Insight (SRI), an independent Cardiff-based research agency, to conduct annual research with UK-based (domestic & inbound) and overseas-based tour operators.
The research sample size this year was 404 tour operators: 389 via telephone interviews and 15 online.
The fieldwork was conducted Jan – Mar 2026. The operators covered were from multiple markets, these were:
- UK inbound-only
- UK domestic-only
- UK inbound and domestic
- North America
- German-speaking
- Europe other
- Rest of world
£40.5m estimated value for Wales
Tour operators that worked with Visit Wales in key markets generated an estimated 385,300 bed nights at a value of £40.5m to Wales in 2025. Total bed nights are down 5% on 2024, but value is up around 9% due to inflation and higher average spend.
Visit Wales is estimated to have influenced approximately £22.7m of the total value –30% upon 2024 (£17.4m). Visit Wales' influenced figure has increased in part due to the new ways of working and increased focus on key prospects that the team has applied. This has been achieved with budgets and staff resources staying at a similar level.
The whole Travel Trade population is larger overall than tour operators which Visit Wales has not had contact with – therefore, the actual volume of Travel Trade business coming into Wales in 2025 is likely to have been greater than £40.5m.
Value by key markets
UK-based tour operators (domestic & inbound) contributed £24.4m in 2025 – over half the total and up from £20.3m in 2024.
North America contributed £8.4m (up from £7.9m in 2024) and German-speaking markets contributed £3.7m (up from £2.6m in 2024).
The rest is distributed among non-German speaking European countries (£2.8m, down slightly from £3m in 2024) and the rest of the world (£1.2m, down from £3.2m in 2024).
Visit Wales support
65% of tour operators featuring Wales rate Visit Wales support as very or fairly important. With operators across different markets praising the work Visit Wales does with the travel trade. The proportion of those not recalling support from Visit Wales (who aren’t new to their jobs) has halved year on year, from 24% in 2024, to 12% in 2025.
Of those tour operators that did not feature Wales in 2025, just over half (53%) say Visit Wales information could still help them promote and sell Wales in the future. This is up from 42% in 2024.
Increase in the active promotion of Wales
Overall, 63% of tour operators featured Wales in their tours and programmes in 2025 – an increase from 54% in 2024. This increase is primarily due to more long-haul operators featuring Wales (55% in 2025, up from 41% in 2024). Among tour operators that featured Wales, 49% actively promoted it. A further 33% included Wales in their programmes but did not prioritise it, while 18% only included Wales on request.
Regions of Wales featured
Tour operators featuring Wales in 2025 offered a good level of regional spread overall. Many (72%) featured North Wales, followed by Cardiff (70%), South West Wales shows a slight decline (52% in 2025 compared to 54% featured in 2024), South East Wales outside Cardiff showed a more pronounced decline (45% in 2025 compared to 52% in 2024) as did Mid Wales (38% in 2025 compared to 45% in 2024).
How is 2026 looking?
The estimated value of Travel Trade business to Wales in 2026 is £45.6m. This is an increase of 12% year on year with strong growth of around 20% expected from UK based tour operators. Notably North American business is expected to be down around 10% due to current political turmoil.
Growing interest in Wales among tour operators
Many tour operators (74%, up from 63% in 2024) are interested in developing or selling more Wales products. The proportion with ‘strong interest’ has continued its strong year on year increase and now sits at 47%, up from 32% in 2024 which in turn was up from 19% in 2023. German-speaking operators are the highest percentage of those expressing strong interest (79%).
Seasonal spread
There is strong interest in sending people to Wales in the shoulder season months of May and September. When asked which months interested tour operators could foresee sending people to Wales:
- 80% said June, with 70% saying they can foresee sending people in September.
- UK Domestic operators show the most interest for the winter months, with results not dropping much below 50% for those months (though interest remains strongest, as with other operators, for the May – September period).
Cycling
As part of the planning for Wales hosting a stage of the Tour De France in 2027 tour operators were also asked about their interest in offering cycling tours in Wales. As respondents were not necessarily specialist cycling operators, the findings may not reflect the full level of market interest.
- Very interested: 11% of UK operators, 17% of European operators and 25% of long-haul operators were very interested in offering this product to customers
- Potentially interested: A further 15% of UK operators, 26% of European operators and 25% of long-haul operators say they might be interested.
For most interested operators, cycling is viewed as one activity within a wider itinerary, rather than the main reason for travel. A separate piece of research is available here Cycling tourism development | GOV.WALES that looks at cycling as a product offering in more detail.
When asked what information would help them sell cycling products, tour operators most commonly requested:
- Suggested cycling routes (65%)
- Bike hire information and costs (44%)
Among operators not interested in offering cycling products:
- 60% said it is not something their customers want.
- 33% said they do not offer cycling in any of their products.
Understanding the barriers to offering Wales
Suitable accommodation remains an overall concern for tour operators. Six of the top ten barriers relate to hotels in terms of suitability for large groups, locations outside of major cities, overall higher standards, suppliers who understand and are willing to work with the Travel Trade, and proximity to golf courses. Other barriers include flight access, cultural events, products for special interest groups, and more extensive public transport offer.
Visit Wales continues to raise awareness that Wales can be reached via Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff airports. Awareness of these options is improving, but some operators say demand would be higher if direct flights to Wales were available. This is a particular issue for operators in other European markets, with 20% citing it as a barrier.
What are the opportunities for Wales?
Perhaps Wales’ biggest strength in the Travel Trade market is that once visitors do come, they are nearly always satisfied with their experience. Wales’ natural beauty is a key reason for their satisfaction. Tour operators who interact with Visit Wales are also interested in learning about new products, and less known regions. However low consumer demand for Wales in some areas inhibits some tour operators from wanting to learn more.
