New figures show Swansea Bay tourism success in 2014

BUSINESS was booming in Swansea’s hotels, guesthouses and bed and breakfasts last year.

Figures for 2014 show a 63.4% average occupancy rate for the city’s self-catering accommodation and a 60.5% average for hotels and guesthouses – that’s 19% and 35% respectively better than 2013.

Swansea’s average figures, the best for 10 years, were also significantly better than the all-Wales figures of 53.5% for self-catering accommodation and 43.6% for hotels and guesthouses.

Self-catering occupancy rates across the city exceeded 90% in July and August last year, with hotel and guesthouse occupancy rates exceeding 80%. October’s figures for both types of accommodation also exceeded 66%, thanks to events like the Dylan Thomas centenary celebrations across the area.

Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Enterprise, Development and Regeneration, said: “Our tourism team continue to develop innovative marketing campaigns and are working hard alongside accommodation providers, tourism businesses and other tourism organisations to raise the profile of Swansea Bay as a visitor destination. We’re together improving the visitor experience and welcome people get when they arrive here. A Destination Management Plan that’s now in place means this partnership work is now more co-ordinated and effective than ever before as we look to identify areas for improvement and further boost an industry that’s already contributing more than £360 million a year to the Swansea Bay economy.

“These figures are a credit to all those involved in tourism across Swansea and the challenge now is to maintain this improvement as we head towards the peak tourist season this year. Highlight events of our new Enjoy Swansea Bay programme, including the Wales National Airshow and Summer in Singleton concerts, will again help attract many thousands of visitors here for overnight stays this summer, and our hugely popular Swansea Bay Moments campaign is also well underway. This has included a series of stunning videos that have been uploaded online to bring to life the sensory and emotional experiences of a visit to Swansea Bay. Many thousands of people have now engaged with the campaign.

“Journalists and bloggers from around the world have also been encouraged to visit as part of the campaign to generate as many positive reviews and social media posts about Swansea Bay as possible.”

Writers from publications including Coast, Grazia, Countryfile and the Manchester Evening News are among those to have visited Swansea so far this year. A number of bloggers with over 20,000 followers on Twitter have also visited.

Have a look at www.visitswanseabay.com for more information.