The Wales Tourism Business Barometer provides a ‘snapshot’ of industry performance after important points in the tourism calendar.
Findings for the summer period 2021 are now available which show:
- About half (48%) of operators have had more customers compared to a normal (pre-COVID) summer, about a third (31%) have had the same, and 21% have had fewer.
- All four regions of Wales have been busier than normal (pre-COVID) this summer, but South West Wales particularly so. 56% of businesses in this region have had more customers this summer compared to normal.
- Nearly all (97%) businesses are choosing to maintain some safety measures voluntarily that they are no longer required to maintain by law. There are many types of measure being maintained – most commonly hand sanitisers (87% of those maintaining measures), extra cleaning (65%) and social distancing (54%) There is a general sense of operators still wanting to do what they can to keep COVID at bay, even if it impacts on profit.
- Three in five (60%) say that COVID has prompted them to make permanent changes in how they run their business, with a further 22% not yet knowing. The most common changes are continued deep cleaning (29%) and continued acceptance of pre-bookings (15%).
- About half (48%) of businesses have more advance bookings for the remainder of 2021 than they would normally have at this time of year, and 35% have the same level.