Wales has had a growing tourist industry for a number of years. Record figures reached 8,078,900 visitors in 2002. This figure includes foreign and domestic visitors. Most foreigners have been coming from the USA, Germany and Ireland. What attracts people here?
Perhaps the biggest attraction is the Museum of Welsh Life, tempting around 600,000 tourists per year. The small country is also blessed with hills, cliffs, castles and national parks. Indeed, the varied landscape is particularly attractive in the Wales’s three national parks in Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and on the Pembrokeshire coast. The natural beauty of Wales and various activities such as hill walking, canoeing, kayaking and climbing is a lure for many potential visitors.
Wales has also become known as the Extreme Sports’ capital of Western Europe. Indeed, it hosted the famous downhill cycling event, the “Dragon Downhill Series”. The World Rally Championship, the first indoor event at the millennium stadium was staged in Wales in 2005.
Similar events involving surfing and mountain biking attract tourists from everywhere.
With such a wide range of attractions and interests, it is no wonder that the welsh tourist board is enjoying such success
