New Figures Show Record 11% Growth In Wrexham Tourism Spend

The tourism economy in Wrexham County Borough continues to grow, with a record 11% increase on visitor spend in 2015.

In figures released yesterday the value of tourism to the County Borough reached £111.9m in 2015, up over £10m from the £100.6m figure in 2014. North Wales as a whole recorded visitor spend growth of 7%.

The latest figures show a huge overall 41.5% growth in the local tourism economy since 2009.

The increases are largely attributed to increased overnight leisure & weekend accommodation, plus events which bring staying visitors into the area such as last September’s Tour of Britain, Underneath the Arches at Pontcysyllte, plus other festivals such as FOCUS Wales and the Wales Rally GB which took place at Chirk Castle last Autumn.

The growing quality leisure & local food offer throughout the County Borough has in-turn helped restaurant bookings and overnight stays, plus midweek ‘business tourism’ has received a boost following the start of the HMP Berwyn construction in 2015.

Speaking about the latest figures, Lead Member for the Economy & Regeneration at Wrexham County Borough Council, Neil Rogers said, “These latest figures are fantastic news for tourism in Wrexham County Borough and reflect the efforts which both the Local Authority and the Destination Wrexham Partnership have put into the sector in recent years. Ultimately though, local tourism wouldn’t continue to grow without our attractions, accommodation providers, event organisers and customer facing staff providing a quality welcome and visitor experience – so we must sincerely thank them for providing this.

“The Local Authority remains committed to supporting Wrexham’s Destination Partnership and working closely with Visit Wales to attract tourism funding to this area and we really aim to continue the growth of this sector to provide more jobs and opportunities for young people entering the industry.”

In addition the new figures say Wrexham County Borough had 400,000 overnight ‘staying’ visitors in 2015, a growth of 11.6%. Day visitors still continue to grow too – with 1.46m visiting in 2015, a growth of 5.7% from 2014 data.

Alongside the growth in visitor spend and stays, 1,639 Full Time jobs are currently supported in the Wrexham Tourism industry – a growth of 9.2% from 2014.

Peter McGivern, landlord at the Bridge End Inn Ruabon is also Chair of the Wrexham Destination Management Partnership. He added, “The latest data really backs up the sense of togetherness in the local tourism sector in Wrexham. The Local Authority have been bold and ambitious in supporting tourism and the work of the Destination Management Partnership is making a big difference.

“There’s also been a large emphasis on improving the quality of the welcome in the trade throughout recent years as first impressions count. Recently Wrexham’s Museum has received a gold standard award for customer service and many of our local businesses have received gold TripAdvisor accolades.

“We have perhaps always undervalued what we have here in Wrexham, but when you look at the number of global visitors coming to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site or coming in to Erddig or Chirk Castle on the Cruise Liners from Liverpool – they’re attracted to this area because of our rich heritage, natural beauty, amazing food & drink and the standard of the welcome they receive.

“Events such as the recent Stereophonics concert, Focus Wales, the William Aston Hall gigs, the Wrexham Food Festival, ComicCon, the Wrexham Street Festivals, Bangor on Dee Races, the Victorian Christmas Market and Underneath the Arches all play a vital role in attracting staying visitors and can never be underestimated either.”

At present, Wrexham is playing it’s part in the Welsh ‘Year of Adventure’ and has held events such as abseiling at Chirk Castle, monthly tower climbs at St Giles Church, the Wrexham Sheep Trail and a zipwire on LLwyn Isaf.

However, most recently, Wrexham, Denbighshire & Flintshire received £60,000 from Welsh Government to gear up to the 2017 ‘Year of Legends’. Promotion of this has already begun, with the Minister for the Economy, Ken Skates AM, visiting Wrexham earlier this month to launch the programme alongside the ‘Travels of Elihu Yale’ lamb dish at the Holt Lodge Hotel.

The economic data release cited above is derived from STEAM – a model operated by Global Tourism Solutions and currently subscribed to by 21 of the 22 Welsh Local Authorities. STEAM features data from Wrexham’s Tourism businesses including bedspaces, overnight stays and visitor numbers.

We had to include this corker of a picture from the Underneath The Arches event as well, as it is too good to leave off: