Holiday demand for North Wales is up - with four locations seeing strongest hike in interest
A major holiday cottage company says demand for trips to North Wales is up on last year - with a particular spike in four destinations. Holidaycottages.co.uk says booking numbers are 14% ahead of the same time in 2024.
They also said that despite the regulation changes and challenges in the sector there are now 19% more holiday live properties available in the region than three years ago.
The company said that this increase in demand should provide real reassurance to holiday homeowners. They cited four areas where they had seen a particular uptick in enquiries and bookings.
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These include the ever popular Betws-y-Coed at the gateway to Eryri and the Colwyn Bay area, which has been boosted by seafront investments in the beaches at Colwyn Bay, Old Colwyn and Rhos-on-Sea.
The others places experiencing a spike were Ruthin and Denbigh in Denbighshire.
Joby Mussell, Chief Commercial Officer at holidaycottages.co.uk, said: “It’s encouraging that booking numbers remain strong for the year ahead as holidaymakers seek out high-quality holiday homes to enjoy with friends and family. Our data shows there’s still real appetite from holidaymakers to visit some of the stunning areas that North Wales has to offer.
"With that in mind, holiday homeowners and local tourism businesses should feel reassured that despite regulatory changes, bookings for the year ahead are looking positive, so now’s the perfect time to attract holidaymakers and get those all-important forward bookings locked in.”
He added: “Traditional holiday lets also have a role to play in supporting the local community as they are the “bedstock” of rural and coastal visitor economies. They are a longstanding, economic lifeline for these communities where self-catering tourism has thrived for decades and an essential market for many direct suppliers such as cleaners, housekeepers, gardeners, maintenance people as well as many other local tourist attractions and leisure businesses.
“We will therefore be doing all we can do to support owners and local businesses to continue position North Wales as a highly desirable area to visit, and generally increase the vitality of the local economies.”
Holiday let owners have faced a number of additional hurdles in recent years. Welsh Government has increased the number of days a property has to be let before they can qualify for business rates instead of paying a premium rate of council tax. The government is also pressing ahead with a tourism tax - although the final decision on implementing this will lie with local authorities.