Readers of a leading travel guide have voted Wales among the top five countries in the world to visit in 2014.
In a recent poll from The Rough Guides, Wales was named alongside Chile, Malaysia, Slovenia and Pakistan as the best countries to visit this year.
Tim Chester, senior editor for RoughGuides.com, explains the list and why Wales was chosen.
“Whenever we publish lists such as our top tips for 2014, we like to follow up by soliciting our readers’ opinions too. So we asked our million monthly unique users, as well as our followers on Twitter and our fans on Facebook, for their votes for the best countries and cities for 2014.
“It wasn’t a surprise that Wales was rated highly; we’ve long been a fan of the country, as our destination page attests, commenting on how the ‘endlessly fascinating’ place ‘packs a lot of physical beauty into its small mass of land.’ For me personally, I was reminded of Wales’s wonder during a trip round the Brecon Beacons last Easter.”
The Welsh tourism industry enjoyed a successful year in 2013, with more than eight million Britons making overnight visits to Wales, an increase of 7.8 per cent in comparison with the same period in 2012.
Paul Beddoe, sales and marketing director at the Vale Resort, said: “It is not surprising that Wales has been voted as being in the top five destinations in the world to visit this year. We might be a small country, but we are continually punching above our weight in terms of attracting visitors from home and abroad.
“We’ve carved out a reputation for ourselves for offering big adventures making the most of the fantastic outdoors we have on our doorsteps – whether it’s the rugged coastline, jaw-dropping mountain scenery or beautiful beaches. And when you combine this with the culture and nightlife in our cool cities, it’s little wonder why tourists rate Wales so highly and are making return visits.
“From our perspective, the Vale Resort is certainly mirroring the bumper year that Wales enjoyed in terms of tourism last year as we celebrated one of our most successful summers in our 14-year history.”
Minister for the Economy, Science and Transport, Edwina Hart, said: “It’s fantastic news that Wales has been voted among the top countries in the world to visit by Rough Guides, what makes this recognition even better is the fact that it was Rough Guides readers who voted for Wales, which goes a long way in showing that we’re offering an excellent experience for those who come here on holiday.
“With the good news that 2013 was a bumper year for tourism in Wales, with an increase in visitor figures, this good news is a promising start to 2014.”
More information about the best places to visit in 2014 as voted by the Rough Guide readers can be found here.
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