Last year the industry was worth almost £700m, an increase of 2% on the year before, with visitor days and overnight stays also on the increase.
These figures are supported by consistently strong annual hotel occupancy levels in Swansea in 2025 of 79%.
Tracey McNulty, Head of Cultural Services, Parks and Cleansing said:
‘The impact of tourism on Swansea Bay, Mumbles and Gower is continuing to improve year on year, with even more visitors opting for an overnight stay in the area.
“It’s supporting more than 5,500 jobs, with the total number of visitor days at 8.47m and the number of staying visitors increasing by 2.5% to 1.64m.”
Kate Bowen, General Manager of the Morgans Collection said:
‘The new STEAM report showing that tourism is worth almost £700m to Swansea is very positive for the whole Swansea Bay, Mumbles and Gower area.
“At Morgan’s Hotel, we benefit from working closely with the Council’s Tourism Team on their high-profile destination marketing campaigns, as well as benefitting from the major event programme, by offering packages and offers all year round.
“It’s great to see the growth in the number of staying visitors too and we work in partnership with other hotels in the area to ensure we refer bookings when we are full, to keep business in the area.”
Carly, Marketing & Advertising Manager, King Arthur Hotel, Reynoldston, added:
‘These newly released STEAM figures are very encouraging.
“We have always worked closely with the Council’s Tourism Team, supporting their PR campaign, by hosting journalist and influencer visits, in partnership with other accommodation and activity providers, attractions, restaurants and cafes.
“We have been a Visit Swansea Bay Partner for many years and will continue to do as much as we can to support the local tourism industry and employment within this key sector.”
The Council’s Tourism Team continues to promote the destination with high profile and engaging marketing campaigns including Outdoor Media activity in key markets, TV advertising and PR. It works closely with local tourism businesses to host journalist and influencer visits as well as targeted digital campaigns with high quality video led content.
The successful Happy Place/Hwyl Campaign has generated over 11m video views since its launch in February 2025, with a new video released each week. The official destination website for the area, visitswanseabay.com, which receives over 180k page views every month, continues to provide a key platform for over 300 local tourism businesses, including accommodation, activity providers, attractions, cafes, bars, restaurants, pubs and events.
Swansea has a positive reputation for hosting high-profile annual events such as the Wales Airshow and Ironman 70.3 Swansea and they continue to draw in visitors from outside the area, with cultural events due to take centre stage in 2027 as Swansea becomes the only Welsh city to host the prestigious 10th British Art Show (BAS10).
These collective factors complement the ongoing extensive and ambitious regeneration projects led by Swansea Council across Swansea and the wider Swansea Bay area, supporting employment and bringing additional revenue to tourism and hospitality businesses.
[Lead image: Swansea Council]
