August 25 2026

Matthew Williams is Head of CPT Cymru

With spectacular national parks, world class culture and unique heritage, Wales is a compelling tourist destination, attracting 60 million visitors annually from the rest of the UK and beyond. 

Many visitors explore the country by coach – but this is a mode of transport which, too often, is overlooked in discussion on how to grow this crucial sector of the economy. It’s time to change that. 

Coach passengers contribute around £395 million to the Welsh economy, not including the employment benefits the industry brings, according to research by KPMG. 

CPT Cymru firmly believes that investment in coach facilities and in the accessibility of popular attractions to coach tourism could drive significant growth and help extend the season in parts of Wales that rely on visitors. 

A big chunk of Wales’ tourism activity is from visitors on organised tours – both on day and overnight trips. However, this compares relatively poorly to other parts of the UK such as the South West and North West of England where such activity delivers up to double the annual spend overall.  

The value of international visitors travelling by coach to Scotland’s economy is seven times that of Wales. By investing in facilities to support drivers and passengers in Wales we could close this gap. Are our castles, national parks and landscapes any less impressive or attractive to tourists, or have we just not made them accessible or attractive in the same way? 

KPMG’s research for CPT shows the scale of coach services contribution to Wales’ economy and communities: 

  • £425 million annually comes from coach businesses, wages, taxes, supply chains and employee spending. The sector supported about 3,500 jobs in Wales in 2024. 
  • £395 million every year comes from coach passengers spending money on shopping, leisure and tourism. Including £180 million from day visitors and £135 million from overnight visitors. 
  • Coaches provide a further £105 million of wider benefits by offering affordable travel, improving connections and reducing pressure on other roads and transport. 

Coaches are particularly valuable in rural Wales. They help visitors reach destinations such as Eryri, Bannau Brycheiniog and Pembrokeshire that are not well served by the rail network or by local bus services. Examples such as the National Express Service to Green Man Festival in Crickhowell demonstrate the flexibility of coach services to address public transport gaps to our visitor attractions. Elsewhere, coach could help solve issues around parking in our national parks, such as at Yr Wyddfa and Pen Y Fan.  

Beyond that, we know that just one coach load of visitors a day can contribute over £1m a year to a local economy - providing jobs and income and helping to secure thriving communities. 

Development of Wales’ coach friendly offer could help address some of these gaps. The roll out of the TaithCymru Express Coach Service offers an opportunity to develop facilites along the route from Carmarthen to Bangor – serving a significant portion of the west and north west of Wales.  

In our manifesto for the 2026 Senedd election, we called for a statutory duty for Wales regional transport plans to collect data on the current and potential coach market, as well as a duty for Local Authorities to consider the supply of facilities for coaches. We are keen to see this work progressed. 

CPT Cymru is looking forward to working with the Welsh Government, Visit Wales and all our other partners to further promote the value of coach tourism to Wales over the course of this Senedd term. There’s huge potential to unlock.