WALES has benefited to the tune of £3 billion after figures show that almost 87 million tourism day visits to the country were carried out in a 12 month period.

The results came from the Great Britain Day Visits Survey, which accounts for the year-long period up until the end of July 2016.

From Blaenavon’s World Heritage sites and Big Pit to the castles of Monmouthshire and countless others across the region, Gwent is home to a number of premier tourist attractions.

In total, there were 86.9 million day visits in that timeframe, indicating that the peak months of summer 2016 have been a success for tourism in Wales.

Cabinet secretary for the economy and infrastructure, Ken Skates, said: “Tourism in Wales is performing strongly and the industry is on track to achieve the target of 10 per cent real growth of staying visitor earnings by 2020.

“This growth is supporting jobs and value added to the Welsh economy and we are now aiming to sustain these levels.”

The number of visits has increased 13.4 per cent compared to the previous 12 months, while the amount spent has increased by 14 per cent, while the spend per visit is higher in Wales than in GB as a whole, £35 per visit in Wales compared to £33 per visit across GB.

“The day visits survey until the end of July gives a useful snapshot as one of our measures on tourism performance and it’s very good news that such a big increase has been reported for one of the peak summer months,” added Mr Skates.

“Anecdotal feedback indicates that the industry has had a busy summer. The work of marketing Wales extends throughout the year as we work to attract people to Wales for autumn and winter breaks.”