Ryan Reynolds' £180m Wrexham tourism boost revealed as hotels struggle to meet demand

Spending on tourism in Wrexham has soared to almost £180m since the city's football club was bought by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, new figures show.

Around two million visitors flocked to the area last year thanks to the impact of the Welcome to Wrexham documentary and the Red Dragons achieving back-to-back promotions.

It marks an annual increase of 20 per cent across the county borough - the highest rise in the whole of Wales.

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Tourism earnings in Wrexham stood at just £49m in 2020 when the Covid pandemic saw figures tumble.

However, the community's fortunes have changed dramatically following Wrexham AFC's takeover by the two Hollywood actors, with hotels now struggling to meet the demand for bookings.

Discussing the figures, Joe Bickerton, tourism manager for Wrexham Council, said: “When you look across social media, people might come because they've seen certain aspects of the documentary, or they might come because they’re interested to see what Wrexham is all about now it's a city.

“It's heartwarming to see the amount of positive feedback, compared to five or 10 years ago.

“Since we were awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO back in 2009, Wrexham has really been on an upward trajectory as a whole county.

“But the bonus of having an enhanced international profile has helped us in a large way to recover from the pandemic.

“One of the issues we do have is always capacity. The challenge for us over the next few years is to work with the private sector to increase that capacity and demand as well.”

Mr Bickerton was speaking at a meeting of councillors to examine the latest tourism figures for the area.

He said statistics released by American travel firm Expedia highlighted Wrexham as the third most searched for location outside of London in the UK last year.

The main source of visitors in 2023 was from the US, Canada and Australia, with the council currently looking at ways to ensure tourists stay in the area for longer periods.

Mr Bickerton said: “Wrexham as a search term generally gets in the region of about 8,000 hits a week. Pre-pandemic, it was maybe about 500 or 600.

“There are still big challenges that remain. The crucial thing for us is making sure that on days when Wrexham aren't playing at home and coaches arrive, we’re getting people into hospitality businesses to eat lunch on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Several sightseeing tours have been launched in Wrexham in the last few years to cater for the growth in visitors.

Meanwhile, hospitality businesses like Hotel Wrexham, formerly the Holt Lodge, have received a significant investment.

Despite the improvements, one local hotel owner said keeping up with the demand for bookings could be difficult.

Sam Regan, owner of the Lemon Tree Hotel in the city centre, also warned that the industry could not just rely on the football club's success to stay afloat.

He said: “Moving forward into 2025, we are in a very fortunate position in Wrexham, but there's a lot of jeopardy involved as well.

“We cannot rest on our laurels in terms of the attention that Welcome to Wrexham and the football club is bringing in and say that our job is done. We need to be bolstering that attention, rather than just accepting it as a given.”

Mr Regan said he had experienced occupancy levels of above 91 per cent during 2024, a slight increase on last year.

He said this was compared to an industry standard of approximately 60 per cent for Wales as a whole.

He added: “Where we fall down is that we do have a massive lack of capacity on accommodation county-wide, not just in the city centre. This is historic and not just post-Rob and Ryan.

“I've been at the Lemon Tree for 10 years and I've consistently achieved 85 per cent-plus occupancy since I've been there. I’ve expanded my business, and a lot of the hotels in the area are in the same predicament.”