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Just one Welsh city made it into the top 50 most visited places in Britain, according to figures released today which demonstrate the challenges facing Wales’ tourism sector.

Cardiff came in at 11 in Visit Britain’s rankings for overseas visits to towns and cities in 2012. The Welsh capital had 301,000 visits, and was just ahead of Leeds (299,000) and behind Brighton (345,000).

London topped the list in the Olympic year, with nearly 15.5 million visitors from around the world.

A mere 67,000 visits were made to Swansea, which failed to make it into the league table. Newport had just 42,000 recorded visits, Llandudno 24,000, Bangor 22,000 and Holyhead 20,000; Caernarfon and Tenby each received 15,000 visits.

Cardiff’s 11th place performance is an improvement on 2011, when it finished 12th with 291,000 visits. However, the city has yet to match its 2009 performance when it had 313,000 visits.

Eight Scottish places made the top 50, with Edinburgh in second place with 1.3 million visits. It was followed by Glasgow (521,000), Inverness (213,000), Aberdeen (208,000), Stirling (98,000), Fort William (91,000), Oban (81,000), and St Andrews (74,000).

Earlier this month, Visit Britain launched a strategy to increase UK tourism jobs by 200,000 by 2020 and boost the number of overseas visits from 31 million last year to 40 million. This came against a backdrop of worrying trends for the industry in Wales, with overseas visits to the nation slumping from 1.1 million in 2006 to 854,000 in 2012. North American visits fell from 168,000 to 102,000, with European visits dropping from 823,000 to 598,000.

A series of English regional cities have succeeded in beating the Welsh capital’s visitor numbers.

Manchester was in third place in the rankings with 932,000 visits, ahead of Birmingham (713,000) and Liverpool (550,000).

The university cities of Oxford and Cambridge attracted 430,000 and 398,000 visits, respectively.

Wales has witnessed an 18% rise in visitors from the emerging “Bric” economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Patricia Yates of Visit Britain said: “Last year we welcomed 31 million overseas visitors and hope to attract one million more in 2013.”

Commenting on the impact of the Olympics, she said: “2012 has certainly helped change the world’s perceptions of Britain, and there is real potential for us to attract 40 million international visitors a year by 2020, an achievement which will mean more visitors are travelling to London and beyond. However, we face intense competition from other destinations eager to attract more visitors.

“That means we need to work better and smarter if we are to secure a long-term legacy for tourism and the country.”

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “It is excellent news that there has been an increase of overseas visitors to Cardiff and that more overseas visitors have discovered what Wales has to offer. Our towns and cities are important gateways for overseas visitors and many often return for another visit or explore more of Wales on future visits.

“The towns and cities which feature in the top 10 are ones of larger populations which are often established honey pots for international visitors. In addition to this the figures are based on staying visits for overseas visitors, accommodation in Wales is more dispersed in smaller towns and villages and in the countryside.

“Our major events strategy aims to develop a portfolio of major events which enhances Wales international reputation. We look forward to hosting Womex later this year, playing a large part in the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and hosting the Volvo Ocean Race in Cardiff in 2017-18.

“These events allied to ongoing events such as the Hay Literature festival and the global profile gained by Cardiff and Swansea playing in the Barclays Premier League will all be used by Visit Wales and Visit Britain in order to attract overseas visitors to Wales.”

Huw Thomas, Cardiff council member for sport, leisure and culture, said: “The report findings are a fantastic boost and shows that Cardiff is a top UK tourist destination. Major sporting and cultural events, impressive shopping and outdoor attractions such as the new Surf Centre are just some of the reasons why thousands of visitors head to the city each year.

“All this coupled with the warm and friendly welcome for which Wales is so well known has led people to heading back here time and time again.”