Some of the world’s leading hotel developers and operators are being encouraged to invest in Swansea in a further boost for the city’s ongoing transformation.
Swansea Council is now marketing the opportunity for a hotel operator to build and run a new hotel on land between Swansea Arena and the LC leisure centre.
This follows-on from an expert study commissioned by the council’s tourism team that identified the need for three new hotels in Swansea.
The study also recommended the site adjacent to the arena as favourable for a development of this kind.
The hotel there would include a minimum of 120 bedrooms.
If the hotel plan goes ahead, it would be largely funded by the private sector. Subject to the business plans of bidders, there could also be funding support through grants and loans from the Welsh Government and Swansea Council.
Between 2019 and 2022, Swansea was in the UK’s top five places for revenue per available room. Used by the hospitality industry to measure a hotel’s performance, that figure is calculated by multiplying a hotel’s average daily room rate by its occupancy rate.
In 2023, Swansea also entered the top 10 of a UK hotel market index run by hotel consultants Colliers. The annual index assessed 38 UK cities against ten areas, including room occupancy rates, daily room costs, revenue per available room growth, development expenses, land values and market demand.
Cllr Rob Stewart, Swansea Council Leader, said: “An investment programme worth over £1bn is ongoing in Swansea, but it’s been identified that more hotels are now needed in the city to cater for demand. This would also create more jobs for local people and help attract even more investment and jobs in future.
“Our city is going places and is attracting more and more visitors who would benefit from a hotel at the site between the LC – Wales’s largest indoor waterpark – and Swansea Arena, which welcomed over 240,000 visitors within a year of opening to ticketed shows, conferences, exhibitions, university graduations and other events.
“The proposed site of the hotel is also a short walk away from the maritime quarter and seafront, while also being very close to sites including the Civic Centre and the area of the former St David’s Shopping Centre that are due for exciting, mixed-use redevelopments in the coming years.
“More hotels could also be developed in future at other Swansea sites to meet the demand.”
Figures show tourism is now worth over £510m a year to Swansea, with the sector supporting 5,200 full-time jobs.
Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Investment, Regeneration and Tourism, said: “As well as the regeneration that’s ongoing, Swansea is also a leading destination for tourism, as a waterfront city for events, culture and sport – and all within a short drive from Gower’s world-class scenery.
“A major events programme which includes the Wales Airshow, Ironman 70.3 and the Swansea Bay 10k, and cultural venues like the Dylan Thomas Centre, the Grand Theatre, Swansea Museum, the National Waterfront Museum and the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery are within walking distance of the proposed hotel site, adding to appeal for investment.
“Major concerts take place at Singleton Park every year too and the Swansea.com stadium is home to the Swans and the Ospreys.
“This all adds up to a package that attracts over four million visitors a year to our city, so more hotels are needed to meet demand now and in future while also maintaining a healthy market for existing hotels.”
