Scotland and Wales have made it into the top-10 list of ‘most underrated destinations’ – as voted for by top executives in the travel industry.
WTM London’s 2022 Industry Report reveals one in 10 (10%) respondents said Scotland was the most underrated destination in the world, while 8% said Wales.

Both destinations are packed with a wide range of attractions, natural resources, history, folklore, castles, national parks as well as buzzing major cities such as Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Scotland and Wales have recently been in the world’s spotlight, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Her Majesty died on 8 September at Balmoral Castle, in the Scottish Highlands, and people across the world were given an insight into the area, including the warmth of the residents of nearby villages Crathie and Ballater, who shared their fond memories of the Royal Family.

When the Queen’s coffin left Balmoral on its epic six-hour journey to Edinburgh, images were beamed around the world of spectacular views of the nation’s countryside that has inspired writers such as Robert Burns and Ian Rankin, and which attracted 150 million visits to Scotland in 2019, including one in 10 who came over from England and 534,000 from the USA region who visited Edinburgh and Lothian alone.*

Wales was also put in the spotlight when King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla visited as part of a tour of the UK nations in the days following Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

Before becoming King Charles III, Prince Charles was Prince of Wales for 64 years and the title has now passed down to his son, Prince William.

Although there are no plans for Prince William to receive a formal investiture ceremony, it is understood he and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, will focus on deepening the trust and respect of the people of Wales.

More than one million international trips were made to Wales in 2019, bringing in £515 million. In the same year there were, 10.7 million overnight domestic trips from Great Britain, generating £2,000 million. A further 87 million day trips generated expenditure of £3,447 million.**

World Travel Market London Exhibition Director, Juliette Losardo, said:
“It’s wonderful to see that Scotland and Wales have made the top-10 list of most underrated destinations.

“Tourists from elsewhere in the UK are discovering so much in the way of history and things to see and do almost on their doorstep in these great countries, while overseas visitors are starting to discover that there is much more to the UK if they are prepared to travel further afield and stay a little longer.”

The top-10 most underrated destinations according to the survey are:

Azores (14.5%)
Northern Greece (14%)
Bulgaria (10%)
Scotland (10%)
Estonia (9.5%)
Netherlands (9%)
Sicily (9%)
Slovenia (9%)
Wales (8%)
Bratislava (7%)