Hopes are high that weeks of glorious sunshine coupled with improved marketing will have brought more visitors than ever before.

Families were once again flocking to beaches in Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Gower on the final bank holiday of the summer.

Tourism operators say they have enjoyed a busy time through most of June, July and August.

The weather has played its part and I think people will go home from Wales this year feeling they've had a really good holiday Ashford Price

Carmarthenshire's cabinet member for leisure, Mary Thomas, said tourism was becoming increasingly important to the local economy.

Last year the county attracted 2,538,000 visitors, bringing in almost �220m.

"We are hoping that this will have improved this year," she said.

"The feedback we are getting from visitor attractions is that they have in the main been busier than last year.

"This weekend seems to have been another good one with a lot of people enjoying the weather on the coast at Llanelli and Pembrey.

"We have been working hard with the tourism associations, the Wales Tourist Board and visitor attractions to promote Carmarthenshire and west Wales."

With Middleton, the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Aberglasney and Singleton in Swansea the region has been promoted for the past 12 months as the Garden of Wales.

Royal visit

The Tywi Valley has recently been granted tourism growth area status by the Wales Tourist Board which will see �2m invested in the area to try and attract more visitors.

Mrs Thomas said there were high hopes that the �3.5m Jack Nicklaus golf course in Llanelli scheduled to open next year would bring a lot of visitors - especially Americans - down the M4.

In June Prince Edward visited several tourism attractions in the Brecon Beacons as part of the royal family's support for the first British Tourism Day.

One of the places he stopped off was the National Showcaves in the upper Swansea Valley.

Owner Ashford Price said the attraction had since enjoyed one of its best summers for the past 10 years.

Prince Edward visited the Showcaves in June

"A royal visit is like a seal of approval and we have benefited from the visit," he said.

But he said a lot of credit must also go to the Wales Tourist Board and the recent marketing campaigns.

"We found from our surveys that a lot of people have been attracted by the campaign and that has not happened for a long time.

"We have had some rocky years recently with foot and mouth but this year has seen a bonanza.

"Since the start of the bank holiday weekend we have been operating nearly at full capacity.