Tourism and conservation on Snowdon

Increasing numbers of visitors to the highest mountain in Wales have put pressure on a fragile natural environment and on the local infrastructure, highlighting the need for careful management strategies to preserve the landscape, but also to ensure the needs of tourists and local people are catered for.

Will Blackshaw

Walkers on their way to Mt Snowdon’s summit

Mt Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa in Welsh) is the highest mountain in Wales, standing at 1,085 metres above sea level. It attracted over 700,000 visitors in 2021 and is classed as Snowdonia National Park’s main honeypot site. It is not uncommon to see large numbers of people climbing to the summit. The famous triangulation point at the top often has people queueing to take a selfie to record their achievement.

Numbers have been increasing in recent years and one local hiker, Elfed Williams, told BBC News that 2021 had been the busiest he had ever seen, with people queueing for 45 minutes just to reach the summit. Snowdon has some of the country’s most fragile environments and such numbers of tourists put pressure on these areas that they need careful management to survive.