Snowdonia named UK's most littered tourist attraction in TripAdvisor review analysis

Snowdonia National Park has been identified as the most littered tourist attraction in the UK after an analysis of TripAdvisor reviews found the highest proportion of visitor comments mentioning rubbish.

Researchers at BusinessWaste.co.uk analysed TripAdvisor review data from visitors to the country’s most popular tourist sites and found that 1.03% of the 2,803 reviews for Snowdonia referenced litter. Wales’ largest national park attracts more than four million visitors a year, and the study’s authors said the park’s scale and terrain make routine litter collection difficult.

Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach Resort was ranked second in the analysis and the most littered attraction in England, with 0.69% of reviews mentioning litter. Reviewers cited graffiti, cigarette ends and chewing gum, and several comments flagged a lack of bins as contributing to waste problems. In third place was Ben Nevis in Scotland, with 0.66% of 2,648 reviews referencing litter; around 150,000 people attempt the climb to the summit each year and many bring food and drink for the ascent.

Alton Towers appeared fifth by proportion of reviews but recorded the largest raw number of comments about rubbish, with 147 reviews mentioning litter at the theme park. The resort, which opened in 1896 and houses a large collection of wooden rollercoasters including The Big One and The Big Dipper, was singled out by some visitors for poor waste management.

At the other end of the scale, the Titanic Museum in Belfast and the Loch Ness Museum in Scotland were the least likely to be criticised for litter in their TripAdvisor comments, according to the research.

Graham Matthews, general waste expert at BusinessWaste.co.uk, said the findings were concerning given the historic and environmental importance of many of the sites. "To see so many reviews highlighting the amount of litter at some of the UK’s most iconic tourist attractions is a concern," he said. He added that during busy tourism periods it can be hard for staff to manage waste effectively and urged visitors to take responsibility where bins are unavailable: "You should never litter, and if there are no bins available at a site, always take your rubbish home with you to dispose of it properly."

The study comes amid a rise in domestic tourism: the researchers noted that 28% of British holidaymakers this year booked a staycation specifically to visit a UK historic or cultural site. Environmental campaigners and site managers have previously warned that high visitor numbers can increase pressure on waste infrastructure and natural habitats, complicating conservation efforts.

Researchers used the proportion of TripAdvisor reviews that mentioned litter as a measure to identify hotspots, rather than raw counts alone. That approach highlighted some large natural sites where relatively small percentages of reviewers reported litter but where the absolute numbers remain significant because of overall visitor volumes.

The findings underscore the practical challenges of waste management at dispersed or rugged landscapes such as national parks and mountains, where fixed bin infrastructure is harder to provide and regular litter collection is logistically taxing. Site managers and local authorities commonly rely on a combination of on-site staff, volunteer litter-picking efforts and public messaging to limit environmental impacts, but the research suggests those measures are not consistently reflected in visitor experience.

The BusinessWaste.co.uk report urged both visitors and operators to take steps to reduce littering at popular attractions. Matthews said maintaining the condition of historic and natural sites was "vital" and reiterated that ensuring visitors dispose of waste responsibly was essential to preserving those places for future generations.

The analysis did not investigate the environmental impacts of the litter reported in reviews or assign responsibility for particular incidents, and it was based on self-reported visitor comments rather than systematic on-site audits. Nonetheless, the study provides a snapshot of where visitors are most frequently noticing and complaining about rubbish, information that site managers and policymakers may use to target waste-management efforts.