A Pembrokeshire music festival is doubling ticket sales for this summer’s event as Wales positions itself as a key destination in the UK’s festival scene.

Westival, hosted on farmland near Manorbier, launched last year as a festival dedicated to underground music.

It was a sell-out and, with high demand for tickets for this year’s three-day event in July, the organisers have secured permission to increase crowd capacity to 2000; a third stage has been added too.

It comes as figures from Visit Wales estimate that live music and other festivals account for £100 million of spend by overnight and day visitors in Wales annually.

These festivals and events are the sole or very important reason for 77 per cent of overnight trips and 74 per cent of tourism day trips to Wales.

Engineering graduate Joe Worley, who launched the festival with his friend, entrepreneur Jack Lear, says these figures demonstrate that music festivals are good news for the Welsh economy.

“In our case we are working with over 40 local businesses and almost 200 temporary staff, which will help boost the local economy,’’ he says.

“Music festivals offer a unique theme and a genre which allows for people of all music tastes to come together and see their favourite acts live.’’

Westival is dedicated to underground music - musical genres beyond mainstream culture.

With few festivals on a similar theme, last year’s event attracted fans of this musical genre from across the UK and beyond.

“Where else are you going to get a festival this close to beaches with so many artists that have never played in Wales before?’’ says Jack.

This year’s line-up features acts from across the globe, including house music pioneer Marcellus Pittman and Zanzibarian Mim Suleiman, while Australian DJ, CC Disco, will make her Welsh debut.

A six-hour back-to-back set will be performed by Jamie Tiller and Orpheu the Wizard, while Yaaba Funk, a popular act at Westival 2018, will make a return appearance.

Local acts will be performing too - bookings include Pembrokeshire-based artists, Autarchy Sound System and Harri Pepper.

There is an opportunity to secure free entry by volunteering for two five-hour shifts with a range of options including setting up, manning car parks, registration and litter picking.

The event starts on Friday, July 19. Ticket prices start from £50 – visit https://westival.wales/ for further information and a full line-up of acts.