Wow! It was certainly a bumper Easter weekend for local businesses and tourism operators.

Seen as the traditional launchpad to the tourist season, Pembrokeshire threw open its doors for 2011 and welcomed crowds of people over the sun-drenched four-day Bank Holiday.

'No vacancy' signs were displayed outside hotels and guest houses, the ice-cream vans did roaring trade on the packed beaches, spaces were at a premium as car parks were full and popular attractions reported record attendances.

Hottest day of the weekend was Saturday, with 19.7 degrees celsius recorded by Tenby weather recorder, Oliver Matthews, while Easter Sunday saw the most sunshine with 12.2 hours.

Visitors to Pembrokeshire's seven Tourism Information Centres (TICs) between Good Friday and Easter Monday were well up on last year.

During the four days 7,168 people went through the doors of the TICs compared to 4,451 for the corresponding period in 2010.

Of the total number of visitors, 2,207 were local (938 in 2010); 6,536 (4,119) were domestic visitors and 532 (332) were from overseas.

Although totals for Tenby and Saundersfoot TICs were much the same as last year - there was a big leap in the number of foreign visitors to the latter from seven to 55.

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park also proved popular with visitors and locals over the Easter weekend. The attractions run by the Park Authority, Carew Castle and Tidal Mill, Castell Henllys Iron Age Fort and Oriel y Parc Gallery and Visitor Centre, St. Davids, were all busy.

A steady stream of visitors used the National Park's Centre in Tenby to get local information, with many people choosing to make the most of the good weather at the beach.

And at Carew Castle, Easter numbers were up by about 20 per cent compared with last year.

An authority spokesman said: "If we look back two years, we had a similar lift in visitors, and once again it was a late Easter. We were very lucky with the weather this time and we had lots of happy people doing Easter egg hunts."

Folly Farm, Begelly, celebrated a record-breaking weekend, smashing two of its visitor attendance records.

The Easter weekend was the highest ever since the park opened in 1988, up 124 per cent on last year and up 24 per cent on the previous highest in 2009 when the giraffes arrived.

The all-time record for number of visitors in one day was also smashed by 32 per cent on Good Friday with close to 7,500 visitors enjoying the Bank Holiday sunshine.

Chris Ebsworth, managing director, enthused: "It's been an amazing weekend, the park was busy, but the atmosphere was fantastic. A huge thanks must go to all our staff for coping so well to make sure visitors had the quality of experience they are used to.

"We have worked hard this winter to keep the park looking its best and we have continued with an aggressive investment plan to keep the park fresh and exciting for our loyal return visitors and locals.

"Numbers were certainly boosted by the fantastic weather and a late Easter, but I also think we worked hard to market our Easter offerings with our updated Folly Interactive exhibit, the appearance from Peppa Pig, and our new ride The Pembrokeshire Wheel which was ridden by 30 per cent of our visitors over the weekend. The arrival of a new baby zebra ahead of the weekend was also a nice unplanned attraction for the thousands of visitors."

Elsewhere, a spokesman for Oakwood Theme Park, said they too had enjoyed the benefits of the sunny weather and late Easter in 2011.

"We hope this continues in the weeks to come," the spokesman said.

It was also an upbeat story at Heatherton Activity Theme Park, St. Florence, where Andrew McDonald commented: "We've been enjoying an excellent Easter break which has been helped by the glorious weather.

"The new craft cafe, driving school and water peddlers has exceeded all our expectations, our customer satisfactions ratings have been extremely high and hopefully this will lead on to an busy season for everyone."

And at Pembroke Castle, general manager Jon Williams said: "We've had a bumper weekend, 40 per cent up on last year and the week leading up to it was 50 per cent up. We're hoping to break our Easter fortnight record if we get over 1,000 attending the Royal Wedding event, we're nearly half-way to the target!"

Meanwhile, over 400 children headed for the National Trust's Colby Woodland Garden on Easter Sunday to join in the special Cadbury sponsored Easter Egg Trail. Families hunted for clues all over the woodlands to solve the quiz and win a Cadbury egg.

Event co-ordinator Elizabeth Sleight said: "It was great to see so many families enjoying the wildlife quiz trail together and having so much fun."

Chairman of Saundersfoot Chamber for Tourism, Phil Odley described the village as 'alive and kicking during Easter on what can only be described as a bumper week thanks to the glorious weather', while Chris Osborne, president of Tenby Chamber of Trade and Tourism, is hoping the busy period will continue as we approach our second Bank Holiday weekend.

He said: "After what seems to have been a long and sometimes very cold winter, Tenby welcomed hordes of visitors over the Easter weekend with glorious blue skies and sunshine. Let's hope the smiles continue right through the Royal Wedding weekend and into the summer beyond."

In Narberth however there were pretty mixed results for Easter, with visitor numbers up and thus grocery and food sales buoyant.

Secretary of the Chamber of Trade, Gordon Barry, commented: "Retail continues to be very difficult with the majority of businesses reporting little sales over the Easter period. Customers continue to be careful with their spending patterns.

"We all hope that the good feeling associated with the Royal Wedding will translate well with everyone and that will help the retail market to benefit at little."