Outdoor activity tourism in Wales is booming, contributing up to 6% of the Welsh economy in 2013 and over 8,000 FTE positions (White & Smith, 2014). With 2,700km of coastline and 26% of the land area designated as protected landscapes, Wales’ natural resources for outdoor sports are world class. Despite this, uptake and frequency of participation in sport and outdoor activities is relatively low for the UK (Williams, 2016). With these issues in mind, this thesis examined the state of outdoor activity provision within Wales, exploring potential underlying issues regarding the low levels of participation whilst investigating positive aspects of provision. The thesis consists of a general introduction (Chapter 1), five empirical studies (Chapters 2 to 6), and a general discussion (Chapter 7). More specifically, Study 1 is an examination of the status of outdoor activity providers in Wales. In Study 2 we examined two of the highest-level outdoor qualifications in the UK, the Mountain Instructor Certificate and British Mountain Guide, to understand nationality, place of residence and Welsh speaking ability. Study 3 was an investigation into provision of outdoor activities in secondary comprehensive schools in Wales that offer access to outdoor activity opportunities. In the fourth study we explored changes in the number of local education authority outdoor centres (OEC’s) across a 30-year period from 1978 and 2018 in Wales. The final study investigated the contribution that outdoor activity clubs in Wales make to provision of outdoor activities. These studies identified a historical and continuing lack of uptake in outdoor activity participation by native Welsh people as well as limited provision of activities through the medium of Welsh or by native Welsh people. Whilst uptake and provision for and by native Welsh people has increased in some parts of the country significantly in the last fifteen years, participation is still relatively low by European standards, particularly for women, Welsh speakers and BAME groups. Access to outdoor activity provision has changed drastically over this period, with a large decline in state funded provision for schools, but also an expansion in paid for provision and a significant increase in the number of outdoor activity clubs. These changes are likely to limit the accessibility of outdoor activities to lower NS-SEC groups whilst transferring much of the burden of accessible provision to the third sector.