Further to our recent important announcement about Guestlink, thank you to all members who have already uploaded or sent us your large images, and a reminder to everyone else why this is so important.

With the news that Guestlink will be closing their doors, we will shortly be migrating all your information directly from Guestlink to our new website platform, but we need your help!

The new system will be using the image size marked 'Visit Wales large images’ found in Guestlink, so members need to ensure that these images are updated and added before 16th June 2022 in order for your business to publish seamlessly.

You can log-in to Guestlink here.

For any problems logging in, there is a help page here.

And of course you can call the MWT team on 01654 702653.

OR feel free to send us up to 20 landscape images (minimum 1920px x1440px) to members@mwtcymru.co.uk via www.wetransfer.com and we're happy to do this for you.

Please include your membership number/Guestlink ID along with the name of your business. Please also ensure you have copyright for any images you send.

If you have not already applied for Visit Wales Star Grading, Approved or VAQAS (Visitor Attractions Quality Assured Scheme) for your accommodation or Visitor Attraction business, now is a good time to renew as it is available FOC.

If you are interested in applying, please email quality.tourism@gov.wales and the team will forward an application form and relevant information.

Once you submit your application, Visit Wales assessors will make arrangements for your Quality Grading or Approved visit to take place.

Different arrangements apply depending on the type of accommodation and after your visit, you will receive confirmation of your rating. You will also have an opportunity to discuss recommendations with your quality adviser and to apply for one or more of the new Welcome Awards (see below)

Example of business listing on Visit Wales (business must be Quality Assured or Approved!)

Visit Wales have introduced a series of new Welcome Awards which have been designed to sit alongside the Cyclist and Walkers awards. Applying for the awards is done online.

The purpose of the Welcome Awards are to support businesses that provide additional facilities, services and information to meet important specific visitor requirements.

If you have a single business or multi-sector businesses, there is no limit to the number of Welcome Awards that you can apply for, providing that you meet the respective criteria.

You will need to apply for each sector individually. Simply complete the appropriate pdf forms and email to quality.tourism@gov.wales.

The logo for the new awards will be available for you to promote on your website and will be added to your VisitWales.com business listing.

Welcome Awards:

• Families - Excluding visits to friends and relatives, families represent the largest segment of holiday trips taken in Britain.
• Pets - An important market as it is estimated that nearly 50% of UK households has one pet or more. Some customers’ choice of holiday destination is determined by the ability of taking their beloved pet with them.
• Anglers - With Wales’ extensive coastline and a great number of well-known fishing rivers as well as a great number of wild and fishing lakes it is no wonder that fishing related holidays in Wales is an important tourism market.
• Bikers - Wales is well provided with wonderfully diverse road routes which suits all levels and experiences of person and machine.
• Cyclists - Wales has over 1200 miles of National Cycle Network- additionally Wales can boast world class mountain biking centres, freeride hotspots and wild country rides to suit all levels. With such facilities, Wales is a mecca for cyclists.
• Walkers - Wales has become an increasingly popular walking tourism destination and has over 1386 miles of the finest walking paths in the world to explore our outstanding natural scenic landscape.
• Golfers - Wales was the home of the 2010 Ryder Cup and can boast to have over 200 golf courses ranging from historic seaside links to beautiful manicured parkland resorts to attract the keen golfer.
• TV/Film - Wales has become an important location for TV and film productions with a number of high-budget productions including Sherlock, Doctor Who, Sex Education and His Dark Materials being “Made in Wales”.
• Motorhomes - Travelling around Wales to enjoy our natural landscape environment and its heritage/culture has become an important tourism sector in Wales.

Accommodation businesses are invited to join a zoom session on Friday 17^th June. The hour long workshop will be led by Lucy von Weber, Head of Marketing Visit Wales & MWT Chief Executive Val Hawkins.

Lucy will be showcasing the Visit Wales marketing priorities and Val will be doing a short workshop for businesses with top tips on how to make the most of your VisitWales.com business listing.

Places are strictly limited and allocated on a first come first served basis.

MWT is moving our online marketing, including our marketing database and websites to a new platform. The move should be complete by the end of July.

The new platform will provide members with a range of new opportunities to promote your business on our high profile ‘Visit’ sites.

The new sites will be e-commerce enabled to link seamlessly to a wide range of booking channels including Free to Book, Superontrol and My UK Travel (all FOC). Hotels using larger booking systems that integrate with the new TXGB channel will also be able to link through to the regional website which will be available at a low commission rate (tbc but certainly lower than Booking.com / Expedia etc).

We are keen to get businesses set up to poll their availability as soon as the new sites are live – please look out for further details on our e-news / Facebook group. 

Visit  our  Trade website: www.mwtcymru.co.uk