Welcome to your October members' e-news update.

TXGB is a digital platform that brings together tourism businesses to drive sales and boost productivity by connecting the market in a new and unique way.

Visit Wales have licensed Tourism Exchange Great Britain (TXGB) to make it available to the tourism industry in Wales and some Welsh businesses are already taking bookings through this online marketplace.

TXGB enables suppliers (e.g. accommodation, tours, attractions) to manage live availability, pricing and bookings across multiple distributors, in their one-stop exchange.

Pay nothing until you get an online booking. You can opt into as many distributors as you like and make as many updates as you want. For each online booking, you pay a small fee of 2.5% + VAT along with any distributor commission due.

Join us on 6th October to find out more about this important system.

Our next online members' meeting will take place on Tuesday 25th October at 11am.

Meetings last approximately an hour and are a great way to catch up with Val and the team at MWT, and your fellow members.

Thank you for all the support we've had for our 'Introducing...' series of online booking system webinars.

Don't worry if you haven't been able to attend one yet, the recordings are available here:

We've also posted them in the MWT Cymru Members' Facebook Group and in the Members' Area of our website.

You may have seen the recent headlines around the Tourism Levy consultation. Between the documents accompanying the consultation, there are just under 200 pages of reading. We are currently making our way through these documents and scanning the detail with a fine-tooth comb. The questions may seem simplistic but the detail is not .

We have released the press release (featured above), and we ask that if you are putting in a response, please don't rush this.

If any MWT members have been through the consultation documentation or have thoughts on this topic and would like to contribute to an MWT webinar meeting to share ideas on the arguments for/against the introduction of tourism levy, please get in touch.

There have been a number of policy consultations from Welsh Government recently which may have serious implications for our tourism sector so we need to ensure that we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet. As always, we will work with you, our businesses, our Directors, the Wales Tourism Alliance and other organisations to formulate a balanced response which accurately reflects our businesses views.​

Virtual session on the visitor levy consultation

The Welsh Government is holding a virtual session on the visitor levy consultation on Thursday 27 October, 9.30am - 11:00am. This is intended to cover the same information about the consultation as will be given during the four in-person events taking place over the coming weeks and includes an opportunity to put questions to Welsh Government officials. 

If you are interested in attending, please email visitorlevy@gov.wales to register your interest and enable the team to determine the appropriate technological solution depending on the numbers attending.

www.visitmidwales.co.uk and www.showmewales.co.uk (our websites)

A test group of members have already received their log-in details for the new system that powers our new www.visitmidwales.co.uk and www.showmewales.co.uk websites, where you can add text, images, special offers, links and more.

We're really pleased that feedback on the new system has been very positive. We are deliberately rolling out the log-in details at a steady pace, not least because it's a big task behind the scenes, but also to ensure that we can respond to any questions as they arise.

We are putting together a simple 'How to Guide' for updating your information and this will be available soon. If you require any urgent updates / amends to your listing/s before you've received your log-in details, please let us know and we can make them for you.

www.visitwales.com (run by the national tourism team of Welsh Government)

Don't forget that to update your listing on the national Visit Wales website, www.visitwales.com, you will now need to log-in to Product Listing (not Guestlink). However, you can use the same log-in details you used to use for Guestlink.

Any questions / problems? Please don't hesitate to let us know.

Don't miss out - Registration is now open for the Visit Wales online session where businesses will have the opportunity to hear about marketing activity over the autumn and winter period.

The session will take place via MS Teams on 13 October 2022 from 10.30am to 12pm.

If you haven't already registered, please do so as soon as possible and no later than 3pm on 7 October. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis and all attendees will receive a meeting link prior to the event.

The session will include updates and overviews of:

• Autumn and Winter consumer campaigns
• Themed Year for 2023
• Travel Trade and Business Events activity
• World Cup activity
• Consumer audiences being targeted over the next 6 months

Businesses will have the opportunity to raise questions during a short Question and Answer session. 

Resources will be available to all those attending including a breakdown of audience types and an industry guide for the themed year 2023.

Read the Mid Wales travel review in 'on: yorkshire magazine' - thank you Silver Mountain Experience for providing complimentary entry.

Last month we welcomed the Editor of Country Walking Magazine to Mid Wales. Thank you to MWT members The Old Vicarage and the Wynnstay Hotel.

Here's what she had to say about her trip: "Just back to the desk this morning after a really good trip! We had to dodge some thunderstorms but we got everything we needed and both of the places we stayed, and the meal at the Wynnstay Hotel, were all fantastic and I’m keen to recommend to our readers. Thanks again for setting everything up for us and I will of course send you the articles as they’re published." 

We were also really pleased to achieve coverage for Mid Wales in the Conference Buyers Guide 2022, see page 37: 

Our press officer, Duncan Foulkes, is constantly issuing press releases for, and on behalf of, MWT members, with lots of resultant coverage - too many articles to list individually!

If you have a press release / something you think is newsworthy, please email press@mwtcymru.co.uk

26/09/22: Mid Wales model car museum in the driving seat for Bargain Hunt

26/09/22: Corris Railway's new loco steams in public for first time but more work needed

26/09/22: National Transport Trust awards red wheel to Talyllyn Railway

23/09/22: Chancellor announces new Growth Plan

21/09/22: Race the Train returns to Talyllyn Railway after a two year gap

14/09/22: Radio, cinema and fashion for Machynlleth and surrounding area

14/09/22: Grant fund launched for community projects along the Cambrian Lines

12/09/22: National Library of Wales' new partnership with Blood Bikes Wales

To re-cap: How to be bookable on Visit Mid Wales and Show Me Wales

Missed our September e-news? Featuring:

• New Visit Mid Wales website goes live
• Ceredigion County Council's Draft Strategy
• Free Digital Support from VisitWales and Superfast Business Wales

• Free Workshop & Masterclasses
• Latest News & New MWT Members

• Watch the recording of our September MWT members' meeting here - Val talks about the new websites, other projects we're working on, and more!

• Catch up with the latest Visit Wales Industry update here

• Wales Tourism Alliance Latest News

If you haven't already, please make sure you join us on our MWT Cymru Facebook Members Group. This is the fastest way to receive updates as they happen.