News – 16 May 2016

Super new members – say hello

Check out the following businesses that have just joined the Association – Tweet, Facebook and LinkedIn with your network, and don’t forget to say hello.

Forest Traders, a business service in Cinderford
Wye Valley Forest Retreat, self-catering in Lydbrook
Old Manor Holiday Cottages, self-catering in Twyning

Annual General Meeting

Our AGM takes place on Wednesday 25, 11.00 at the Savoy Theatre, Monmouth – do try to come along to find out what we have been doing on your behalf and raise any issues that you may have. It is also your opportunity to elect Directors of the Tourism Association. Further details.

Date for your Diary

On Wednesday 15 June Jemima Parry-Jones of the Birds of Prey Centre, Newent, is hosting a social event for members. There be drinks and nibbles and a flying demonstration. Do try to come.

FreetoBook

During April a total of 61 bookings with a value of over £14k for 31 different properties were made using the Search by Date panel on our website. FreetoBook send out a regular emails to all users of the system and two articles in a recent edition caught our eye:

A case study of Monmouthshire Cottages, the three self-catering properties owned by our Vice-Chair, Fiona Wilton.
10 tips for taking better photographs of your accommodation. This is well worth reading even if you don’t use FreetoBook.

How’s Business?

We are now collecting data for the APRIL 2016 South West ‘How’s Business?’ Survey and would be very grateful if you could take part. Upon submitting your data, and as a thank you for taking part, participants will be re-directed to the full report for the previous month. The latest survey link is:

http://tswrcresearch.hbapr2016.sgizmo.com/s3/

The deadline for completions is Friday 3^rd June 2016.

The Eisteddfod Fringe

With the 2016 National Eisteddfod coming up (July 29 – August 6), MCC Tourism are looking for a range of events, offers, walks, exhibitions etc to target at the Eisteddfod visitors. These will be collated into an Eisteddfod Fringe programme, which will be available in both digital and hard copy format, and distributed to Eisteddfod visitors. They will also appear on both the Visit Monmouthshire and Visit Wales websites. It’s a great opportunity to showcase the area and your business to visitors. Send the following information to Kevin Ford, 01633 644842, kevinford@monmouthshire.gov.uk, and if you are unsure if what to offer, contact Kevin.

Event Name
Venue & address
Contact Details (telephone, email)
Event or venue website
Price
Date and Time
Image

It doesn’t have to just be events, offers targeting the Eisteddfod visitors will also be appreciated. Previous Eisteddfod’s have shown that visitors usually stay for about a week, and like to spend time getting out and exploring the area, so it is the perfect time to attract them to your business. Please provide these details by the 31^st May.

Wyndcliffe Court

Wyndcliffe Court are compiling their Summer Sculpture Brochure and wondered if anybody would like to advertise in it. The brochure goes to all visitors packed with information on the house, the gardens, the sculptures and they would like include other local attractions. Prices are £100 for a full A5 page, £50 ½ page, £25 ¼ page. If you are interested contact Chelsea, 01291 621242, info@wyndcliffecourt.co.uk.

How to get our leaflets

We are frequently asked by members how to obtain the leaflets that we publish. The simplest way is use a free service provided by Glide Media; they stock all our publications and also those of the larger attractions in the area. You order the leaflets online and they will deliver to you – they also send you a regular email when they are in your area.

Forest Routes Community Transport Partnership

Forest Routes Community Transport Partnership is holding two events on 23/25 May in Yorkley and Newent for lunch clubs and social groups. The theme for both events is trips and travel. Ahead of the events, they have gathered details from nearly 100 groups in the district; finding out about their transport needs as well as what trips they already go on and where they would like to visit. As a result of the events they want to be able to organise trips both within the district and slightly further afield.

Forest Routes will be producing a guide for all Forest groups, with details of attractions, accessibility and transport. Many of our attractions took part in a survey about accessibility but please do get in contact if you would like to be included.

At the two events they will be holding a raffle. If you would be willing to give something towards the raffle, for example entry tickets, a cream tea, or similar, Anna-Marie Danniels (Community Transport Partnership Coordinator) would love to hear from you. Anna-Marie.Daniels@fdean.gov.uk.

Four in a Bed

We had an email from Studio Lambert who are embarking on a brand new series of Channel 4’s very popular ‘Four in a Bed’. They are also adding; ‘Four in a Camp Bed’ this year hoping to add new types of accommodation to the series. These shows celebrate the great British Bed and Breakfast (and other types of UK accommodation) as well as their owners.

They are looking for enthusiastic and proud owners/managers with a minimum of three guest bedrooms or three sets of accommodation, who feel that their business stands out from the competition and who might enjoy the chance to share what makes their B&B special with a wider audience.

This is a brilliant opportunity for the owners to not only showcase their property but also the area and some of the delights it has to offer. There has been fantastic feedback over six series from people involved, many of whom have reported a dramatic increase in website hits and enquiries. For example, one B&B said they received 700 bookings after transmission and another said they had 30,000 hits on their website. In each programme, a fundamental part of each show is the ‘activity’ hosted by the owners and beautiful shots of the area and attractions surrounding the accommodation. This is an opportunity for them to show off their area to not only their guests but also to the audience reach of the programme, which for last series was around 1 million viewers per episode. Further details and how to apply.

Congratulations

Your Association won Best Use of Video at the Social Travel Britain Awards for its Surfing Stormtroopers stunt, which kicked off the campaign to promote the new TV and Movie trail. The video went viral and has been seen and shared millions of times and carries the message for people to come and visit us. Look out for tweets and Facebook posts, please share the good news.

Our latest Blogs

Members’ Newsletters and Blogs

Posters

Below are links to posters for members’ events who would appreciate it if you are able to display them to your visitors.

Dean Heritage Centre’s Fire and Wood Festival
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 17 June in Penallt. Further details.