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You are here: Destination management > Tourism Business Support
Starting and growing a tourism business in Monmouthshire
Starting a new business can be a daunting prospect and sustainable business growth isn’t something that happens by chance. Information regarding the range of support available from Welsh Government is available on the Business Wales website.
Tourism Development in Monmouthshire
For advice on planning - to find out whether planning permission is required for your proposed development or to access Monmouthshire’s pre-application planning service, visit the planning section of Monmouthshire County Council’s website.
Monmouthshire's Destination Management Plan guides tourism development, management and marketing of the county. The purpose of the Plan is to establish a clear framework for public, private and voluntary sector partnership working to address the identified priorities and deliver year round sustainable tourism growth to maximise the economic, social and environmental benefits of tourism across all parts of Monmouthshire. Unfortunately the planned review of the approved Plan (2017-2020) has had to be postponed due to budgetary challenges.
See our Destination Intelligence page for details of Monmouthshire's Tourism Performance
Download Monmouthshire’s Accommodation Development Opportunities Report
Destination Marketing
Monmouthshire's destination marketing focusses on digital content marketing and PR underpinned by organic search and email to deliver leads and conversions for businesses in the UK consumer marketplace as well as opening up opportunities to overseas traffic, targeting best prospect markets identified by Visit Wales.
Marketing support
We offer a free website entry on VisitMonmouthshire.com for all visitor economy businesses in Monmouthshire.
If you’re not sure whether your business / attraction / event has an entry or not, type the name of your business into the search facility.
If you don’t already have an entry and would like one created, please email the following information to tourism@monmouthshire.gov.uk:
If you already have an entry and just need to update or amend the information, please email the required amendments to tourism@monmouthshire.gov.uk.
For information on entries showing on www.visitwales.com please see http://www.visitwales.com/working-with-us/faq
Add your own event to VisitMonmouthshire.com
You can now add your own event to the Visit Monmouthshire website using our events form.
Social Media
Connect with Visit Monmouthshire on Social Media and spread your message further. Let us know if you've uploaded an event to Facebook and we'll add it to our calendar, or post on our page/tweet us and we can help promote your business to our fans.
Tag your posts on Twitter and Instagram with #loveMonmouthshire and they could feature in online galleries on the website and on our social media accounts.
Image Gallery
The Visit Monmouthshire asset library offers an extensive collection of images and videos available for download for the purposes of promoting tourism in Monmouthshire. First time users will need to register. All we ask is that credit is given to Visit Monmouthshire.
The Visit Wales asset library offers a further selection of images for tourism purposes https://assets.wales.com/assets
Travel Trade, Group Travel & Business Tourism
Travel trade and group travel marketing is undertaken collaboratively with the 9 other local authorities across the Cardiff Capital Region under the Visit Southern Wales brand.
The fam trip organised for the Coach Tourism Association (CTA) AGM in May 2022 is a perfect example of the practical support the Southern Wales Tourism Partnership offers visitor economy businesses across the Cardiff Capital Region.
CTA Spring Networking Event 2022
Group Travel Toolkit
Your guide to attracting more and better quality groups
Group travel is a growing market and it’s hard to think of a business within the public, private or voluntary sectors that couldn’t benefit from groups. The group travel and coach tourism sector represents a useful and reliable income stream for tourism businesses. Groups of spending visitors are potentially valuable customers for hotels, attractions and destinations. They’re of value to heritage attractions; meal stops; retail establishments; accommodation providers; transport providers; tourist guides; art & craft galleries and theatres.
Download Wye Valley & Vale of Usk Group Travel Toolkit
Download the Southern Wales Group Travel Toolkit
Growing the tourism benefits of walking
Walking is by far the most common activity on a day trip to the outdoors in Wales, with most consisting of a short walk (under 2 miles) or walking the dog. There are 611 promoted routes in Monmouthshire, including 10 long distance routes. These include the Offa’s Dyke Path National Trail and the Wales Coast Path, plus a variety of locally managed routes. Most of the promoted routes are short walks to reflect the demand for this type of route.
Development of walking in Monmouthshire is guided by Monmouthshire's Walking Product Development Strategy.
If you're interested in developing or promoting a route in the county, you will find lots of useful information in our Walking Toolkit.
Growing the tourism benefits of cycling
The cycling market is now widely acknowledged as one of Wales’ most significant offers for tourism, benefiting from world class landscapes, heritage, attractions and facilities. According to the 2015 Great Britain Tourism Survey, cycling is worth £90 million to the Welsh economy through daily visits and overnight stays. Around 300,000 overnight visits to Wales each year involve cycling and/or mountain biking with an annual worth between £55 and £60 million.
Find out how to capitalise on the opportunities of this market by downloading the South East Wales Cycling Toolkit.
Developing successful events
Planning and managing events can be a challenging yet very rewarding process, which can lead to a whole range of positive outcomes for the individuals and organisations who host them and for the venues and locations in which they take place. However successful events do not happen by chance, they require careful and considered planning from start to finish.
Find out how to develop and manage successful events with our Events Management Toolkit.
Add your events to our website.
Gwent Levels Accommodation Study
The Gwent Levels have been recognised as an important area of Monmouthshire & Newport, and were successful in securing £2.5 million of Heritage Lottery Fund funding to develop the Living Levels Landscape Partnership.
To support the growth of tourism on the Gwent Levels it is recognised that there is a need to invest in appropriate, low impact and sustainable tourist accommodation. Encouraging higher spending overnight staying tourists will help to diversify the rural economy.
Gwent Levels Accommodation Study
Gwent Levels Visitor Accommodation Advisory Pack
Visitor Information
Take advantage of Monmouthshire’s Tourist Information Service, by introducing yourself / your business to our friendly, knowledgeable Tourist Information Centre staff. Make sure they are familiar with the visitor experience you offer so they feel confident about recommending it to visitors.
There are two staffed Tourist Information Centres in Monmouthshire (Abergavenny and Chepstow). Abergavenny Tourist Information Centre is operated by Brecon Beacons National Park Authority with financial support from Monmouthshire County Council and Abergavenny Town Council. Chepstow TIC is operated by MonLife (a group of services within Monmouthshire County Council).
Abergavenny TIC, The Town Hall, 61 Cross Street, Abergavenny. NP7 5HD
Chepstow TIC, Bridge Street, Chepstow. NP16 5EY.
Visitor information is also available at Shire Hall, Monmouth; Old Station, Tintern; Caldicot Castle; and Usk Rural Life Museum.
Visit Monmouthshire sponsors an annual Welcome to Monmouthshire bedroom browser
Monmouthshire also has a group of well-trained Ambassadors whose role it is to offer a warm welcome to visitors and give them ideas of things to see and do while they’re here to enhance their visit, prolong their stay and encourage repeat visits.
Brown and White Tourism Road Signs
It may seem simple to put up a sign for your business but there are road safety, quality and 'sign pollution' issues to assess before an application is approved. Your application will be judged against a range of eligibility criteria as well as against road safety and traffic management factors.
Brown and White signposting is not advertising. The signs are to help visitors find tourism facilities but too many signposts spoil the look and feel of an area, and can make it confusing and distracting for the driver.
To avoid this, we may refuse applications. In some cases applicants will be encouraged to take up shared traffic management signposting with other local facilities on the same route. With increased reliance by drivers on SatNav it is crucial for attractions and other tourism businesses to have correct postcode details on their website, and on Google.
To apply for Brown & White Tourism signs on Monmouthshire Highways you will need to complete the application form below and pay a £100 application fee. If successful you will then be responsible for the costs of design, construction and installation of the signs. Although the signs remain the property of Monmouthshire County Council, you will also be responsible for the cost of any maintenance or replacement of the signs.
For brown and white tourism signs on Monmouthshire County Council highways, please download Monmouthshire’s Brown & White Tourism policy and guidance below.
Download Monmouthshire’s Brown & White Tourism Signage policy and guidance
Download Brown & White Tourism Signs Application Form
For tourism signs on trunk roads in Monmouthshire you will need to contact the South Wales Trunk Road Agency (SWTRA) directly - enquiries@southwales-tra.gov.uk
Click here for more information on applying for signage on trunk roads.
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