Tourism Business Update - 10 Dec 2024

Ospreys team up with Visit Swansea Bay as European Jersey front-of-shirt sponsor

We are proud to announce that Visit Swansea Bay is teaming up with Ospreys Rugby as the official front-of-shirt sponsor for their European campaign.

This collaboration is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the beauty and vibrancy of Swansea Bay to audiences across Europe, highlighting our region as a must-visit destination.

Together, we're putting Swansea Bay on the map in a whole new way - uniting sport, tourism, and community pride.

Let's celebrate this partnership and the chance to welcome even more visitors to our stunning destination!

Read full story

Swansea Council's support for tourism industry continues

Small visitor accommodation businesses in Swansea are thriving, thanks to a new wave of funding from the UK Government's Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF), further cementing Swansea's reputation as a top-tier tourist destination.

The popular Tourism Support Fund, which is now in its third round and managed by the council's tourism team, aims to support small visitor accommodation operators who wish to upgrade their offer or increase their grading.

A total of 12 businesses have successfully secured funding to improve their facilities with grants of up to £10k. Some of the projects delivered in this round include bedroom and bathroom refurbishments, improved accessibility, cycling and watersports equipment storage, EV charging points and solar panels.

In response to industry feedback, Swansea Council proactively established this fund to provide grants and marketing support, empowering local operators to enhance their offerings.

In addition to grant support, the council continues to offer free marketing to local tourism and hospitality businesses. Over 250 partners already take advantage of the year-round marketing campaigns to attract visitors to the area.

In February, the council's tourism team will host a business event to showcase how the revamped visitswanseabay.com website can help local operators further enhance their offerings and attract a wider audience.

If you're a tourism business but not a Visit Swansea Bay Partner yet, email Tourism.Team@swansea.gov.uk or register for free here.

Swansea Christmas Giveaway - a BIG thank you 

This week saw the launch of the our very successful 'Swansea Christmas Giveaway', with a fantastic prize announced every day in the lead-up to Christmas.

Local businesses and venues have shown tremendous support and offered wonderful prizes, including overnight stays, family meals, show tickets, VIP experiences, hampers and much more.

Keep an eye on the Enjoy Swansea social media channels throughout December for more information.

We would like to thank everyone who has come forward with prizes and we look forward to continuing to work with you in 2025.

Consultation: Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill - closes 10 Jan 

The Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill has been referred to the Finance Committee for Stage 1 scrutiny of the general principles of the Bill.

To inform its scrutiny, the Committee has issued an open call for evidence on the Bill and is inviting people to submit written evidence to assist in its consideration of the Bill.

If passed, the Bill will:

• require visitor accommodation providers in Wales to be registered on a register of visitor accommodation providers.
• provide local authorities with a discretionary power to charge a visitor levy on overnight stays in visitor accommodation.
• require local authorities to consult before introducing, changing or abolishing the levy.
• make visitor accommodation providers liable to pay the levy to the Welsh Revenue Authority.
• provide a basis for the calculation of the levy and its collection.
• require local authorities to use the net proceeds for the purposes of destination management and improvement in its area and report on the use of the proceeds.
• provide the Welsh Ministers with a power to extend the levy to berths and moorings by regulations. 

The closing date for submissions is Friday 10 January 2025.

If you have any queries or need further information, please email VisitorLevy@gov.wales

Find out more and have your say

HMRC Employer Bulletin - December edition

The December edition of the Employer Bulletin brings you all the latest HMRC updates and guidance to support employers, payroll professionals and agents.

Included in this edition are important updates on:

• Employer National Insurance contributions and Employment Allowance changes announced at Autumn Budget 2024
• Automatic enrolment duties for festive season workers
• Confirming plans to mandate the reporting of benefits in kind through payroll software from April‌‌‌ ‌‌2026
• The official rate of interest from 6‌‌‌ ‌‌April‌‌‌ ‌‌2025
• Investment Zone employer National Insurance contributions relief guidance
• Helping your employees top up their State Pension

Download the December edition now

Reporting PAYE information in real time when payments are made early at Christmas

Some employers need to pay their employees earlier than usual in December. This can be for several reasons, such as businesses closing during the festive period and needing to pay workers earlier than normal. This is to remind you of the permanent easement on reporting Real Time Information (RTI) that applies during this time.

If you do pay early over the Christmas period, you must report your normal or contractual payment date on your Full Payment Submission (FPS).
 
For example, if you pay on 20 December 2024 but your normal payment date is 31 December 2024, please report the payment date as 31 December 2024. In this example the FPS would need to be sent on or before 31 December 2024.

Doing this will help to protect your employees' eligibility for income-based benefits such as Universal Credit, as an early payment could affect current and future entitlements.

The overriding PAYE reporting obligation for employers is unaffected by this exception and remains that you must report payments, on or before the date the employee is paid.

Business Swansea Advice Surgery - 13 Dec (10am-1pm), Room 1.2.1, The Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, SA1 3SN

Join us to find out more about: 

•    Access to business support
•    Swansea Council grants and loans information
•    Help with funding applications
•    Recruitment and training
•    Signposting to relevant agencies
•    Networking opportunities

Meet the Experts:

•    Business Swansea Anchor Team
•    Pathways to Work Employability Team
•    Skills for Swansea - Gower College
•    Business Wales
•    Swansea's Broadband Engagement Officer
•    Development Bank of Wales
•    Communities For Work

Just drop in, no booking needed.

Deadline to register your business banking complaint with the BBRS - 13 Dec 

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are urged to register their business banking complaint with the Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS), which is set to close to new registrations at midnight on 13 December. After this date, SMEs will be unable to register any complaints with the BBRS and businesses could lose out on resolutions and redress payments.

To submit a complaint to the BBRS' Contemporary Scheme, SMEs must have a turnover of less than £10 million, a balance sheet of less than £7.5 million and not be eligible for the Financial Ombudsman Service. Complaints must relate to incidents that took place on or after 1 April 2019 that have not already been subject to an independent review or settled.

Registering a complaint at the BBRS is free. The BBRS is an independent, industry funded, dispute resolution service for SME customers of Barclays Bank, Danske Bank, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group, Santander and Virgin Money.

Find out more about the BBRS

Could your business benefit from free virtual tours?

The PACE Cymru project at University of Wales Trinity St David (UWTSD) is keen to work with local businesses to implement this new technology into their day-to-day workload, free of charge.

Virtual tours can bring high value impact to your business, whether it is for promotional or maintenance purposes. They are an excellent way to showcase your accommodations or facilities - and you can also populate the environment with key information, encouraging guests to explore the premises.

Take a look at an example of a virtual tour for the campus library here.

The project finishes Feb 2025 so if you are interested, don't delay - contact glyn.jenkins@uwtsd.ac.uk

Calling all food businesses - do you want to guard your profits against wasted food and cut your costs?

Every year, 1.1 million tonnes of food is thrown away across the Hospitality and Food Service (HaFS) sector. 75% of the food wasted could have been eaten, costing the sector £3.2 billion.

Guardians of Grub, delivered by WRAP, is running a campaign to reduce food waste ahead of the busy month of December.

Demonstrate to your teams and externally that you and your business are fully committed to reducing food waste - and save money too.

Here are some of the free resources you can download:

• Plate waste toolkit - take practical action by understanding customer behaviour.
• 7 day tracking sheet - an easy way to measure and monitor your food waste.
• Save food posters - handy tips to inspire your team.
• use the Savings calculator to take a look at how much money you could save by simply reducing your food waste

For further information please select the following link: Food Matters: make it count - it's time for action • Guardians of Grub 

Free buses for the Christmas countdown 

Shoppers and visitors heading into Swansea city centre can travel on buses for free on weekends in the countdown to Christmas.

In addition to the free weekend rides, bus services will also be free on Monday 23 December and on Christmas Eve and then from 27 December to 7pm on New Year's Eve.

This offer is for journeys that start and finish within the Swansea Council area. All journeys must start before 7pm.

Find out more about free buses

Hanging baskets for businesses - order now for summer

Order hanging baskets, lamp post baskets and barrier troughs to brighten up your business this spring / summer.

We aim to start delivering the displays during May, depending on the growth of the baskets and weather permitting. Please ensure that you have fixed brackets in place so that we can hang them for you on delivery.

If you choose the option to have your baskets watered by us too then they will be fed and watered all through the summer until around October time. Normally we visit 4 days a week, but if there is a dry spell of weather we'll do extra visits.

Deadline for orders: 30 April 2025 (while stocks last)

Find out more about hanging baskets for businesses

St David's Day celebrations - how you can get involved

As we head into 2025, our events team will be looking forward to St David's Day and making plans for our annual Croeso event to mark the occasion. The event is a family focused fun day and food festival which takes over the City Centre on Friday 28 February and Saturday 1 March 2025, including a colourful celebratory parade marking the day of our Patron Saint.

We plan to use Croeso as an over-arching event to encompass all St David's day celebrations across Swansea.

Do you have any St David's day events planned? If so, let us know so that we can include them under the Croeso umbrella, and you will benefit from the extensive marketing campaign associated with this event along with branding and support to promote your celebrations.

Email Special.Events@swansea.gov.uk

Don't forget to pick up your free Swansea Bay Visitor Maps  

We are delighted to announce the return of our popular A3 visitor maps. These double-sided, tear-off counter-top maps feature Swansea city centre on one side and Gower and the wider area on the other. 

They are perfect to hand out to visitors to help them make the most of their stay and explore everything our area has to offer.  

Maps are available free of charge to local tourism and hospitality businesses - they can be collected from the Guildhall on request.

Please email Tourism.Team@swansea.gov.uk to request a supply. 

Great events in 2024-25:

Until 22 Dec: Swansea Christmas Market
Until 4 Jan 2025: Waterfront Winterland
Until 5 Jan 2025: Jack and the Beanstalk Pantomime, Swansea Grand Theatre
14 Dec: Carols at Oystermouth Castle
25 May 2025: Swansea Triathlon
26-31 May 2025: Eisteddfod yr Urdd, Margam Park
8 June 2025: Swansea Half Marathon
5-6 July 2025: Wales Airshow
13 July 2025: IronMan 70.3 Swansea
6-14 Sept 2025: Gower Walking Festival
14 Sept 2025: Swansea Bay 10k
5 Nov 2025: Swansea Council Fireworks Display

Find out about more events happening in Swansea

Found this tourism trade update useful? Pass it on or contact Geraldine.Williams@swansea.gov.uk