A NEW group, set up to help attract more visitors to the town of Milford Haven, is leading calls for businesses to decorate their windows in the lead up to Christmas.

Visit Milford Haven has been working hard on several exciting plans for the town to help develop and promote its tourism experience.

The Christmas window dressing competition is open to businesses across the town, including Hakin, Hubberston, Thornton, Havens Head Retail Park and Milford Waterfront.

The group was a concept initially started by the Port of Milford Haven and now being driven forward independently by the team led by Chair, Dan Mills.

At the start of 2019, working with an external consultant, Sense of Place engagement events were arranged by the Port to engage with local stakeholders about the importance of what makes Milford Haven special and unique in order to create a warm and engaging welcome to the growing visitor numbers the town has enjoyed over recent years.

There was an overwhelming response to the concept and volunteers from the local community stepped forward to get involved.

The group has been active on social media, using the hashtag #visitmilfordhaven, just one of many elements being rolled out.

Chair of Visit Milford Haven, Dan Mills, said “After an exciting first year of getting plans and the structure of the group in place, we now want to start talking about Visit Milford Haven. We’ve got a great team of volunteers who are committed to giving their time and effort to make a difference.

“We’ve achieved a lot already; getting our website live and working with Milford Waterfront to offer businesses, event organisers and holiday accommodation providers in the town the chance to apply for a free online listing, great interest in our Facebook page, being involved in positive discussions about improvements to Milford Haven Train Station and we’re looking forward to making a positive impact.

“We’re always happy to welcome new members to Visit Milford Haven, so if you are interested in being part of this new tourism group, we would be delighted to hear from you.”

“If businesses have not applied for a free listing yet, we would encourage them to follow the link on our website – the Milford Haven directories on the Milford Waterfront website provide information for visitors and businesses across the town can benefit from this extra exposure at no cost. We also hope to see lots of entries for the business Christmas window dressing competition after such a challenging year; a little bit of extra sparkle will no doubt lift everyone’s spirits."

To enter, businesses are asked to email visitmilfordhaven@gmail.com or to send a message via their Facebook page by Friday, December 11, to register. Judging will take place and the winner will be announced on Friday, December 18.