Tourism businesses in Gwent are being urged to celebrate their successful year by entering the National Tourism Awards for Wales.

Provisional figures for the summer season look very promising with confidence levels for the autumn season high.

At last year’s awards, South Wales businesses in the tourism industry swooped 10 per cent of the awards.

The next National Tourism Awards for Wales will be held in March 2015.

Entries for the awards opened online this week and include categories such as Best Place to Stay, Best Event, Best Place to Eat, Best Visitor Welcome, Best Day Out, Tourism Skills Development and Best Business Tourism.

There is also a category to celebrate up and coming young people in the industry - the Rising Tourism Star Award.

One of last year's winners was the Old Station in Tintern.

Lesley Sterry, tea room manager at the Old Station, said: “Since winning the award we have seen an increase in business, especially in our cake sales. We’re attracting new customer groups and have seen a large increase in cycling groups eager to try our energy boosting flapjack, or our cyclist speciality sandwich consisting of peanut butter, honey and banana. The award has also allowed us to promote local produce and our customers are delighted to find out that all our cakes are baked on site.”

Economy, Science and Transport Minister Edwina Hart said: “The tourism sector is worth £5bn to the Welsh economy and employs 117,400 staff - more than 9.3 per cent of the workforce. It is one of our key growth markets. Feedback from the industry indicates that the summer season has been a great success so far and the industry is looking to the future with confidence. The National Tourism Awards for Wales play an important part in recognising the best that Wales has to offer and categories for the 2015 event reflect the diverse nature of the industry. We want to support this sector in Wales to make sure the industry’s potential economic contribution is fully realised and celebrated – these awards are key in raising the profile of our tourism industry and supporting the drive to improve quality.”