Championing Oxfordshire’s Visitor Economy

Experience Oxfordshire has a strong record of recognition from government for its work on behalf of the county. It was cited in the 2021 de Bois Review of Destination Management Organisations in England as an example of best practice for its work assisting the county’s businesses during the pandemic. In the written consultation Experience Oxfordshire received praise from respondents with one commenting that it represented ‘an example of resilience and entrepreneurialism working against all the odds.’ We are delighted to have received given Local Visitor Economy Partnership status from VisitEngland in March 2023, and look forward to representing the county as such in future national programmes.

Business Confidence Survey

The visitor economy is vitally important to Oxfordshire. Prior to the pandemic we welcomed 31 million visitors to the county who spent £2.5 billion locally which in turn supported 42,000 jobs.

Economic Impact Survey

At Experience Oxfordshire we monitor national and local trends and survey visitors and businesses to measure the performance of the destination. The 2021 Economic Impact Survey we commissioned shows a significant recovery in volume of trips and related expenditure compared to 2020, but the sector was still operating at 36% below 2019 levels in terms of value.

Value: £1.6bn = 56% increase in value on 2020 (36% down on 2019)

Trips: 23.3m = 56% increase in trips on 2020

Day trip expenditure is down 26% on pre-pandemic levels and overnight expenditure down 51%

Employment: 28.8k = 13% increase in jobs supported (33% down on 2019)

2022 data has been commissioned but not yet available

Our new year 2023 Business Survey provided an excellent overview with two thirds of businesses responding looking forward with confidence. 84% said their performance for 2022 was better than expected and just over a third said prebookings for 2023 were either higher or much better than expected. To meet the challenges posed by rising operational costs and issues relating to staff recruitment and retention, however, business (23%) had introduced new practices including shortening their operating hours and introducing mid-week closures. Over half of businesses (53%) had increased prices by up to 10% and just over a quarter (28%) were delaying business developments.

Visitor Sentiment Survey

Meanwhile our Visitor Survey showed that 90% of past visitors and 76% of potential visitors see the county as an appealing place to visit. The survey indicated a pent-up demand with 80% of past visitors keen to return to Oxfordshire this year (in addition to 66% of the respondents who had yet to visit).

Residents’ Perception Survey

For the first time we surveyed local people in our Residents’ Perception Survey and were pleased to see that a large majority, 95%, recognised that tourism is important or very important to the local economy. A quarter of respondents viewed its contribution to local residents’ quality of life positively although a similar number viewed its impact negatively with 61% thinking tourism is detrimental in terms of traffic and 32% thinking it impacts negatively on the environment.

English Tourism Week

This “State of the County” was discussed in great detail when Experience Oxfordshire hosted a cross-party virtual round table discussion as part of English Tourism Week, bringing together three of the county’s MPs with Partners, operators and local authorities from across the visitor economy to consider the current issues facing the sector.

Experience Oxfordshire pursues every opportunity to work in collaboration with institutions and authorities locally, regionally and nationally. We were delighted that our work with Oxford Brookes Business School and its Help to Grow management programme was cited as a best practice case study in DCMS’s recent update report on the Government’s Tourism Recovery Plan.

Visitor Economy Renaissance Programme

We are equally proud of our work delivering against the Visitor Economy Renaissance Programme on behalf of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP). Delivering strategic marketing campaigns over an eighteen-month period will ensure that Oxfordshire remains top of mind with past and current visitors and enable us to reach out and develop relationships on behalf of the county with new audiences.

Facilitated by the Experience Oxfordshire team, the county’s MP’s also took time to have individual in depth meetings with a selection of operators on site to hear in greater detail of the issues and successes involved in running their businesses.