Experience Oxfordshire, the county’s Destination Management Organisation (DMO), was this week delighted to welcome the CEO of VisitBritain/VisitEngland, Patricia Yates, to Oxfordshire.
Experience Oxfordshire, which recently received Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) status from VisitEngland pulled together a tight itinerary ensuring as much of the county was showcased as possible alongside many opportunities to meet with local businesses for discussion and feedback sessions.
During the action-packed visit Ms Yates took a tour around the city with award winning Oxford Official Walking Tours and a cruise down the River Thames and River Cherwell with Oxford River Cruises. She visited The Oxford Artisan Distillery and was given a tour of Blenheim Palace alongside site visits at The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels, Malmaison Oxford, the Old Parsonage, and The Bear Hotel where she was joined by Wake up to Woodstock. Transport was provided by Royal Cars.
The Chair of Experience Oxfordshire, Joanna Davidson CBE, led a roundtable discussion at Malmaison Oxford, where businesses were given the opportunity to hear from VisitBritain/ VisitEngland on national priorities and the importance of working with their official LVEP. This direct and open Q&A session with such a high-profile industry leader was a great opportunity to feedback to government on grass roots issues.
Hayley Beer-Gamage, Experience Oxfordshire CEO commented: “We are absolutely delighted that Patricia joined us on territory in Oxfordshire for a visit. It was an action packed 24 hours and we really did make the most of the opportunity. As well as discussing industry issues it was also important for us to feedback all the exciting developments and investment that are happening across the city and county and how we are supporting locally and promoting appropriately, both nationally and internationally. We will continue to work closely with VisitBritain/VisitEngland to grow back our visitor economy business post pandemic and drive productive, sustainable growth well into the future”.
Experience Oxfordshire is a partnership organisation working with local businesses to grow the value of the visitor economy in Oxfordshire, for the benefit of everyone.
VisitBritain/VisitEngland CEO Patricia Yates said: “It’s been fantastic to be in beautiful Oxfordshire, visiting businesses and attractions across the city and county and seeing first-hand the wonderful products and experiences on offer for visitors. It has also been invaluable to listen and talk to local businesses about the current challenges and opportunities and to highlight our work to support the industry.
“Tourism is an industry that can deliver growth like no other and I was delighted to work with Experience Oxfordshire on this visit and see the great activity it’s delivering with businesses and stakeholders to attract domestic and overseas visitors. It was also great to see how well engaged, informed and highly regarded Experience Oxfordshire is locally and its commitment to delivering on its recent VisitEngland LVEP accreditation, driving the visitor economy.”
Through their LVEP status Experience Oxfordshire is committed to championing the visitor economy and ensuring engagement and feedback at a local and national level takes place and this was a great opportunity to do just that.
