Experience Oxfordshire announce Ambition for Oxfordshire

Experience Oxfordshire Press Release

For immediate release: 24/06/2019

Experience Oxfordshire have launched their ambition for destination management across Oxfordshire in their newly unveiled ‘Ambition Statement’. The award-winning Oxfordshire DMO (Destination Management Organisation) has been working to develop the Oxfordshire visitor economy since its creation in 2011.

The new Ambition Statement recognises that Oxfordshire now welcomes 29.9 million visitors a year, generating a visitor economy with an annual value of more than £2.17 billion which in turn supports nearly 37,000 jobs across the County. The statement reflects Experience Oxfordshire’s growing role as a curator as well as a driver of visits to Oxfordshire, with a renewed focus on encouraging visits that provide a positive contribution to both visitors and residents as well as focusing on improving growth and productivity throughout Oxfordshire.

Launching the Ambition Statement, Hayley Beer-Gamage, Chief Executive of Experience Oxfordshire, said:

“We are committed to the promotion, management, development and leadership of Oxfordshire as a great destination to live, work, visit and do business. Our new Ambition Statement helps articulate our vision for Oxfordshire and has a greater focus on sustainability, welcome and pride in place than ever before but must be something businesses and stakeholders work on together to achieve. We recognise the value of the industry but must ensure that we try to balance the impact on the destination to make tourism work for everyone”.

Experience Oxfordshire’s ambitions are to:

Work with businesses and stakeholders to improve growth and productivity across the visitor economy and leading effective Destination Management, whilst ensuring that tourism works for everyone across Oxfordshire.
Encourage visits that offer the best balance of impact and contribution to the county
Work to deliver a joint vision of pride in place across the city and county that engages with both residents and visitors to improve welcome and experience
Spread the tourist season throughout the year to decrease the impact of seasonality and to encourage visitors to explore the whole county of Oxfordshire
Increase overnight stays from both international and domestic visitors ensuring an increased spend per visit
Encourage and enable the exploration of cultural treasures across the county by local people
Advocate for the importance of the sector and influence stakeholders to address issues that hinder productivity and growth and to encourage skills development and job creation
Drive growth across the visitor economy by increasing the value of visitor expenditure by 5% year-on-year
Encourage long term investment and support from the public and private sector to ensure that the county has a sustainable DMO that can deliver on destination management ambitions and drive growth
Grow the Experience Oxfordshire partnership and make it work for small and large businesses, offering a flexible value for money proposition

Experience Oxfordshire will deliver this through seeking investment from partners and stakeholders and providing a range of services for partners. The organisation prides itself in being a partnership where every business has a place and everyone can benefit.

The full version of the Ambition Statement is available on request.

ENDS

For more information contact:

Antonio Ferrara

Phone: 01865 686433

Email: antonio.ferrara@experienceoxfordshire.org / press@experienceoxfordshire.org

Experience Oxfordshire

Experience Oxfordshire is the official Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Oxfordshire. We are the trading arm of the parent charity, the Experience Oxfordshire Charitable Trust, and are a not-for-profit partnership organisation that is committed to the promotion, management and development of Oxfordshire as a great destination to live, work, visit and do business.