Experience Oxfordshire celebrates English Tourism Week by connecting businesses with talent at Activate Learning Hospitality Lunch

VisitEngland’s annual English Tourism Week is an awareness raising campaign highlighting a sector supporting people and places to drive growth. A key campaign message is the breadth of job opportunities and career paths the sector offers. This fact was in evidence when representatives from top hotels and hospitality businesses from across Oxfordshire gathered to celebrate English Tourism this week.

Hosted by Experience Oxfordshire Ambassador Partner, Activate Learning, guests enjoyed an excellent lunch curated, created and served by Learners at the provider’s state-of-the-art hospitality school in Oxford. It was a great opportunity for the Learners to display their knowledge and skill and for guests to meet potential future employees.

As Experience Oxfordshire’s CEO, Hayley Beer-Gamage explained: “The visitor economy in Oxfordshire is currently worth £2.3 billion and has the capacity to thrive and grow. But for that to be realised we need to ensure we have a trained and enthusiastic workforce.

“Tourism and hospitality are experience sectors, reliant on services delivered by competent and engaged people. In return they offer an impressive range of opportunities no matter where someone finds themselves on their career path or life stage. Early years spent in hospitality, can provide transferable skills which will prove relevant throughout a working life; the varied working hours can offer desirable flexibility and, whatever the role, working in these sectors can create high levels of job satisfaction.

“We’re all here today to show our support to the Learners engaged on this programme and to encourage them to choose our sectors when considering their next steps into the world of work. I have been very impressed with the quality of food and standards of service we have received here today.”

In response to ongoing staff recruitment issues within the hospitality and leisure sectors, Experience Oxfordshire offers partners a free platform for posting current job vacancies: experienceoxfordshire.org/jobs.

Activate Learning has two colleges in Oxfordshire, the City of Oxford College and University Centre, and the Banbury and Bicester College. They offer the local community a variety of technical, vocational and academic education and training opportunities ranging from entry level, full-time academic and vocational study programmes, apprenticeships, leisure courses and university-level qualifications.

Andy Slater, Group Director of the Lifestyles Faculty at Activate Learning, said: “The visitor economy accounts for 10% of all employment in Oxfordshire and there is potential for that to grow. Activate Learning is committed to supporting the hospitality sector by delivering training that allows our Learners to become the competent and confident hospitality workforce of the future. We give them the skills to grow both academically and professionally, so they can find the right career path for them. Connecting our Learners to business and industry is vitally important to us and we are extremely grateful to Experience Oxfordshire for facilitating this event and giving us a great platform to showcase our talent.”

Attending the lunch Victoria Calcutt, Sales Manager at the Old Swan & Minster Mill and an alumnus of City of Oxford College and University Centre commented: “English Tourism Week is about raising the profile of the visitor economy and, as one of many Oxfordshire employers here today, I’m delighted to meet this group of Learners who are choosing to join our sector, and to see the level of skills they are demonstrating. The quality of the food served and the attention to detail were excellent. The difficulties hospitality businesses have had in recruiting in recent years is well documented. I congratulate Experience Oxfordshire for partnering with Activate Learning and facilitating this event.”

Cara Rooney, Level 2 Learner and Head Waitress at the event said: “The training here with Activate Learning has been enjoyable and the facilities are the best. The trainers are really good, very knowledgeable and supportive. I’ve been allowed to make mistakes and to learn from them, and I’ve really enjoyed developing my skills, such as presenting food in a creative, attractive way and interacting with guests. My confidence has grown and when I leave here I’m hoping to work in a front of house position.”

Guests enjoyed an impressive three-course lunch in the college’s Recharge restaurant, where the Hospitality and Professional Cookery Department cater for private events, which included:

• Selection of canapés
• Roasted carrot hummus, smoky baba ganoush, lamb keftedes, radish tzatziki and flat bread
• Seared fillet of stone bass, soft saffron polenta, seafood vinaigrette or brie and caramelised red onion tart, soft saffron polenta, roasted red pepper vinaigrette
• Chocolate and raspberry delice, chocolate tuille

Attending the event were representatives from: Bicester Hotel Golf and Spa, Blenheim Palace, Flight Club Oxford, Holiday Inn Oxford, Leonardo Royal Hotel Oxford, Mercure Oxford Hawkwell House, Old Swan & Minster Mill, Puy du Fou, Studio8, The Alchemist, The Feathers Hotel, The Folly Restaurant, The Randolph Hotel Oxford a Graduate by Hilton, The Relais Henley, The Store Oxford, voco Oxford Spires and voco Oxford Thames

**ENDS**

NOTES TO EDITORS

Images 1 to 8 available via this link. Additional images are available via this link.

Image 1: (L to R) Simon Rosam, Director of Delivery at Activate Learning; Hayley Beer-Gamage, CEO Experience Oxfordshire; Andy Slater, Group Director of the Lifestyles Faculty at Activate Learning

Image 2: Learner at Activate Learning

Image 3: (L to R) Rika Asami, Manager at The Folly Restaurant; Claire Satterthwaite, Cluster Guest Services Manager at voco Oxford Spires and voco Oxford Thames; Victoria Calcutt, Sales Manager at the Old Swan & Minster Mill

Image 4: Experience Oxfordshire Partners at Hospitality Lunch

Image 5: Cara Rooney, Level 2 Learner at Activate Learning

Image 6: Experience Oxfordshire Partners at Hospitality Lunch

Image 7: Chocolate and raspberry delice, chocolate tuille

Image 8: Learners at Activate Learning

Photographs by Experience Oxfordshire partner Studio8.

Experience Oxfordshire is the official Destination Management Organisation (DMO) and Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) for Oxfordshire. It is the trading arm of the parent charity, Experience Oxfordshire Charitable Trust, and is 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. The DMO seeks to improve growth and productivity across Oxfordshire’s visitor economy through the provision of essential business advice and support.

Experience Oxfordshire was one of the first destinations in England to gain LVEP status from national tourist board, VisitEngland. As an LVEP, Experience Oxfordshire is recognised as a high-performing organisation, supporting collaborative working both locally, through its network of partners and those with interest in the visitor economy, and nationally on shared priorities.

Read our Highlights 2023/24 publication here which showcases the impact and reach of the work that Experience Oxfordshire undertakes.

For more information on Experience Oxfordshire go to experienceoxfordshire.org/partner or contact partnership@experienceoxfordshire.org

To work with Experience Oxfordshire on marketing campaigns, contact marketing@experienceoxfordshire.org

To find out more about Experience Oxfordshire organised events go to the 2025 events calendar Experience Oxfordshire events

Media contact: Lesley Wright / press@experienceoxfordshire.org / 01865 686433

You can keep up to date with Experience Oxfordshire’s activity by following:

Facebook – Experience Oxfordshire
Instagram – @experienceoxfordshire
X – @ExperienceOx and @ExperienceOxBiz
LinkedIn – Experience Oxfordshire

Activate Learning is a pioneering education group with a global reach, committed to transforming lives through its approach to learning. The group comprises secondary, further and higher education, apprenticeship and business training activatelearning.ac.uk

Activate Learning is an Experience Oxfordshire Ambassador. Ambassador Partners collectively bring valuable insight, support and strategic direction to the work Experience Oxfordshire does as the Destination Management Organisation for the County. For more information go to: experienceoxfordshire.org/partner/about-us/experience-oxfordshire-ambassadors

Current Ambassadors include: Activate Learning, Bicester Village, Blenheim Palace, Cherwell District Council, Greatest Hits Radio, Great Western Railway, The Feathers Hotel, Hedges Law, Heythrop Park Hotel, Oxford Bus Company, Oxfordshire County Council, Pye Homes, Stagecoach, The Store Oxford, Westgate Oxford

English Tourism Week 2025 runs from 14-23 March. Lead by national tourism agency, VisitEngland, it celebrates a diverse, exciting and vibrant sector, and highlights the quality and value of the English tourism offer.

Tourism is one of England’s largest and most valuable industries and this annual campaign raises awareness of the sector among key stakeholders, including Government, Minsters. MPs and the media, of the huge contribution the English tourism sector makes to the UK economy.

English tourism supports 200,000 SME businesses, employs 2.6 million people and generates about £71.6 billion annually for the economy in domestic visitor spending.

English Tourism Week forms part of VisitEngland’s mission to champion the sector through political engagement nationally, regionally and locally – demonstrating to political decision-makers the importance of tourism in England and their local area.