Experience Oxfordshire unveils new promotional assets to attract BVE/MICE business to Oxfordshire
The event industry currently provides over £61 billion overall in direct value to the UK economy and as part of its suite of assets geared to attracting the highly valued business visits, meetings, incentive, conference and events markets (BVE/MICE), Experience Oxfordshire, the official Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) and Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for the county, has unveiled a new video promoting the fantastic range of venues and superb quality of experience on offer in the county.
Businesses attending the recent Experience Oxfordshire Venues Partner Meeting hosted by Keble College heard from guest speakers VisitBritain/VisitEngland Business Events and The Delegate Wranglers®, who both commended the new video showcase, citing it as an impressive and important promotional tool for attracting businesses and bookings.
Despite operating in a highly competitive global marketplace, Oxfordshire is a destination which attracts great interest from this sector and activity in this area delivers tangible results.
Earlier this year the Experience Oxfordshire team exhibited at CHS Leeds, a one-day show for business visits and event organisers, and the largest MICE exhibition outside London. Joining forces with The Delegate Wranglers® as a stand partner, a mix of pre-scheduled appointments and walk ups on the day delivered some quality requests for proposals from Oxfordshire venues and many new connections were made.
International business visitors spent £5.2 billion in the UK in 2023 and accounted for 17% of all trips and spend made by inbound visitors in that year. The value of these travellers has grown over time and has shown a swift recovery post-pandemic with spend up on 2022 and only just behind that achieved in 2019.
November will see the team on the MeetEngland stand at IBTM World in Barcelona, the leading global event for the meetings, incentives, conferences and events industry. With 4,700 registered buyers the event provides Experience Oxfordshire with an excellent opportunity to present the county’s fabulous venues and attractions to a high value sector.
In February over a thousand organisers, agencies and corporate buyers will flock to London’s Excel for International Confex where the Experience Oxfordshire team will promote the county at large and its Venue Partners’ latest products and services. Attendance at Confex is partially supported by OxLEP (Oxfordshire’s Local Economy Partnership) through the Visitor Economy Renaissance Programme (VERP).
Experience Oxfordshire CEO, Hayley Beer-Gamage said: “Business visitors have shorter stays, but have a higher value. In Oxfordshire our business visitors stay on average three nights, accounting for 23% of all visits and 20% of spend. This is because in Oxfordshire we have the right mix of product and experience to deliver beyond the expectation of this market. For our local businesses to continue to thrive it’s important to communicate effectively with agents and buyers to ensure they are aware of all we can offer. Exhibitions provide the opportunity to meet one-to-one with these key influencers and we are delighted to have this new video with which to showcase our county and the wonderful range of Venue Partners we represent.”
These outreach activities are supported by the core Experience Oxfordshire team including the Experience Oxfordshire Venue Finding Service which handles requests for advice and information for free on an ongoing basis from enquirers from across the globe. During the last eighteen months the team handled a range of enquiries from event organisers based in the UK, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Spain and the USA worth in the region of £1 million.
Another key tool in explaining Oxfordshire’s offer to buyers is the latest edition of the digital Experience Oxfordshire Venues Guide, sixty-two pages highlighting the range, diversity and depth of quality of the venues, incentives and experiences available within the county.
The new inspirational video showcases the fantastic range of venues and their services on offer within the county. Whether buyers are looking for sleek modernity or history and heritage, Oxfordshire venues are seen to provide top of the class facilities within an inspirational environment.
The new Experience Oxfordshire Venues video can be viewed here.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
Images: available via the following link.
Image 1: Keble College
Image 2: New Theatre Oxford
Image 3: Waddesdon Manor
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 www.experienceoxfordshire.org/partner or contact partnership@experienceoxfordshire.org
To work with Experience Oxfordshire on marketing campaigns, contact marketing@experienceoxfordshire.org
Information on Experience Oxfordshire’s venue finding service can be found here
https://www.experienceoxfordshire.org/venues/ or contact venues@experienceoxfordshire.org
The Experience Oxfordshire Venues Guide can be viewed here https://www.experienceoxfordshire.org/oxfordshire-venue-guide
The Experience Oxfordshire Venues Video can be viewed here https://www.experienceoxfordshire.org/venues/
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 @ExperienceOxBiz and @ExOxVenues
LinkedIn – Experience Oxfordshire
