Tourism boss gets a guided tour of Oxfordshire attractions

The team pulled together a tight itinerary ensuring as much of the county was showcased as possible alongside many opportunities to meet 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 enjoyed a cruise down the River Thames and River Cherwell with Oxford River Cruises.

READ MORE: Cycle campaigners under fire for critcising car making

Earlier this week 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 Q&A session with such a high-profile industry leader was a good opportunity to feedback to government on grass roots issues.

Hayley Beer-Gamage, Experience Oxfordshire CEO, said: “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.

READ MORE: Lawyers take to the streets for Legal Aid walk

“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 (Local Visitor Economy Partnerships) 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.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get: 

• Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website 
• Advert-light access 
• Reader rewards 
• Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.