May 2012 - Oxfordshire Cotswolds

ISSUE 24
news
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org
MAY 2012
Celebrating Success in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds
during English Tourism Week
March saw the first ever English Tourism Week and here in the
Oxfordshire Cotswolds we embraced it wholeheartedly with a
range of events throughout the week that saw support from local
residents, our industry partners, the national tourist board and the
Prime Minister! We received significant coverage in both the local
and national media for the events we held during the week.
Top level support for local tourism industry
Tourism in the Cotswolds could play a greater part in boosting
the country’s economy. That was the message given by the Prime
Minister at our networking event held at the Oxford Witney Four
Pillars Hotel on 16 March.
David Cameron spoke about his passion for the tourism industry
and, as the country’s third largest export, its importance to driving the economy. He acknowledged the
work people were doing promoting the industry, but felt there was potential to do much more. He said,
“London, is obviously a massive tourism hotspot, but I think we have enormous untapped reservoirs
in terms of the potential we have in our country, particularly right here in the Cotswolds where we
welcome a lot of tourists, but could welcome a huge amount more.”
David Cameron commented after the event, “I was delighted to attend the English Tourism Week event
held in my West Oxfordshire constituency.”
The networking event gave the industry an opportunity to examine the value of tourism to the nation as
well as demonstrating its role in promoting the Oxfordshire Cotswolds to tourists and visitors.
Among those attending the event were Lady Penelope Cobham, Chairman of VisitEngland and David
Curtis-Brignell, Chairman of English Tourism Week.
Cllr Richard Langridge, Cabinet Member for Communities, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the Prime
Minister, Lady Cobham and David Curtis-Brignell to the district as part of English Tourism Week. All of
the businesses and organisations represented here have played a big part in ensuring that the Oxfordshire
Cotswolds remains a top holiday destination in England. By bringing them together and sharing ideas it
can only boost the industry further.”
The event also saw the Prime Minister present Charles Holmes, CEO of the Four Pillars Hotel Group,
based in Witney, with their Silver Green Tourism Business Scheme accreditation across the whole group
of hotels, which is a fantastic achievement.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Oxford Witney Four Pillars Hotel for hosting what
was a highly successful networking event that saw over 100 local businesses attend.
To view the Prime Minister’s speech and the footage of the English Tourism Week Networking Event go
to http://oxbox.tv/showvideo.php?video=6028328 or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CtGpG7u4Ko
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org
The Rt Hon David Cameron MP presents
Charles Holmes, CEO of the Four Pillars
Hotel Group, based in Witney, with their
Green Tourism Business Scheme silver
award
The Rt Hon David Cameron MP,
Lady Penelope Cobham Chairman of
VisitEngland and David Curtis-Brignell,
Chairman of English Tourism Week
showing their support for English
Tourism Week
English Tourism Week networking event at the Oxford Witney Four Pillars Hotel
Beautiful South Awards for Excellence
The Beautiful South Awards for Excellence 2012-2013 will be officially
launched at the end of this month but you can register your interest now
by emailing [email protected]
This year sees the introduction of a new category recognising one of Britain’s greatest traditions
– Pubs. It would be wonderful if the first winner of this new category was one of our great local inns!
There is a wide range of categories for the Beautiful South Awards and they offer a great opportunity
for tourism businesses of any size to showcase their organisation to a regional audience and to garner
some good local and regional publicity.
Winners can go on to enter the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2013 – an opportunity for some
really significant national exposure as evidenced by the Bay Tree Hotel in Burford after they won Small
Hotel of the Year in 2011.
www.beautifulsouthawards.co.uk
Holiday Heaven on Earth
News in brief
Oxfordshire Cotswolds
Features on
Prime Time TV
Olympic Torch Relay
The Oxfordshire
Cotswolds was the
only destination in
England to feature
on the new travel
programme Holiday
Heaven on Earth
on Channel 5. The series saw a host of celebrity TV
presenters travel the globe to search out new and
exciting locations.
Our episode was a great showcase for the destination
and featured Burford, The Bay Tree Hotel, Burford
Ghost Tours, Aston Pottery, Blenheim Palace and the
Swan Inn at Swinbrook.
If you missed the programme you can view it at
www.channel5.com/shows/holiday-heaven-on-earth
- it’s Episode 10!
A winning photo
The Olympic Torch Relay will be passing
through Woodstock and Blenheim Palace
on the afternoon of Monday 9 July.
Plans for the day are not yet finalised but
there is a growing sense of excitement
about this once in a life time opportunity
to see the torch passing through the
Oxfordshire Cotswolds.
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org/
events/london-2012
WOW Returns
This year’s West Oxfordshire Week will run
from Monday 17 to Sunday 23 September.
For further information or to get involved
contact Chris Jackson
New Tourism South East
Chairman
Tourism South East has a new Chairman:
Ken Robinson CBE assumed the role of
Chairman in April.
The 2012 Oxfordshire Cotswolds photographic
competition has ended with an impressive 160
entries of the highest quality. The judging has been
conducted in partnership with Blueprint Imaging
Ltd in Witney. We are pleased to announce that the
winner of
this year’s
competition
is Mr Kevin
Goodey who
submitted
a stunning
countryside
image, taken
near Chipping
Norton.
Ken Robinson is also Chairman of
VisitEngland’s Visitor Attractions Group,
a member of VisitBritain’s British Tourism
Industry Group, a Board member of the
Tourism Alliance and Chair of the Tourism
Society Think Tank.
Mr Goodey
will receive
a 30inch x 20inch canvas print of his winning
photograph (above), which is being kindly donated by
Blueprint Imaging Ltd.
All the towns in the area and most of the
villages have a number of festivities planned.
Some of these are closed events but there
are plenty of events open to the public and
to visitors to the area.
Thank you to everyone who entered this year’s
competition.
To find out what’s on, or to publicise a local
event, visit
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org/events
More details can be found on the Tourism
South East website at
www.tourismsoutheast.com/board-ofdirectors
Jubilee Celebrations
The Jubilee weekend looks like it will be a
wonderfully lively celebration throughout
the Oxfordshire Cotswolds.
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org
Tourism partners achieve
great success at the West
Oxfordshire Business
Awards
March saw the second West Oxfordshire Business
Awards (WOBAs) take place at a glittering awards
evening at Heythrop Park Resort and we were
delighted to see so many of our tourism business
partners not only make it to the final cut but also win
several categories!
The Theatre Chipping Norton receiving
the Tourism and Leisure Award
Congratulations go to The Theatre Chipping Norton
who won both the Tourism and Leisure Award and the Social Media Award and to Caswell House who
won the New Business Award and Foxbury Farm who won the Rural Business Award.
Well done also to Cotswold Wildlife Park and Crocodiles of the World, who were the other finalists in
the Tourism and Leisure category and to Aston Pottery, who were a finalist in the Social Media category.
Well done to you all.
For more information on the awards go to www.woba.co.uk
And the success doesn’t end there: all the finalists were entered into the
Oxfordshire Business Awards and we are delighted to announce that our
tourism partners have been shortlisted in several categories: Cultural
Events and Tourism Award – Cotswold Wildlife Park and The Theatre
Chipping Norton and New Business Award – Caswell House.
The winners will be announced at the awards evening on 15 June.
For more information go to
www.oxfordshirebusinessawards.co.uk
Oxfordshire Cotswolds Bedroom Browser
The 2012 Bedroom Browser is now published
and available, free of charge, to all accommodation
providers in the area.
The browser is our major publication for visitors
who have already arrived in the area and is a great
promotional tool for the Oxfordshire Cotswolds
authoritative and informative it avoids the hotpotch
of seemingly random leaflets that you often see in
accommodation in other areas of the country.
We estimate that the browsers represent about
300,000 bednights of publicity as they sit year round
on the bedside tables of local accommodation
providers helping to persuade visitors to spend more of their stay (and money!) in our area.
Many thanks to all the attractions who support the publication and to the accommodation suppliers
who stock it.
If you would like further information, or stocks of the browser, please contact Chris Jackson
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org
Cotswolds Discoverer
May saw the launch of a new integrated bus & rail ticket
for the Cotswolds, aimed at encouraging more visitors
to use public transport to both get to, and around the
Cotswolds.
The Cotswolds Discoverer ticket provides unlimited
rail travel in and around the Cotswolds, including the
Cotswold Rail line that runs through the centre of
the Oxfordshire Cotswolds from Oxford to Moreton
in Marsh. The ticket includes bus and coach stops
as far afield as Swindon, Kemble, Stroud, Gloucester,
and Cheltenham, providing unlimited bus travel with
participating operators: Cotswold Green, Johnsons
Excelbus, Pulhams Coaches, RH Transport and
Swanbrook.
The Discoverer tickets, which are valid seven days a week anytime
(after 8.50am Monday-to-Friday for rail users), can be bought at any UK rail
station and on any of the participating bus services. They are available as oneday and three-day tickets, costing £10 and £25 respectively – though reductions
are available with Railcards and at half price for children under 16.
It is hoped that more bus operators will join the scheme in the future, but in the meantime, the Cotswold
Conservation Board have come up with some itinerary suggestions using the new ticket. These and other details
- including links to timetables and a downloadable leaflet - are available at:
www.escapetothecotswolds.org.uk/discoverer
The initiative will initially run for a trial period of 6 months, until October 2012. It is then hoped that operators
will continue to operate the scheme in the future, with a view to enhancing the offer further by incorporating
discounted entry into attractions and extending the area of coverage.
Promotional leaflets are being printed and will be distributed to railway stations and Visitor Information Centres
throughout the Cotswolds.
Love your landscape?
Our-land.co.uk is a new web-based initiative to help inspire visitors to be passionate about our beautiful
landscape by promoting tourism businesses that celebrate the beauty, diversity and distinctive features of
our protected landscapes. It incorporates accommodation, attractions and activities alongside stories of
sights, tastes, sounds and smells that make the Cotswolds so special.
Thanks to £1 million from the Rural Development Programme for England, it is FREE for eligible
businesses to appear on our-land.co.uk. The website has been created and managed by travel website
experts responsibletravel.com, and every business on Our Land also gets featured on responsibletravel.
com which currently attracts over 350,000 unique visitors every month.
Businesses get an entire page, which is created on-line by the business, with text, photos and video. Every
entry includes a free enquiries tracking service, and at the moment businesses can also take advantage
of additional free-upgrades. The services of a project consultant are also available, again free of charge, to
help businesses get registered.
For more information, contact Vicky Parr (Our Land Project Consultant for the Cotswolds Area):
Telephone: 07545 144234
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.our-land.co.uk
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org
Holidays at home are GREAT
VisitEngland have secured funding from the Government Olympic Executive to run a £4m domestic TV
campaign showcasing fantastic reasons to holiday and take more breaks in the UK during 2012.
The “Holidays at home are GREAT” campaign which launched on 8 March 2012 is the biggest ever
domestic marketing campaign launched in the UK.VisitEngland are inviting industry partners to submit
special offers showing visitors that 2012 is going to be a truly exciting year to be in the UK.
All these offers are displayed together on the campaign website (www.great2012offers.com) to
create a ‘one-stop shop’ where visitors can browse and select the offers they like best. On choosing an
offer, they’ll be taken to the offer supplier’s site, where they’ll be able to book directly. The dedicated
website has already received over 350,000 visitors, so don’t miss out on this fantastic FREE opportunity to
promote your business.
VisitEngland are asking you to give
our visitors another reason to stay
in the UK by encouraging you, our
partners in the tourism industry, to offer 20.12% off and other great offers.
That means 20.12% off accommodation stays, meals, and other experiences. Offers and deals like stay
three nights for the price of two, or two-for-one entry at attractions. They would also like to feature
added-value offers, where the customer pays the usual price but receives something extra for example a
free lunch or a special meal for £20.12, a guided tour, or a free pampering spa add-on. We’re sure you’ll
have all kinds of creative ideas, and they’d like some truly great offers to really add value for visitors.
If you are interested in the “Holidays at home are GREAT” campaign and would like to upload your offer
or find out more information, visit – www.visitengland.org/2012offers
Burford VIC achieve silver
Congratulations to Burford Visitor Information Centre (VIC). Despite having
only been in their new premises for nine months, they have gained a silver
award in the Green Tourism Business Scheme.
They achieved a very high score overall and the judges were particularly
impressed with certain aspects: their range of local products, the ‘Be a perfect
visitor’ and ‘Leave the car behind’ schemes and, of course, their great range of
local information.
Summer Networking Event
This year’s Summer Networking event is on 20 June between 5.30pm and
8pm; it will be hosted by the Old Swan & Minster Mill in Minster Lovell.
It is the perfect occasion to catch up with the tourism team, find out what
projects are going on and to network with each other in the beautiful
surroundings of this very special venue. Many good ideas for the future have
been formed at such events. There will also be the opportunity of a guided
tour during the evening.
If you would like to attend, please contact Tara Nielsen:
[email protected]
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org
Travel Trade Activity
Direct Selling to the APMEA Markets
March Marketplace (MAMA)
The Oxfordshire Cotswolds will be
represented in the forthcoming Best of
Britain and Ireland event in Bangkok. The
event will see over 100 key agents from the
Asia Pacific, Middle East and African region
attending to book and plan ahead for the
coming years travel.
In March this year we took part in ‘March
Marketplace’ (MAMA) at Wembley Stadium
where we met 150 international buyers brought
by VisitBritain from over 20 markets including the
US, China, India, Brazil, Russia and Germany.
This is the biggest travel trade event for
this region with buyers attending from
Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan,
United Arab Emirate, South Africa and
Korea.
This is a great opportunity
to raise the profile of the
Oxfordshire Cotswolds as a
must see visitor destination
amongst these markets.
This is a joint project which
is funded from the Local
Area Agreement funds that
were secured to promote
tourism across Oxfordshire
to the overseas markets.
Through working closely with Visit
Oxfordshire and the other District
Councils we aim to raise the profile of the
County and the Oxfordshire Cotswolds to
these lucrative overseas markets.
Hudson’s Heritage
Explorer Pass
Burford and Witney Visitor Information Centres are
now stocking The Hudson’s Heritage Explorer Pass,
which offers people the chance to visit over 200
iconic sites in the UK at discounted prices.
Each pass comes with a free souvenir guidebook
and map. Prices start from £29 for a two-day
pass, and holders can gain entry without making
additional on the door payments.
For more information visit:
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org/vics
This two day Tourism event comprised 2 parts;
The Hosted Buyers Marketplace (HBM) and the
Britain and Ireland Marketplace (BIM). Together
these two back-to-back workshops represented
a great opportunity to reach key buyers through
a programme of pre-scheduled and open
appointments.
Great for Groups
This event was held at Ascot
Racecourse in April and is the
group travel market’s newest event,
which gave organisers and tour
operators the chance to interact
with the UK’s key attractions.
Great for Groups was geared
to attracting the very best of the UK group
travel industry for a full-on, one day travel &
trip extravaganza and offered a vast selection of
ideas for group trips. It was promoted by the
Coach Tourism Council who promote travel and
tourism by coach on behalf of 300 members.
Mobile growth
Google has estimated that
by the end of 2011 28% of
all travel related queries in
the UK came from mobile
devices.
Within that, tablets account
for nearly a third.
What’s more, during the weekend when
bookings are typically highest, these devices
account for an even greater percentage of
total queries.
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org
Website trivia
DIARYdates
April was a record month for our Oxfordshire
Cotswolds website with over seven times as
many unique visitors as at the launch of revamped
website in November 2007.
2/5 June
Jubilee Weekend
Events across the Oxfordshire
Cotswolds celebrating the Queen’s
Diamond Jubilee
15 June
Oxfordshire Business Awards
Oxford Thames Four Pillars Hotel
20 June
Oxfordshire Cotswolds
Summer Networking Event
Old Swan & Minster Mill
5.30-8pm
26 June
Welcome All
Oxfordshire (Venue TBC)
Tourism South East full day training
course giving staff the confidence
and skills to provide great service
to customers with disabilities.
Special discounted rate of £25
(usually £99)
Where do our virtual visitors come from and what
are they looking for?
Two thirds of visitors come from the UK. The rest
of the visitor top 10 is made up by the USA and
assorted European countries along with Australia
and Canada: Russia (11th) and China (14th) have
been moving steadily up the rankings.
What information are they after? The
answer seems to be everything and anything!
Accommodation, Attractions and Towns &
Villages each attract about 20% of visitors; Events,
Activities, Food & Drink and Visitor Information
each get about 10% of the traffic.
Where and how do they find us? Over two thirds
of visitors find us through search engines and
there’s probably no real surprise in finding that
Oxfordshire (11.3%) and Cotswold/s (11.1%) are
the two top search terms.
So what are our potential visitors interested
in doing? Some search for cycling/a cycle ride,
while others are looking to go biking/for a bike
ride! Walking/walks may be far more popular
than hiking/hikes as search words but there are
plenty of other interests that lead people to the
Oxfordshire Cotswolds website: museum(s),
church(es), fishing, shopping and swimming to
name just a few.
The Oxfordshire Cotswolds really is a destination
website: visitors use over 3,000 different words
each month in 6,000 different combinations!
26-28 June British Destination Annual
Conference
Blackpool
9 July
Olympic Torch Relay
Woodstock & Blenheim Palace
12 July
Tourism Society Annual
Conference
London
17-23 Sept West Oxfordshire Week
Join the Oxfordshire Cotswolds on
and
West Oxfordshire District Council Tourism Team
Hayley Beer
Tourism Services Manager
[email protected]
01993 861561
Diane Blackwell
Tourism Development Officer
[email protected]
01993 861553
Chris Jackson
Tourism Development Officer
[email protected]
01993 861563
Vivienne Stobo
Visitor Information Centres
[email protected]
01993 861780