Following significant interest from across the county’s tourism-focused businesses, OxLEP has today announced that – as of 5pm this evening (30 August) – registrations for its Visitor Economy Grant Scheme closed.
Launched following a special webinar on 16 August, OxLEP Business – who operate as the Growth Hub for Oxfordshire – say that £700,000-worth of applications have now been received via its online registration process, with all eligible applicants due to be notified today with information on how to now submit a full application.
A deadline for the completion of full applications has been set for 14 September. Grants of between £10,000 and £15,000 are set to be made available to those organisations who are eventually successful, which is estimated to be between 16 and 25 Oxfordshire businesses.
An independent grant panel are anticipated to meet in early-October to assess grant applications with organisation due to be informed of funding decisions later in that month.
The grant scheme is part of OxLEP’s £1.64million Visitor Economy Renaissance Programme, funding for which was secured by OxLEP via the government’s Contain Outbreak Management Fund.
OxLEP are working in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council to facilitate the funding process of the programme, which includes the Visitor Economy Grant Scheme.
As a sector that generated around £2.5billion each year to the Oxfordshire economy pre-pandemic, this OxLEP programme aims to ensure the county can both retain and build its visitor economy market share.
The grant scheme’s reintroduction follows OxLEP Business announcing in February that a first round of the fund saw over £600,000 directed into Oxfordshire organisations who either operate in or support tourism and visitor experiences, with companies from right across the county benefiting from the last round of investment – part of a concerted programme of activity supporting the visitor economy.
Speaking following the reintroduction of the Visitor Economy Grant Scheme, Nigel Tipple – Chief Executive of OxLEP – said: “We are delighted to be able to reintroduce this grant scheme to Oxfordshire businesses operating within our vital visitor economy. Pre-Covid 19, our visitor economy was worth around 10% of Oxfordshire’s overall GVA, with the county attracting around 30 million visitors per year, so it is particularly important that we are able to provide further, positive interventions to this critical sector.
“Our grant scheme has already supported numerous different areas within tourism in Oxfordshire with all areas of the county benefitting from investment. This reflects and recognises that we have multiple locations in the county that rely on a successful visitor economy.”
