Destination management organisation and Local Visitor Economy Partnership, Experience Oxfordshire, has reported that amongst the crowded and competitive field of global destination marketing its recent activity – backed by funding secured by OxLEP – delivered gold in terms of cut through, raising the county’s profile and keeping Oxfordshire front of mind as a destination for visitors.
With three off-peak highly targeted digital campaigns, seasonal themed communications and the creation of a brand-new customer service initiative The Oxfordshire Welcome, over the last 18 months the team has broadcast a message that potential visitors could not ignore. Only in Oxfordshire will they find such a unique package of town and country, coupled with art, music, science, entertainment, shopping, a thriving nightlife and great hospitality.
Record results show that this was a compelling offer which, over the 18 months, some 33 million individuals engaged with. Specially created campaign videos were viewed 741,000 times, and 316,000 visits were made to online pages promoting over 900 of the county’s products, events and experiences.
The work was delivered as part of the Visitor Economy Renaissance Programme (VERP), a programme of activity funded by the government’s Contain Outbreak Management Fund, secured by OxLEP via Oxfordshire County Council and dedicated to supporting the visitor economy’s re-emergence from the impact of the global pandemic.
Commenting on the campaign results and the impact the funding has had on the team’s ability to support Oxfordshire businesses, Experience Oxfordshire’s CEO, Hayley Beer-Gamage, said: “This campaign enabled Experience Oxfordshire to maintain the county’s profile in core markets at a key point in tourism’s recovery. In Oxfordshire we offer a unique and highly attractive blend of experiences, but the global visitor marketplace is very competitive and we need to maintain a high profile through strong and strategic communications. We were delighted to deliver the Only in Oxfordshire campaigns, securing investment in our visitor economy and as a result creating such high visibility for the county.
“With our market reach and strategic and tactical partnerships Experience Oxfordshire is able to deliver an excellent return on investment from our campaign work and would welcome the opportunity to further deliver on this with partners and stakeholders.”
This campaign complemented the work Experience Oxfordshire already undertakes across a variety of B2B and B2C activity including attendance at trade shows promoting the county to domestic and international travellers across the groups, travel trade and business, meetings and events markets.
As part of the programme of work Experience Oxfordshire re-developed its online event listing capacity, What’s On in Oxfordshire, and worked with venues and event organisers across Oxfordshire to build up a digital bank of arts and culture event information, the online Arts&CultureHub. Around 750 events were featured in the initial Spring into Summer campaign and over 1,000 additional people opted in to hear more on a regular basis.
Over 150 businesses have signed up to The Oxfordshire Welcome, pledging their agreement with 14 service points designed to promote pride within the visitor economy sector and inspire confidence amongst potential visitors.
Experience Oxfordshire continues to encourage businesses to align themselves with The Oxfordshire Welcome, one of several initiatives which will ensure that the VERP programme has a lasting legacy.
Helen Ryan-Wallis, Strategy and Internationalisation Manager at OxLEP, said: “This is a sector embracing many different types of business and Experience Oxfordshire has done great work in ensuring visibility for all within their activity. As well as the excellent campaign engagement results, we were particularly delighted to see that legacy played such a central role in the activity planning.
“Initiatives such as The Oxfordshire Welcome and online developments to enable improved Arts and Culture event information provision are areas which continue to have longevity and impact.”
As a result of 27 million visitor trips to the county in 2022, the visitor economy generated £2.17 billion for the local economy in Oxfordshire, supporting some 37 thousand jobs.
*Developed and administered by VisitEngland, the national portfolio of strategic and high-performing Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) support collaborative working locally and nationally on shared priorities and targets to grow the local visitor economy.
