Experience Oxfordshire, the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Oxfordshire welcomed the announcement this week by The Prime Minister, Boris Jonson, that England will move to step 2 of its roadmap on Monday 12 April.
This means that outdoor hospitality venues such as pubs and restaurants will be able to reopen for outdoor service and non-essential retail, gyms and hairdressers will also re-open.
Overnight stays away from home will also be permitted in England from the 12 April in self-contained accommodation and must only be members of the same household or support bubble.
This next phase of the road map means that some visitor economy businesses will now be able to open and welcome visitors back, having been closed for over 3 months.
Businesses across are county are looking forward to re-opening, with a clear focus on ensuring that they are following government hygiene and safety protocols with nearly 500 businesses across Oxfordshire now accredited by VisitEngland with ‘We’re Good to Go’ and the World Travel and Tourism Council ‘Safe Travels’ accreditation.
As a globally recognised destination Oxfordshire has a lot to offer locals and visitors. The week of the 12 April see’s many businesses re-open, including great retail outlets such as Westgate Oxford and Bicester Village as well as starting to see hospitality re-emerge with Cherwell Boat House and Giggling Squid in Oxford, Kitchen Café at Cogges in Witney, Bar Nineteen at Bicester Hotel and Spa and The Masons Arms in South Leigh re-open.
There are also many great outdoor attractions across the whole county available such as Oxford River Cruises, City Sightseeing Oxford, Blenheim Palace, Oxford Official Walking Tours and Fairytale Farm.
To help inspire and inform on what is available from next week Experience Oxfordshire have produced blog posts to plan your visit:
Hayley Beer-Gamage, Chief Executive of Experience Oxfordshire said:
“We are pleased to be moving to the second stage of the roadmap and seeing local businesses reopening to welcome local and domestic visitors back to Oxfordshire. Whilst we are excited to welcome back trading, we do urge the general public to ensure they adhere to the government guidelines so that everyone can enjoy their experience and we can collectively move through the next phases of the government road map. We are working hard with partners and stakeholders across Oxfordshire to plan for the various stages of the roadmap and work on the recovery of our visitor economy. We have such a wealth of fantastic product across the city and county and we are very much looking forward to the doors being open again.”
Experience Oxfordshire will continue to monitor the road map and government guidance and hope that more businesses are able to open and trade from the 17th May as planned.
To plan your future visit to Oxfordshire go to experienceoxfordshire.flywheelstaging.com and to engage on social media use #OpeningUpOx
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NOTES TO THE EDITOR:
Experience Oxfordshire is the official Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Oxfordshire. We are the trading arm of the parent charity, Experience Oxfordshire Charitable Trust, and are 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 whilst improving growth and productivity across the visitor economy. The DMO provides essential business advice and support to visitor economy businesses across Oxfordshire.
“We’re Good To Go” is the official UK mark to signal that a tourism and hospitality business has worked hard to follow Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines and has a process in place to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing. More details can be found at https://www.visitbritain.org/business-advice/were-good-go-industry-standard
Contact:
Name: Anne-Marie Hicks
Email: press@experienceoxfordshire.org
Call: 01865 686433