Experience Oxfordshire, the county’s Destination Management Organisation (DMO), is delighted to announce Oxford United Football Club (OUFC), as an Ambassador partner for the organisation.
As well as being a highly regarded football club locally, OUFC work collaboratively with local and county-wide delivery partners. Oxford United in the Community uses the power of football to inspire the people and communities of Oxfordshire to have positive aspirations for their futures and the health, wellbeing, self-confidence, opportunities and resources to achieve them.
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. Ambassador Partners are leading businesses from a variety of sectors across the Oxfordshire economy and they play an active part in ensuring the sustainability the organisation. Collectively they bring valuable insight, support and strategic direction to the work Experience Oxfordshire does as the DMO for the county.
Hayley Beer-Gamage, Experience Oxfordshire CEO commented: “As our local football club Oxford United are actively engaged across the county and we’re excited to have them as an Ambassador demonstrating such enthusiasm for Oxfordshire’s future success. Oxford United are joining us at a critical time as we work to build back and grow the visitor economy post pandemic. However, there are still many reasons to be optimistic for the future with VisitBritain, the national tourist board, forecasting a record year in terms of value for inbound tourism and we know that international visitors are already returning to the county. Here at Experience Oxfordshire, we have seen an increase in enquiries from the travel trade around the world, and our visitor and resident surveys show a phenomenal interest in exploring and enjoying time here in Oxfordshire. We are delighted to now be associated with such a credible brand as Oxford United Football Club and look forward to having a long-term partnership with the club.”
Tim Williams, CEO of Oxford United said: “We’re delighted to step up and take our place as an Experience Oxfordshire Ambassador. Oxford United have a global following and we believe we have a key sporting role to play when people come to visit our beautiful city and county. We look forward to supporting the Experience Oxfordshire team and collaborating with colleagues across the sector on new opportunities.”
Oxford United joins Bicester Village, Blenheim Palace, GWR, Hedges Law, Oxford Bus Company, Pye Homes, Stagecoach, Westgate Oxford, JACKfm, the Evergreen Agency, Cherwell District Council and Oxfordshire County Council as Ambassadors for Experience Oxfordshire and the county’s visitor economy.
**ENDS**
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. More information on our Ambassador Partners can be found here https://experienceoxfordshire.flywheelstaging.com/partner/about-us/experience-oxfordshire-ambassadors/
In March 2023 Experience Oxfordshire was announced as one of 15 English destinations to gain Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) status. Developed and administered by VisitEngland, the national portfolio of strategic and high-performing LVEPs support collaborative working locally and nationally on shared priorities and targets to grow the local visitor economy. The creation of LVEPs was part of the UK Government’s response to the recommendations of ‘The de Bois Review: an independent review of DMOs in England,’ to reshape destination management across England, reducing fragmentation and bringing coherence to its DMO landscape.
For more information on Experience Oxfordshire go to experienceoxfordshire.flywheelstaging.com/partner or contact partnership@experienceoxfordshire.org
Contact: Lesley Wright / press@experienceoxfordshire.org / 01865 686433
You can keep up to date with Experience Oxfordshire’s activity by following:
Facebook – Experience Oxfordshire
Instagram – @experienceoxfordshire
Twitter – @ExperienceOx and @ExperienceOxBiz
LinkedIn – Experience Oxfordshire
Oxford United is Oxfordshire’s only full-time professional football club. Based at Kassam Stadium, the U’s play in Sky Bet League 1
Contact: Chris Williams / cwilliams@oufc.co.uk / 01865 337500
Oxfordshire’s Visitor Economy
The current status, as per the 2021 economic impact survey results, shows a significant recovery in volume of trips and related expenditure compared to 2020 but remains below the levels seen in 2019.
- Value: £1.6bn = 56% increase in value on 2020 (36% down on 2019)
- Trips: 23.3m = 56% increase in trips on 2020
- Day trips expenditure is down 26% on pre-pandemic levels and overnight expenditure down 51%
- Employment: 28.8k = 13% increase in jobs supported (33% down on 2019)