news ISSUE 23 www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org SEPTEMBER 2011 The new Burford VIC On August 16, Burford Visitor Information Centre (VIC) opened in its new home at 33a High Street; on time and within budget. The facilities are within the former toilet building, which has been divided into two separate units to provide space for both the new toilets and the VIC. Previously sited in Sheep Street, the relocation has allowed the VIC to move to a more prominent and accessible location directly opposite the coach parking. The new facilities were officially opened by the Chairman of West Oxfordshire District Council, Cllr Derek Cotterill, who lives in the town and is a local ward member. The opening can be viewed on Oxbox TV (www.oxbox.tv/showvideo.php?video=5508133). Cllr Cotterill said:“The Council has wanted to develop this site for some time and it gives me great pleasure to officially open the new VIC and toilets. The VIC is now ideally situated near to the coach park and public car park and will do a great job of serving tourists in this popular town.” Cllr Richard Langridge, Cabinet Member for Local Economy and Communities, said: “Thousands of tourists and visitors come to Burford each year and the VIC plays a very important role in helping people to find out about the local area. I am sure that the VIC’s new location at the heart of Burford will only add to it’s already impressive record of helping our visitors get the most from their experience of this wonderful town and District.” In the first four weeks of opening footfall has more than doubled from the corresponding period last year. The centre is now open 7 days a week: Monday to Saturday 9.30am - 5pm; Sundays 10am - 4pm Oxfordshire Cotswolds Tourism Forum 2011 This year’s Tourism Forum will be held on Thursday 10 November at the new Crowne Plaza Heythrop Park. This evening event will see the local tourism industry come together for an evening of presentations and updates from the Council followed by a good opportunity to network. Details are still to be confirmed but invitations will be sent out in October. In the meantime, please put the date in your diary and we look forward to seeing you there. www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org Aston Pottery take first TSE news in brief place Beautiful South ’12 goes live Winners of this year’s Only one year to go! The Tourism South Oxfordshire Business East website has a new Olympics section. Awards were revealed Details on venues and the overnight stops at the annual gala awards for the torch (which includes Oxford on evening. The event, July 9) are included. attended by 500 guests, www.visitsoutheastengland.com/site/ took place at Four Pillars beautiful-south-12 Hotel, Sandford. Stephen and Jane Baughan Intelligence update Once again the top tourism prize went to an Oxfordshire Cotswolds business The recovery in international visitor numbers - with Aston Pottery scooping the Four continues with overseas visitors tending to Pillars Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure stay longer in the region than in 2010. Award. Oxford comes in at no.7 of the 20 most popular destinations for incoming tourists Congratulations to Stephen and Jane and and heads the four entries in the South East. their wonderful team at Aston Pottery. The full report is available at www.southeastservices.co.uk/DH/ ...and runners up again! Intelligence_Update_August_2011.pdf For the second year running, the tourism team here at 50% funding towards West Oxfordshire District Council was also a finalist in the Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure category. management training Skills South East are funding a range of Return of Four In a Bed Tourism South East management courses for owners, proprietors or managers. You can Channel 4’s popular programme Four In a Bed claim back 50% of the full cost, upto £1,000, on courses including Welcome Management; is returning for a third series and is looking for Lead, Motivate and Succeed; Coaching and B&B and small hotel owners to step forward. Mentoring and many more. If you are passionate, outgoing and proud of www.tourismsoutheast.com/training/ your business - and willing to put it to the test funding-and-eligibility – then why not step forward? Subsidised Welcome All Contact Studio Lambert with your details and why you are training still available proud of your business: [email protected] The popular Welcome All training courses are still available at a subsidised cost, thanks A record June for inbound tourism to to Accentuate, the London 2012 Legacy Project which aims to create a fundamental Britain change in the perception of disabled people. Britain received 2.89 million visits in June – the highest ever and An insight into how to meet the expectations an increase of 4% on the previous record for June (2005). of customers with disabilities and special Holiday visits were also a record high for June, 1.2 million visits needs, Welcome All offers practical advice on representing a 7% increase on the previous June record (2009). how to improve your service and welcome Greatest growth was seen from countries outside the EU and to customers with disabilites and special North America; with visits up 22% on June 2010 at 0.5 million. needs, as well as explaining key aspects of the Equality Act 2010. The latest market news and intelligence is available on the VisitBritain website: www.tourismsoutheast.com/training/ www.visitbritain.org/insightsandstatistics welcome-all West Oxfordshire Business Awards In March 2012, the West Oxfordshire Business Awards (WOBAs) will come into their second year. After a great start in 2011, with over 80 entrants from across West Oxfordshire, next year’s WOBAs will be held in the ballroom at the prestigious Heythrop Park Resort and will be offering an exceptional platform for even more local businesses in the area to celebrate their success and raise their profile. Special Effect, a Charlbury-based charity which helps disabled young people play computer games has said that winning the 2011 Charity Blenheim Palace 2011 WOBA winners and Community Award has had a “huge impact” on their business over the last year. Founder and Director Dr Mick Donegan says, “we’ve had some very tangible benefits, including increased numbers of volunteers and ‘in-kind’ donations since winning the award.” Andrew Hammond from Oxford Products in Witney, who won the Large Business Award, believes that their achievement “has given the staff more pride in their work, knowing that their efforts are contributing to an award-winning company.” The 2012 awards will be slightly different, consisting of a bigger venue to accommodate sponsors, finalists and their guests, and applications from a larger breadth of businesses, big and small across West Oxfordshire. As applications increase, so too does the potential for the winners and applicants to progress to the Oxfordshire Business Awards and thus create a higher profile within the county. The WOBAs themselves span a diverse range of categories, including those from last year: Small and Large Business; Innovation; Business Person of the Year, New Business; Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure; Green Business; and Charity and Community. However there are also two new categories: ‘Rural and Land-based’ and ‘Recruitment and Training.’ Given that West Oxfordshire is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and so frequently visited by world travellers, the opportunities for tourism-businesses at the awards are vast. WOBA are looking for applications from a wide variety of enterprises for all the categories, but especially the Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure title. Entrants can be anything from tea rooms and farm shops to restaurants, campsites and hotels. There is no size restriction on businesses who wish to enter and they can be anything from the local Post Office to the Visitor Information Centre. In preparation for the 2012 WOBAs, the committee and sponsors will be launching the awards in October and opening for entries from November through to 31st December. In February the finalists will be announced and the winners celebrated at the Gala Dinner at Heythrop Park Resort in March. For more information, or to enter the awards, please visit: www.woba.co.uk Oxfordshire Cotswolds Visitor Guide 2012 The 2012 Oxfordshire Cotswolds Visitor Guide is now complete and being printed ready for distribution. The 2012 guide is full of new advertisers and its size has been increased from 48 pages to 52 pages to accommodate all the new businesses wishing to be part of this successful publication. This is the main piece of promotional print that is used in all our campaigns and distributed across the TIC network and London Visitor Centre. It will also be downloadable from our website and available as an app for the iPhone. An initial 45,000 will be printed to fulfil the requests and campaigns that will be taking place throughout the coming year. The Visitor Guide will be launched at the Tourism Forum on 2 November. www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org Group Leisure & Travel American Embassy Trade Show The tourism team will again be attending the American Embassy in early October to promote The Oxfordshire Cotswolds will the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. be attending the Group Leisure & Travel Trade Show on 21 and The Newcomers’ Evening is an annual event where 22 September at the NEC, all the newly appointed staff have an evening of Birmingham – Britain’s biggest introduction to what is available to see and do annual event in group travel: www.leisureshow.com during their stay in Britain. The show is the perfect place to meet and do business The Oxfordshire with potential buyers and decision makers in the Cotswolds is the industry.