Earlier this month, Experience Oxfordshire arranged for Robert Courts MP to visit tourism businesses in his constituency of West Oxfordshire and discuss the impact that the pandemic is having locally. Visits were made to Caswell House in Brize Norton and Wychwood Brewery in Witney.
At the start of the pandemic Experience Oxfordshire undertook extensive research on the impact of COVID-19 which showed serious concerns around loss of business revenue and the ability of businesses to continue to operate. As Government restrictions lift, it has become clear that the challenges across the visitor economy continue and the sector remains vulnerable.
Before the pandemic, visitor expenditure across Oxfordshire amounted to £2.3billion per annum and supported 40,000 jobs locally. There is a heavy reliance on the international market with inbound visitors accounting for 40% of visitor expenditure. Locally, businesses are feeling the absence of international visitors with some reporting revenue losses of over 50%, making it difficult for businesses to continue to be viable and putting many jobs at risk of redundancy as the furlough scheme comes to an end.
Hayley Beer-Gamage, Chief Executive of Experience Oxfordshire, the MP on the visits. She commented, “It has been really important for us to get political engagement on the impact that this pandemic is having on the visitor economy and we welcomed the opportunity to facilitate this visit with Robert Courts MP.
“Our partners need to feel like they have a voice and route to Government to explain the very real impact this is having on their livelihoods and the wider supply chain impact that any potential closure of business may have. We hope that our sector will be championed inside Westminster and its value recognised as further recovery plans and support are announced.”
The first stop on the visit was to Caswell House, an award-winning venue owned and managed by the Matthews family who have diversified their farming and agriculture businesses into a highly successful and established wedding businesses. However, a lack of clarity on how and when weddings will be fully operational means there are concerns around the future of the business.
Kate Cross, Caswell House said, “We appreciate our local MP coming to visit us and would like to thank Experience Oxfordshire for the opportunity. We are extremely concerned about the lack of clarity, guidance and time frame for our couples and for businesses like ours as to when we will be able to operate again. We have had to temporarily pivot our business, focusing on accommodation stays. However, we need to be able to undertake our core businesses again and would urge Government to come up with a roadmap for the entire wedding industry. This part of the sector feels forgotten about, yet it is worth £10billion a year nationally.”
The visit then moved onto Wychwood Brewery where the MP was given a tour of the local brewery by Head Brewer Jon Tilson, and sampled the tap room bar. Hannah Scott, Assistant Brand Manager at the Brewery commented, “This pandemic has been difficult for us all. We have worked hard to diversify as much as we can within Government guidelines and our online ordering facility helped during lockdown. However, due to social distancing guidance we have not yet reopened our brewery tours which has impacted our ability to generate revenue.
“It was great to have our DMO approach us for this visit and we appreciated the opportunity to speak with Robert about our business and the impact it has had on the wider local economy. We very much hope that we continue to be supported by the loyal following we have built up over many years and would like to encourage people back to our shop and tap bar which are open with social distancing measures in place.”
Speaking on the visit, Robert Courts MP said, “It has been a pleasure to go out and visit businesses in my constituency today. It is clear that the pandemic is having a severe impact on how businesses are able to operate It has been great to hear how businesses have diversified during this time, but I appreciate that for some this is a temporary measure. I hope that I may be able to influence more support for this sector and will certainly do all I can to help. The visitor economy and its impact are so important locally and we want it to be able to recover quickly and in strength. I commend Experience Oxfordshire on all their efforts during COVID-19 on championing the sector and providing essential business support.”
Experience Oxfordshire are continuing to gain insight locally on the impact of COVID-19 across the visitor economy and feedback the need for all areas of tourism, hospitality, retail, arts, culture, transport and events to be supported so that the sector can recover and thrive. For more information on working with Experience Oxfordshire please visit the website.
