During this year’s English Tourism Week, Visit West will host its Annual Regional Visitor Economy Conference, bringing 240 contacts from the industry in the area together to hear from speakers on new developments and ways to maximise the benefits of screen tourism. The conference will include a review of 2024 alongside an outlook for the remainder of 2025.
The region will also be represented at the British Tourism and Travel Show at the NEC in Birmingham, a large trade exhibition for domestic groups. Stand sharers will meet with group organisers and encourage more visits to their businesses and the region as a whole.
Visit West’s overarching strategy is to encourage people to stay longer in the region, maximising their stay by exploring what the West of England offers, with spending supporting high streets and small businesses.
The tourism organisation’s research for 2023 outlines the biggest beneficiaries of all visitor spending (domestic and international visitors) as the retail sector (estimated £409 million), food and drink businesses (£342 million), and accommodation (£200 million). For many companies, visitor spending is critical to their income.
Inbound international visits have seen a particular rise to the region, which grew by 21% to 957,000 in 2023, just 14% behind the pre-pandemic record high in 2019. Bristol is listed as the 7th most visited destination by inbound visitors. Bath came 11th (joint with Cardiff) as combined staying visits to the region have increased by 2%, with an encouraging spending increase of 7%. While the number of international day visitors is currently not tracked, it is known to impact the sector significantly.
Kathryn Davis, Managing Director at Visit West said, “English Tourism Week is a way to celebrate the incredible businesses and people who work tirelessly to provide a welcome and experience that celebrates the best of the region. With an estimated direct value of £2.5 billion, this is a vital part of the local economy providing skilled jobs and careers, and entrepreneurial opportunities for more than 45,000 local residents.
“We have an incredible region that welcomes global visitors that invest in our high streets, and support our cultural and heritage sector. Operating conditions for businesses remain challenging and we will continue to lobby for those working in the visitor economy, and continue to develop strong routes to market through our work with the travel trade, meeting and event organisers and through our consumer channels Visit Bath and Visit Bristol.
“We are looking forward to a strong 2025 with demand from Austen 250, Women’s Rugby World Cup and VisitBritain’s national campaign Starring Great Britain celebrating film and TV locations, and are already planning for 2026 and beyond to ensure we remain competitive.”
Click here to find out more about Visit West.
