Urban tourism in the UK

Oxford

Background

Oxford is world famous as a historic university city. It attracted 5 million visitors in 1996. It is one of the most important tourist destinations in the UK. As a result, it provides over 7500 full-time jobs.

What do people visit?

The most popular attractions included the Botanic gardens, the Oxford story and the Ashmolean Museum. In 1996, nearly half of the tourists visited one or more of the university colleges. The three most popular were Christ church, Magdalene and New College.

Who visits Oxford? (Results from 1996 tourist survey)

•·      In one year 750,000 overnight trips were spent in Oxford

•·      79% were domestic visitors, whilst 21% were from overseas

•·      2.28 million day trips were made to Oxford (both domestic and overseas).

•·      £185 million spent directly in the tourist sector.

•·      The value to the city directly and indirectly was £258 million.

•·      85% of visitors were adult-only

•·      45% of people arrived by car, although 36% used public transport.

What do people think about Oxford?

•·      Most people were happy with the range and quality of places to visit, eat and drink and the range of shops in the city.

•·      22% of people stated that there was too much traffic

•·      9% felt that the city was too overcrowded

•·      5% said that it was too expensive

The Oxford Tourism Strategy

The aim of the strategy is to ensure visitor satisfaction and encourage tourist spending in the city. The strategy aims to:

1. Provide larger coach park and enforce on-street parking regulations
2. Increase the use of public transport and use of Park & Ride facilities
3. Encourage walking tours and sightseeing buses and cycles
4. Provide comprehensive on-street information
5. Increase the number of off-season visitors to spread the tourist load
6. Invest money in the sustainability of tourism in the city

Oxford City Council is targeting high spending visitors who stay overnight. These visitors bring in more money to the city and create more jobs, for example in accommodation and catering. The universities are empty during the summer and could be used for accommodation and conferences

Better facilities are being provided for particular groups of people, notably the disabled. These include loop systems for the hard of hearing as well as ramps for people in wheelchairs.

D.Drake 2009