About Cotswolds Plus LVEP
CotswoldsPlus Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) was established & accredited by VisitEngland in July 2023 as England’s first partnership LVEP which has a public-private collaboration between local authorities, established destination management organisations, and regional businesses.
The Cotswolds is one of England’s major brands with a very strong and wide appeal both domestically and internationally. The Cotswolds brand undoubtedly offers the local area great opportunities for the visitor economy. However, the geography of the Cotswolds does present major challenges. The Cotswolds National Landscape area goes into three regions of England and crosses into 15 different local authority areas. The LVEP area covers not only the designated Cotswolds National Landscape but stretches into the Forest of Dean & Wye Valley as well. Hence the Plus!
Chaired by Cotswolds National Landscape, the partners include Gloucestershire County Council, Marketing Cheltenham, Visit Gloucester, and Visit Dean Wye with Cotswolds Tourism as the lead organisation. Cotswolds Plus is not a consumer facing brand but works ‘behind the scenes’ to shape and deliver national strategy and activities, as well as to bring a coordinated approach on key issues such as sustainability, business support and research. The LVEP has seven separate workstreams, each led by one of the partner organisations.
In other areas, such as marketing, the participating Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) will continue to work independently to their own local priorities but the closer working arrangements from the LVEP bring additional cross-over benefits here as well. Managing membership and working directly with local businesses continues to be done via the relevant local DMO.
The introduction of LVEPs was a result of the government response to the Nick De Bois review of tourism: a new national structure for tourism is gradually being introduced subject to two successful pilot project’s currently happening in the North East of England & West Midlands. Nationally VisitEngland & DCMS are looking to accredit around 40 LVEPs across England.
Nationally all VisitEngland expertise, training and grant funding programmes will all be channelled through the accredited LVEPs. Regionally Cotswolds Plus will facilitate closer working and collaboration with neighbouring LVEPs and locally will strengthen existing working arrangements within the partner DMOs, leading to better coordination and less duplication of effort.
If any business is keen to learn more about CotswoldsPlus LVEP or get involved with a workstream please contact [email protected]
Five key goals of the LVEP Programme
Strategy
Develop a strong national strategic relationship between LVEPs, VisitEngland, the Department for Culture Media and Sport and wider government and national agencies.
Stability
Ensure stability and resilience through increased income generation, diversifying funding streams, robust destination management and diverse governance.
Growth
Join up local visitor economy growth priorities and activities with those at national level, setting clear targets and driving high performance. There will be a strong emphasis on sustainability and accessibility, growing business support and working on approaches to data.
Place-shaping
Provide a significant role in place shaping and economic development, generating better outcomes for visitors, the environment, communities and businesses, through building influential relationships with local government and businesses.
Training
Develop skills and expertise in LVEP teams through access to training opportunities, and the wider sector and SMEs through a more targeted business support offer.
