Uncover the Cotswolds

Work is progressing well on ‘Uncover the Cotswolds’.  This exciting project was made possible by funding from VisitEngland’s Discover England Fund and we’ve spent the past couple of months searching out existing, and finding exciting new tourism experiences for the Nordic, Spanish and Italian travel trade.

We already have a shortlist of more than 70 experiences which will feature on our brand new travel trade website which is currently under development.

We’re delighted to be working with tourism consultant Jo Butler to help further develop our experiences and to find any which may have eluded us!  As well as setting up Experience Oxfordshire, Jo has a wealth of experience heading up other Discover England Fund projects.

The next step is to fine-tune those experiences through a number of training days, as well as offering workshops about in working with the travel trade.

The aim of the project is to uncover hidden gems, especially in lesser known parts of the Cotswolds and Forest of Dean, helping to extend the season of visitor interest and encouraging more people to stay here longer – and spend more money while they’re here.  It’s experience-led, but will benefit all our tourism businesses including accommodation, food and drink providers and our many wonderful shops.

More experiences will be added as we uncover them in the future so there’ll be plenty of chances to get involved and if you feel you have an experience to offer, please email cotswoldstourism@cotswold.gov.uk and one of the team will be in touch.

We have already achieved a huge amount thanks to the project and there’s much more to come:

• We’re developing a new travel trade microsite
• New film and photography has been commissioned
• We have already attended one travel show in Sweden and will be in Berlin in March promoting the project and new experiences at ITB Berlin, the world’s largest tourism fair
• A new travel trade map has been published and illustrated website maps are being developed
• We are organising three familiarisation trips for our key travel trade partners for the spring, showcasing the new experiences.

We are relaunching T-Stats – our system for recording monthly occupancy and footfall figures to give a picture of tourism trends across the Cotswolds and Forest of Dean and to try and help evaluate the impact of the project.