In a Cotswolds Tourism sustainable tourism survey to businesses 93.3% of survey respondents said they’d like to use more local suppliers and 66.6% said they would like more help to find local suppliers.

The Local Connections project aims to create new, mutually beneficial business relationships between accommodation businesses and small, local businesses, makers and producers. For example, a local blacksmith could make bespoke metal work, a tour company could collect guests, a potter could provide beautiful handcrafted tableware, a bike hire company could provide a drop-off service and a local flower grower could provide fresh flowers to enhance the decor of an accommodation provider.

The benefits of creating more ‘local connections’ aren’t only for the businesses themselves, through this project we can enhance the sense of place experienced by visitors and reduce transport mileage of goods, helping to protect the environment.
 

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Local Connections November 2023

Our second Local Connections event took place on Wednesday 8 November at Merriscourt, near Chipping Norton. Over 40 businesses participated in the highly successful speed dating and networking event, which was funded by UK SPF funding via West Oxfordshire District Council. A fantastic array of businesses attended the event including tour guides, experience providers, a private chef, a landscape artist, a candle maker, honey producer, and cycle hire provider; a spectrum of businesses to help accommodation providers in as many aspects of their business as possible, and enable them to enhance the local flavour and uniqueness that visitors love to experience when they come to the Cotswolds. 

On the day the supplier businesses had four minutes with each accommodation provider to tell them about their business, answer any questions and find out about the accommodation themselves. There was also networking time over coffee and lunch for businesses to have longer conversations.

A few comments from the businesses who attended:

'This was a great event for me to attend. I have never attended a networking meeting before but the speed dating style worked well and although I'm not overly confident selling myself due to the relaxed nature of the event I found it quite easy. I met some lovely people, two companies have already contacted me and I hope to attend another similar event in the future. Wonderful location and fabulous lunch. Thank you all!'

'Every business owner knows the importance of gaining new customers - this type of event is a great way to meet up with other producers / service providers and share knowledge in the quest for new sales. This type of marketing event funnels more potential customers into one place, saving a lot of time.'

'Really great event. An opportunity to quickly connect with exactly the right kind of businesses for us.'

'Thank you for creating the opportunity for all of us to find those valuable connections and support each other and hopefully make our contributions into the growth of the local economy. I think that Cotswolds Tourism is doing a great job in organising events like that - a massive thank you from all small business owners!'

If you are interested in attending a future Local Connections event please email cotswoldstourism@cotswold.gov.uk
 

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Local Connections March 2023

In March 2023, over 50 businesses participated in our first, extremely successful, speed dating and networking event. The supplier businesses who participated ranged from tour guides to soap makers, private chefs to artists, candle makers to foragers, and bee keepers to distilleries; a spectrum of businesses to help accommodation providers in as many aspects of their business as possible, and enable them to enhance the local flavour and uniqueness that visitors love to experience when they come to the Cotswolds.

On the day the supplier businesses had three minutes with each accommodation provider to tell them about their business, answer any questions and find out about the accommodation themselves. There was also networking time over coffee and lunch for businesses to have longer conversations.

A few comments from the businesses who attended:

‘Great event, really useful and much more productive and friendly than almost all other business networking events I have been to.’

‘Not only did I make some useful contacts, but hearing other people’s ideas was inspirational.’

‘Brilliant event. Great to meet other businesses in the area and discuss how we can collaborate and support each other. Generally really interesting to see all the great local businesses we have!’

‘A brilliantly organised event and a fantastic investment of my time meeting with decision makers all under one roof. Thank you so much for inviting me.’

‘A very engaging event and great to understand the really quality and variety of business that our region has to offer.’
 

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A Business Directory has been created to enable visitor economy businesses to easily find and make more 'local connections'.

If you would like to express interest in future Local Connections events or to be included in the online directory, please email cotswoldstourism@cotswold.gov.uk