Tourism bosses are looking to get Oxford's millions of annual visitors out into the countryside to boost the countywide economy (link below.)
http://www.oxfordmail.net/news/headlines/display.var.2237466.0.drive_to_boost_tourism.phpOxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council have joined forces to commission a private company to draw up a tourism strategy for the next decade.
The report is costing ^20,000.
According to some estimates, Oxford's nine million annual visitors spend ^600m a year and sustain 10,000 jobs.
Across the county, Oxfordshire's 20m annual visitors generate ^1.24bn and sustain 19,000 jobs.
Now, the plan is to further cash in on the recent boom created by films like Harry Potter, The Golden Compass and The Oxford Murders, all of which feature scenes filmed in the city.
Jane Lubbock, the city council's head of tourism, said about 90 per cent of Oxford's tourists only spent one day in the city.
She said that although Oxford was famous as a historic, university city, it also had a growing reputation for featuring in TV dramas and Hollywood films.
Business conferences were also on the increase.
Helen Ryan, tourism officer at the county council, agreed that boosting visitors was not as important as getting tourists to stay longer.
Over recent weeks, The Tourism Company has been contacting businesses and talking to a range of interested parties about what can be done to improve the county's tourism.
The company is due to report back to the councils in early July.
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