Oxfordshire is open: visitors welcome and more, please!

In April this year half the British population had either recently taken a trip in the UK or was planning to take one soon*. How many of these people visited Oxford and Oxfordshire from outside the county? And how many also came here from overseas? Was this about the right number, too many or too few?

The traditional start to the summer season is a good time to ask: Is Oxford full—or is there lots of scope for more people to enjoy what we have to offer?

Tourism brings jobs—1 in 4 of all new jobs in England** over the last 10 years—and economic benefits; tourism supports services, particularly in rural areas—shops, pubs, restaurants, public transport; tourism underpins a wide range of cultural and leisure facilities. Even more than this, visitors bring vibrancy, variety, enthusiasm and perspective to our communities: they challenge us and change us. The way we interact with people from other places is one defining aspect of ourselves.

Or is this all wrong? Do tourists just bring congestion to our roads, streets and buses, clog up the town centre and create crime and litter? Do they just clog up our lives with irritating requests for directions in broken English? These were some of the issues debated at the recent conference organised by Oxford Inspires to address the management of tourism in Oxford and Oxfordshire.

I wonder whether part of the problem is the word ‘tourist’? We tend to consider only other people as tourists—when I go somewhere I think of myself as a visitor and hope to be treated as a guest. As tourists ‘they’ need special facilities and are a burden on ‘our’ local spending. ‘They’ leave their rubbish in ‘our’ bins—or scattered all over our front gardens. ‘We’ can take ‘them’ for granted without having to feel involved or interact, without thinking they may choose to go somewhere else.

But visitors want many of the same things we do: a friendly welcome, an inclusive—rather than excluded—feeling, contact with local people, inspiring places to visit and experience, beautiful places in which to relax; fun things to do, interesting shops, good places to eat, good transport which is easy to use, clean public loos …

I think we are lucky to live in an inspiring city and a glorious county. Let us share them with other people. Next time you are asked the way to somewhere or you trip over a visitor, stop and smile a moment: ask where they come from (maybe in their own language?) and whether they are having a good time. Encourage them to come back again and bring their friends. We need visitors as much as they need us. Or even more.

Hilary Lade

*VisitBritain Short-term Domestic Tourism Tracker

**Perspectives on English Tourism published by the English Tourism Council 2000

Agree or disagree? Email us with your comments.