MORE than £1m will be pumped into Oxfordshire to create 4,000 tourism jobs, it emerged last night.

The county’s tourism bosses have said the area has punched below its weight when it comes to capitalising on holiday makers.

Now a new Destination Management Organisation (DMO) has been created – with public and private cash – to ensure the county grabs its share of the lucrative market.

It will invest more than £1m over the next three years in advertising campaigns and a new visitor website.

And it has been set the specific target of creating 4,000 new jobs in tourism-related industries such as hotels, visitor attractions and restaurants.

Oxford City Council will provide £519,000 – the lion’s share of the DMO funding – and Oxfordshire County Council will provide £102,000.

Oxfordshire Economic Partnership will add £30,000 and the body also hopes to raise a further £420,000 from private business over the next three years.

So far it has received business pledges totalling £55,000.

Some of the county’s top tourist attractions have already invested in the DMO, including Blenheim Palace, Cotswold Wildlife Park and Oxford Castle Unlocked.

DMO project director Susi Golding said the investment was vital to both protect and create jobs in Oxfordshire.

She said: “The overall goal is to increase the amount of time visitors spend in Oxfordshire and the amount of money they spend.”

In 2008, 23.8 million people visited Oxfordshire, up 400,000 on the previous year.

The industry supports 27,000 jobs and is worth £1.5bn annually, representing 10 per cent of the county’s economy.

Miss Golding added: “Tourism is one of the key industries in the county.

“It can be quite hidden and people are not aware of the level of jobs it supports. It is a key sector for employment.”

But she said it lagged behind other destinations in terms of selling itself and was under increasing pressure from international destinations due to low cost airfares.

Miss Golding said the DMO should be up and running by July and added the organisation would create a new name and brand, but that had not been finalised.

And what does she think is Oxfordshire’s unique selling point?

“For me it’s the diversity,” Miss Golding said.

“If you want heritage you have it in abundance. If you want something different from a cultural perspective we have the Museum of Modern Art.

“We have the sweet villages and the cosmopolitan city.”

Blenheim Palace in Woodstock has signed up to the DMO and its chief executive John Hoy said the new organisation would benefit business across the county.

He added: “This means rather than looking at individual attractions as individual attractions we can look at them as a package.

“It has got to be good for hotels, transport suppliers, restaurants and the attractions if people stay a day or two longer.”

  • THE ‘Alice effect’ has attracted record visitors to Oxford. Oxford Tourist Information Centre saw almost half a million visitors come through its door in the last year – the highest figure for the last five years. Visitor numbers to the centre in Broad Street, are up 35,000 on last year and the 2010 Tim Burton film Alice In Wonderland, inset, has been cited as reason for the increase. City council tourism manager Jo Butler said: “It’s been down to the film. There has been a huge interest as Lewis Carroll went to Christ Church College and was inspired by Oxford. “People want to see Christ Church meadow, go down the rabbit hole and see where Alice lived.” The centre has been selling out of Alice-related memorobilia since the film’s launch.