Published by Neil Thompson, 10th November 2025
The events sector contributes £61.6 billion to the UK economy and, with its influence on the tourism, hospitality and cultural sectors, it is a significant element of Oxfordshire’s local visitor economy. That’s why this month Experience Oxfordshire publishes its latest Venues Guide to support its free Venue Finding Service with even more to offer potential buyers.
Packed with essential information for the venue buyer, the latest edition of Experience Oxfordshire’s Venues Guide provides details of event spaces, professional service providers, infrastructure and site specifics needed to identify the perfect location. Later this month, to support its work in attracting requests for venue proposals to the county, the new Guide will be a key tool when Experience Oxfordshire Venues partners with national tourism agency MeetEngland to exhibit at IBTM World in Barcelona, the leading global event for the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry.
During the three-day event, where over 73,500 scheduled meetings will take place between organisations present and hosted buyers from 96 countries, the team will have the opportunity to showcase Oxfordshire’s unparalleled range of venues at high-quality pre-scheduled business meetings with top industry buyers. Experience Oxfordshire Venues follows up all enquiries received, working with our Venues partners to provide the perfect response to clinch business for Oxfordshire.
New additions to the Guide include Amey Events Centre, Dragon School, Leander Club and Oxford Playhouse as well as the University of Oxford’s Schwarzman Centre, a new world-class centre for the Arts and Humanities, with event space including the Great Hall and Sohmen Concert Hall.
Hayley Beer-Gamage, CEO of Experience Oxfordshire, expressed her confidence for the future of the county’s events sector: “As we can see from this list of exciting new partners opting to work with Experience Oxfordshire Venues, the county’s offer to domestic and international business meetings, incentives, conference and events organisers continues to develop.
Business visitors to Oxfordshire currently contribute over £179 million to the local economy in direct spend. Our strategy for growth involves targeting and attracting the attention of key markets at home and internationally, developing new, and strengthening existing relationships and then following through with efficient and effective ongoing communication. As well as attending IBTM we’ll represent our partners and the county at London’s Excel in June at The Meetings Show.
Our work generated RFPs worth over £1.2 million potential incremental revenue for venues in the county and, a year-on-year 25% growth in conversions to bookings during 2024/25 and has led to our team being shortlisted for this year’s miaList (Meetings Industry Association) Destination Team of the Year award.”
Experience Oxfordshire is a not-for-profit organisation and derives its funding from delivering a range of marketing and business development services to its ever-growing partnership and through its guided tour service, the Oxford Official Walking Tours. Experience Oxfordshire Venues partners benefit from an additional set of business-related services. More information can be found at experienceoxfordshire.org/venues/
