Merry Christmas from Visit West

Kathryn Davis, Managing Director of Visit West, looks back on 2024 and ahead to 2025: 

On behalf of the Visit West team, I would like to say a huge thank you to all our those who support our work in the visitor economy through membership, advertising and engagement with the team.

It has been quite the year for the team as we moved offices (again), and since March have been located within the West of England Combined Authority’s offices, adjacent to our friends from Business West. This has given us a huge opportunity to share what we do, and how tourism, hospitality and culture is the bedrock of the region’s success. We have welcomed and met with many of the region’s new MPs following the election in July, as well as our new Tourism Minister, Sir Chris Bryant MP.

Image: Kathryn Davis meeting Tourism Minister Sir Chris Bryant MP at World Travel Market 2024 

We have recently received our final Volume and Value report of the Visitor Economy in 2023, which had been delayed due to central data delays during the election period. This shows that we are now at record levels with direct visitor spend almost at £2.5 billion in the region. Some of our partners are often surprised that the main beneficiaries of this are the retail and food and drink sectors, which between them account for just over 60% of all direct visitor spend.

Our work with the travel trade has meant an increase in engagement with international markets. We started the year with a great Discover Workshop in partnership with UKInbound and have been working with Visit Britain in the development of markets through sales missions, and presentations for both the leisure and business events markets in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia, including our first sales missions to India and Australia. We have also welcomed global media to the region that have generated hundreds of articles both in print and online media, covering everything from screen tourism to festivals and food.

Image: UKInbound Discover event at the SS Great Britain in March 2024 

We also continued to evolve our digital channels, with our Visit Bath site breaking records with the number of visits, and the launch of a new Visit Bristol site, specifically designed to lower its carbon impact.

One of my personal highlights of the year was welcoming back We The Curious after their devastating fire in 2022, and to see how much this iconic attraction means to so many people. We look forward to the celebrations as they hit their 25 year anniversary in 2025. It was also wonderful to see Gloucestershire County Cricket Club become Vitality Blast champions after their late season surge took them all the way to the first T20 title in the club's history – another personal highlight.

I am also excited for Visit Britain’s ‘Starring Great Britain’ campaign launching in January. We have a great working relationship with the film offices in the area, and the team have been busy lobbying hard for our locations, experiences and festivals to be featured.

Image: Nicola Coughlan & Luke Newton in season 3 of Bridgerton, featuring The Holburne Museum Bath 

During 2024, we saw the latest season of Bridgerton on Netflix, again bringing Bath to global attention, and the first season of Rivals on Disney+, which gave us an opportunity to create an inspirational 80s-themed weekend itinerary. 

Image: David Tennant, Nafessa Williams, and Aidan Turner filming Rivals for Disney+ at The Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol

We have so much to look forward to next year, with the Women’s Rugby World Cup coming to Bristol for both quarter and semi final fixtures at Ashton Gate Stadium, Bath receiving global attention with our Jane Austen 250 campaign, and Gromit Unleashed 3 starring some of our favourite Aardman characters. I have been lucky enough to watch an advanced screening, and will be watching again on Christmas Day – you are in for a treat!

We will be sharing our achievements and plans at our member events in the new year and during English Tourism Week, when we will be hosting our Annual Visitor Economy Conference.

On behalf of the team, I would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and peaceful holiday period, and look forward to working with you in 2025 and beyond.