Tourism in Essex on the up, bringing in over £2b

21st November 2023

Latest figures show that tourism in Essex is almost at pre-pandemic levels. Visit Essex, the county’s tourism organisation, has supported the industry’s rebound with a series of award-winning PR and marketing campaigns. 

Tourism in Essex has bounced back to near pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Visit Essex is at the forefront of promoting tourism across the county and, thanks to a series of targeted national and local campaigns, reports tourism up 36% on the previous year. 

In 2022, 50.3 million day trips took place in Essex, up from 37.1 million in 2021, with day trips bringing in just over £2 billion. There were 2.1 million overnight stays across the county in 2022, boosted from 1.5 million the year before, bringing in over £465 million to the county. 

Leading the call for visits and staycations to the county, Visit Essex worked hard to showcase Essex’s standout 350-mile coastline, top places to stay and eat, plus visitor attractions. 

Councillor Mark Durham, Chair of Visit Essex, said: “Visit Essex has been leading the charge to showcase our county in all its glory. We’re showing visitors that you can see and do it all in Essex: enjoy miles of stunning countryside, a beautiful coastline, experience history and heritage, plus a warm welcome. We also have some of the finest hotels, B&Bs and glamping sites, plus top visitor attractions from Adventure Island to Colchester Zoo.” 
He continued: “We’re delighted with the latest set of financial results. The Essex tourist economy is almost at pre-pandemic levels, and we feel very confident that 2023 will also see a further growth in these figures.”

Visit Essex has also recently been accredited with Local Visitor Economic Partnership (LVEP) status from VisitEngland. One of 26 LVEPs so far in England, Visit Essex will partner with the national tourist organisation to further support and grow the visitor economy in Essex.
Lisa Bone, Tourism and Place Marketing Manager at Visit Essex, is really pleased to be elevating Essex’s profile as a tourism destination. She said: “We recently applied for and gained LVEP status, which is an exciting development for Visit Essex. With this status, we will be able to develop relationships with other local areas, increase income generation for the tourism industry in Essex and access training opportunities for our members to develop their skills and expertise.”

She continued: “It’s a great opportunity to gain support to boost the profile of tourism in Essex and showcase everything we have to offer in our county.”

The LVEP Programme is part of a new national vision for England’s tourism management landscape, as recommended by the independent Destination Management Organisations (DMO) review. VisitEngland worked in close consultation with more than 100 participants to develop the initiative, holding a series of roundtables across England in Autumn 2022. 

Andrew Stokes, Director at VisitEngland, said: “We are delighted to award Visit Essex with LVEP status. LVEPs will work closely with us to provide strong leadership and management of their destinations. Visit Essex will be able to access expert advice, specialist toolkits and training programmes in many areas, from commercialisation and distribution to business support and marketing.”

He continued: “Visit Essex will receive ongoing support from a team of five new Regional Development Leads, and an important strand of support will include highlighting available Government funding streams and to help LVEPs bid for these streams. We’re excited to work with Visit Essex.”

To find out more about Visit Essex’s campaigns, the LVEP status, and things to do in Essex, see www.visitessex.com. 
ENDS

Note to editor: 
VISIT ESSEX
Visit Essex is the official tourism organisation and the only body specifically marketing the whole of the county to the visitor market. We work with visitor attractions, leisure/activity providers, accommodation establishments and other tourism related businesses (including the travel trade, media and wider partners), to ensure that the county remains a leading visitor destination.

Our work encompasses major marketing campaigns, high profile PR work, business support, and the management and promotion of the official Visit Essex brand. Visit Essex will ensure that the county gets the recognition it deserves as a desirable place to visit in the 21st century. We will work closely with partners to develop a sustainable tourism offering for the future, identify new markets and harness visitors at the county's major gateways of Stansted, Harwich, Southend and Tilbury.

For further information:
Hilary Collins, Big Wave PR, hilary@wearebigwavepr.co.uk, or call 01206 231807.