A NEW organisation to boost Tourism in Oxfordshire is preparing to launch next month after raising £200,000 in pledges.

Local authorities have joined forces with businesses to provide the start-up funding needed for the new ‘Destination Management Organisation’ for Oxford and Oxfordshire.

The as-yet un-named body will take a new look at creating a stronger tourism industry.

Twenty-six business organisations have signed up as partners, include Blenheim Palace, Bicester Village, the Randolph Hotel in Oxford and Oxford United.

The DMO wants to ensure that once visitors arrive in the county, they stay for as long as possible and spend more money than at present.

Jo Butler, tourism officer for Oxford City Council, said the council was leading the establishment of the DMO with other local authorities.

The new organisation is expected to launch on April 1 if the council’s executive board approves the scheme.

She added: “We want to enhance visitors’ stay within the county and the city, and DMOs have worked well elsewhere in the country.

“We want to introduce the day visitor to what the whole county has to offer, and get people to stay longer.

“We will try to create a closer partnership between the hotels and the attractions, and get all the different sectors of the tourism industry working together.”

The main objective of the DMO will be to get Oxford tourists to make their visit more than just a day trip, and instead stay and discover Oxfordshire.

It hopes to generate annual turnover of about £670,000 by its third year.

And it says that could grow to £1m in following years by maximising e-sales, conference bookings, and film office activities.

Tourism managers say the new integrated approach to tourism will help Oxford and surrounding locations compete with rival destinations.

Colin Cook, executive member for the city centre, said: “Tourism brings in £774m to the local economy every year and supports 28,000 jobs.

“Now that the pledges have hit the £200,000 mark the DMO is a viable option and we will be able to move forward and try to attract money from the South East England Development Organisation.”

He added: “I know Blenheim Palace sends its marketing people to New York to try to bring American visitors to Blenheim, and if we can bring together similar individual efforts we are more likely to be able to attract more people to Oxfordshire.”

Businesses have pledged to pay various sums as membership fees for a minimum of three years, once the DMO is established.

They will be able to vote at general meetings of the not-for-profit company, which will be run by a board of directors including John Hoy, chief executive of Blenheim Palace, and Charles Holmes, chief executive of Four Pillars Hotels.

* The average price of hotel rooms in the UK fell 13 per cent in 2009 to its lowest level for six years, but Oxford has bucked the trend.

Last year, people staying in Britain paid an average of £84 per night for a room, compared with £97 in 2008, a price index survey by Hotels.com found.

The only places where prices rose last year were Oxford (up 14 per cent) and Newquay in Cornwall (up 13 per cent).