The Herefordshire visitor economy has been severely impacted by Covid 19 and the resulting lockdown. Tourism accommodation and attractions, cultural venues, hospitality businesses, non-essential retailers were instructed by government to close for circa 3 months during the start of their usual peak season period. Many of these businesses have then faced a second period of lockdown in November 2020 This has significantly threatened the viability of these businesses, and put at risk of redundancy the large numbers of people they employ.

In May the Marches LEP allocated £444,220 to Herefordshire to support Covid 19 economic recovery, subject to the development of a business case. Herefordshire Council in partnership with the Herefordshire Business Board established and submitted a business case focussed on supporting the soonest possible recovery of the visitor economy. Shropshire Council (as the accountable body) on behalf of the Marches LEP issued a funding offer letter to Herefordshire Council on the 17th June, and the Cabinet Member for Environment Economy and Skills took a decision to accept the grant and implement the project on the 20th June.

Recognising the need to engage with visitor economy businesses to co-ordinate delivery and to seek relevant expertise, a project steering group was formed in June 2020.

The business case for the Visitor Economy project identified the need for research and evaluation of the project that will benchmark and show the impact of the Visitor Economy project, in particular of the impact of the marketing and PR campaigns, to evidence return on investment and to inform future activity.