Welcome to Visit West
The visitor economy is vitally important to the economic success of Bristol, Bath and the wider West of England region, worth in excess of £2.33 billion at its peak in 2019 and employing an estimated 45,000 people.
Visit West provides a valuable role in the co-ordination, communication, and development of the region’s visitor economy.
Visit West has two distinct but complementary roles. For the visitor economy, delivering our Visit Bristol and Visit Bath consumer brands and channels; the strong business-led development programmes for travel trade and the region’s business community; and the Meet Bristol and Bath Convention Bureau. All these fall within the role of the Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP), officially accredited by Visit England. This represents the public and private sector in Bristol, Bath, North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, while providing support for businesses in this area and beyond through our membership programme.
In March 2023, Visit West was announced as one of 15 English destinations to gain Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) status. Developed and administered by VisitEngland, the national portfolio of strategic and high-performing LVEPs support collaborative working locally and nationally on shared priorities and targets to grow the local visitor economy. The creation of LVEPs was part of the UK Government’s response to the recommendations of ‘The de Bois Review: an independent review of DMOs in England,’ to reshape destination management across England, reducing fragmentation and bringing coherence to its DMO landscape.
In addition, Visit West delivers three Business Improvement Districts in Bristol – Broadmead BID, Bristol City Centre BID, and Redcliffe and Temple BID – all of whom develop the area to improve cleanliness, safety and enhance the offer and experience in their area, working together to support their levy payers.
Our strong and collaborative visitor economy centres around the cities of Bristol and Bath, together with our surrounding towns and villages and those businesses within the region who, together, represent the most unique and inspirational visitor destination in the UK.
As well as inspiring visits and developing routes to market, we support our visitor economy through access to research and support, including opportunities to promote and develop your workforce. This includes tools and resources to support industry recruitment.
Find out more about membership and joining Visit West's business community.
