Our work on developing a tourism strategy for Winchester district.
In May 2025, Winchester City Council appointed destination consultancy Blue Sail to review the visitor economy in Winchester and develop a new Tourism Strategy for the Winchester district. This comes at an important time for the district with a recently announced Local Visitor Economy Partnership for Hampshire.
There are lots of changes taking place in how tourism is managed nationally and regionally and doing this work will help clarify how and where Winchester can align with and benefit from these changes.
The work will also help to determine the long term vision for tourism across the Winchester district and the objectives and actions that need to be taken to help it thrive.
Thank you to all our businesses who have contributed to the evidence base through 1-2-1 consultations, strategy workshops and business surveys, and helped share our visitor survey. You can read more about our engagement activities below.
The initial findings from the research and data collected are published in the Baseline report, which can be viewed by clicking on the button below.
In September 2025, the Visit Winchester team presented a paper to Winchester City Council's Economy and Housing Policy Committee - a scrutiny committee that considers policy issues related to the local economy and housing, ensuring they align with the Council Plan - which summarised the findings from the baseline report and outlined recommendations. You can read the paper here.
In order to inform the evidence base, Blue Sail held one-to-one consultations with 15 key stakeholders to discuss the destination, visitor markets, challenges and opportunities in greater detail. Organisations participating in one-to-ones included Winchester Cathedral, Winchester College, Marwell, The Science Centre, Hampshire Cultural Trust, The Hat Fair (Play to the Crowd), Winchester BID, Hampshire Fare, South Downs National Park, Lainston House, Wallops Wood, Long Barn, The Grange Wine and Vineyards of Hampshire.
During May/June 2025, Blue Sail ran a business survey. Over 65 businesses responded to the survey which is a robust response when viewed alongside other strands of this work. Businesses that took part in the survey represented a cross-section of the visitor economy and included accommodation providers, café, restaurant, pubs, attractions, culture and venues, leisure and entertainment, events, retail, guides, community organisations and attractions. Half of those responding are members of Visit Winchester while 15% were unsure if they were or weren’t.
During early July, workshops were held across two days in venues in and outside Winchester. These drew approximately 60 stakeholders across the two days who were able to work together to identify challenges and opportunities for Winchester, priorities for the emerging tourism strategy and specific needs they have as businesses operating in the district. The outputs from the stakeholder workshop can be downloaded below.
Bluegrass were commissioned to conduct a survey research programme with existing and potential visitors, to support the development of our tourism strategy.
The core research objectives were:
• To profile existing and potential audiences
• To measure awareness and understanding of Winchester as a visitor destination
• To explore which aspects of the Winchester visitor offer carries greatest appeal
An online survey was developed and distributed via an independent research panel and via databases held by Visit Winchester and supporting social
media activity. The survey was live between 30 May and 22 June 2025.
A sample of 1,015 interviews achieved – 330 via research panel and 685 via Visit Winchester – resulting in a robust dataset for analysis. The sample was structured to be inclusive of those who have and have not visited Winchester, as well as local and non-local respondents.
The full Audience insight report can be downloaded below and details the findings from the visitor survey.
Between now and March 2026, the Visit Winchester team will be:
- Refining the vision and themes into a clear, compelling framework
- Engaging an advisory panel of key stakeholders to test and shape priorities
- Consult the wider business community
- Drafting the final Tourism Strategy for the five-year period 2026-2030
- Securing Council adoption, turning vision into action
