Plymouth, home to the UK’s first National Marine Park, is set to celebrate English Tourism Week 2025 (14–23 March) with a special programme offering exclusive behind-the-scenes access to key tourism venues across the city. This new initiative is part of ‘Welcoming Plymouth’, a city-wide partnership dedicated to enhancing the visitor experience and supporting the local tourism industry.
Running from Friday, 14 March to Friday, 21 March, Welcoming Plymouth will showcase the city’s rich maritime heritage and its commitment to expanding the Visitor Economy. The initiative aligns with Plymouth’s ambitious goals of increasing visitor numbers by 15%, boosting visitor spend by 30%, and creating 1,000 new tourism jobs by 2030.
This celebration underscores Plymouth’s role as Britain’s Ocean City, inviting both residents and visitors to discover the vital contributions of its tourism sector.
Visitor Economy Co-ordinator, James Blake- who has already facilitated access to jobs in the sector for over 80 people through one-to-one support since the inception of Welcoming Plymouth around a year ago, with many more candidates currently undergoing training, comments: “English Tourism Week 2025 provides an excellent opportunity for individuals to explore key sector stakeholder venues across the city, as well as engage in a meaningful way with employers through career conversations.
“The hope is that these behind-the-scenes visits will inspire yet more people to take up an opportunity in the range of careers available across tourism, hospitality and retail. Plymouth has a vibrant Visitor Economy and supporting people who are keen to explore their options in this field is crucial to ensuring amazing experiences are available for tourists and locals alike.”
Welcoming Plymouth, which aims to inspire university students, career changers and job seekers by shining a light on the city’s buoyant tourism industry, will offer a key opportunity to learn about the different roles involved and the skills needed in order to be successful and build a career in this exciting and varied sector, which currently brings in £335,656,000 million spend annually (2.6% up on 2019) with an overall total tourism supported turnover of £474,240,000.
The recently-published Destination Plymouth annual review of the city’s Visitor Plan has also shown some great successes over the past year, including highlights such as attracting over 500,000 visitors to the city through a wide-ranging programme of events led by Plymouth City Council and the Waterfront Partnership and City Centre Business Improvement District events team.
Some of the businesses at hand to offer exclusive, pre-booked access will be renowned accommodation providers Leonardo, Moxy Plymouth and the Duke of Cornwall as well as award-winning attractions Theatre Royal Plymouth and The Box, with the luxurious China Fleet Country Club and Plymouth Gin – the oldest operating distillery in Britain, established in 1793 – also involved in the project.
Destination Plymouth Chairman, Richard Stevens, concludes: “Plymouth is a growing city, and its full potential is yet to be realised.
“The Welcoming Plymouth behind-the-scenes initiative is the perfect way to celebrate English Tourism Week this year; we are really proud of how far we’ve come and, by showcasing the work of some of our most successful businesses, we hope to open the door to all who are interested in learning more about the opportunities at hand to develop a career as part of Britain’s Ocean City’s incredibly exciting tourism industry.”
