Stratford-on-Avon MP Manuela Perteghella paid a visit to local guided tour firm Go Cotswolds, which has achieved record growth after hosting guests from 79 countries. The company reports that it welcomed a 6,300 visitors in 2024 – up by 75% on 2023 – and says the business is breaking new ground again after reaching half of 2023’s bookings before the end of March.
Around 40% of last year’s visitors came from the US, the company says, followed by India, Canada and Australia among others, plus just 5% from the UK.
The family-run firm is now in its 11th year and provides a range of small group tours of the Cotswolds from its pick-up points in Stratford-upon-Avon and Moreton-in-Marsh. The MP met the company’s founders, Tom and Lisa Benjamin, to mark English Tourism Week. Explaining the rise in demand, Tom said: “The social media reels of pretty Cotswold villages, combined with popular TV shows such as Clarkson’s Farm, Rivals and Downton Abbey are undoubtedly driving demand from overseas – and for us it is about having the capacity to meet this demand. Last year we invested around £100,000 in a new minibus to expand our fleet to four buses, and we have also recruited and trained three new driver guides to take our team of guides to eight to cater for the rising demand.
“Lisa and I initially started Go Cotswolds borne from our passion for independent travel and an adventurous spirit that we wanted to pass on to others, so to see where the business is now is a dream come true.”
