Blenheim Palace made a significant contribution to the UK economy last year, according to new figures from Oxford Brookes Business School.
The study revealed that the palace in Woodstock had an economic impact of £175m, representing a 28 per cent year-on-year growth driven largely by a post-Covid bounce back.
This sizeable figure includes the palace's popular Christmas and Halloween events which contributed £32m and supported 636 jobs.
An additional £63m was generated by the 857,052 visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage Site spending at surrounding businesses, a rise of 21 per cent.
Dominic Hare, chief executive of Blenheim Palace, said: "We are delighted that jobs supported outside of Blenheim have grown even faster than our economic contribution, which shows the importance of Blenheim to our flourishing local economy.
“The numbers above also reflect big capital investments during the year by Blenheim and its partners, building the likes of Adventure Play and the Blenheim Palace Retreat Lodges.
"Both opened after the period measured in this study, but should drive great future benefit.”
Other key findings from the Economic Impact Study 2022-2023 revealed that Blenheim Palace directly employs 560 staff members, and supports 3,435 jobs in the wider economy.
The palace's economic growth was enhanced by a 58 per cent increase in procurement spending to £56m, consequently supporting 1,147 additional jobs.
Blenheim Palace is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and it was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.
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