A Scotsman article may interest gurnites who are involved in the tourist industry. Tourism high heid yins think Scottish tourism might miss out on a few opportunities. Are we at a crossroads for tourism in Scotland, could it even go down the pan perhaps?
"Tourist chiefs believe spin-offs from the London Olympic Games, Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup and a new Disney film offer an unprecedented “honeypot” – but only if they are capitalised on.
VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay said: “I am appealing to the tourism industry to help us grasp this opportunity – from the smallest B&B to the biggest resort hotel.” "
Benefit from the Olympics? With millions of people trying to escape London for four weeks perhaps? Maybe Nairn will get by simply because the Highlands, will as always, promote themselves simply by their majestic natural beauty that won't be going anywhere soon. Well some of the anti-windmill groups might have you think so. Besides Rosemary got the Regal painted up so things should improve now and maybe a few more folk passing by might be lured in to spend money in overnight accomodation etc, in Nairn. Although a worrying figure is quoted in the article:
"The Winning Years initiative is to be launched formally at the Scottish Parliament tomorrow, just weeks after it emerged that spending from overseas visitors was down by 17 per cent in the first half of this year, contrasting sharply with a 5 per cent rise across the UK."
The Scotsman article is here and there are some interesting comments following it too. Fergus gets a mention in his role as tourism minister. At the end of the day tourism is a powerful part of Nairn's economic muscle but can we always rely on it being there? Do we need a plan B in case it fails in the near future given the global economic situation?
10 comments:
Related topic on the demise of the Highland games in SoS. Our games must bring a fair few tourists to the town, and would be missed by all if they were to stop
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I tell you one thing that will be putting off the tourists (and locals) is the amount of dog mess down on the links and the front. It is absolutely incredible the amount that is on the grass and the path.
I finished a great day out washing off the mess from my daughter's shoes and our pram.
It's not like there are no bins to put it in. Where is the dog warden?
This observer has said it before Agrreived. A £50 fine is no deterrent for not picking up your pet's turds. It should start at £500 and double up each time for every subsequent offence.
I was shocked to see so much dog poo on the beach near the swim pool today (as I was walking my own dog on the beach with a pocket full of poo bags and clearing up every last bit of his mess.)
Dog poo is really not a tourist attraction let alone one the locals want to tread through
So called responsible owners are outraged at the mention of a beach dog ban but I don't see any other way
Walking along the beach last weekend I saw numerous owners letting their dogs run free whilst not keeping an eye on them, either happily walking along or chatting to folk they met, the dog meanwhile was busy doing...
And then there are the numerous dogs over which owners have no control that jump all over you, which results in the owner running over laughing saying 'he won't bite'. I'd rather that you just controlled him in the first place thank you
Dog owners need to clean up their act or get banned
its the same when we were bulb planting at the cemetery field and their is a bin at the start of the path, also one at the bottom of the path still some folk not picking up after their dog, the lassie next door to us will not use the play park around from us because of dog mess this is at boath park in case the dog warden? would like to check these parts of the town out, unfortunately this is an on going problem around our town and will be for some time unless something is done about it?
As long as tourists in Nairn keep their eyes firmly fixed to the ground and don't look at the scenery they might avoid the dog door. But on a serious note the problem seems to be getting worse. Any walk I take now there seems to be more dogs which equates more dog mess. The darker evenings don't help as you can't always see where you're walking, ironically often blinded by the lights!
It seems the threat of the virtually non existent dog warden doesn't work. Perhaps we need more controls over dog ownership, enforced micro chip? I'm sure we'd all like to see a solution and not just tourists to the town
There is a school of thought that the dog shit problem gets worse as the dark nights draw in as for some owners responsibility flies away as the darkness falls.
Remember one irresponsible owner can leave a lot of turds in the same spot in a short space of time so there might not be quite as many people to punish as one might think.
Perhaps the non-existent warden could have non-existent infra-red binoculars.
Anyway had a chance to tell one or two worthies this evening how important this subject is in the citizenry's collective mind.
Compulsory Q tests for dog owners as some people just aren't intelligent to own a pet, I'm thinking of those ones that collect the dog poo, bag it, and then throw it up into trees. It's the dogs I feel sorry for having a person like that as their carer, must be embarrassing!
There are a determined small group of dog owners who will not pick up their dog crap ever, and the darker nights suit them just fine.
Talking about large fines has no chance if the enforcement is the same as the drinking outdoors. There are hundreds of small signs all over the town threatening £500 fines for drinking in public areas, I have yet to hear of a single fine like that ever being imposed.VERY LARGE obvious signs for responsible dog ownership should be placed strategically around the town as I have said before.(pressure by education and shame is the only way) Or are the local dog owning worthies going to keep stymying the argument for no signs ?
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