Highland Council Commits £80,000 To Marketing The Highlands
28th March 2010
Highland Council and VisitScotland have concluded the 2010-11 Service Level Agreement which commits council funds to VisitScotland, specifically for the delivery of Visitor Information and marketing the Highlands via VisitScotland's national campaigns.
Last week's Highland Council Planning Environment and Development Committee meeting approved the 2010 funding for VisitScotland, committing £80,000 directly, to ensure additional representation of the Highlands in VisitScotland's award-winning national marketing campaigns, including Winter White, Autumn Moments and Perfect Day.
Results of the 2009 Spring and Winter campaigns were previously presented to the Council and recent results from the Autumn campaign show that last year's £80,000 commitment by the Council brought an additional £8.4million into the Highland economy, as a direct result of these VisitScotland campaigns.
Councillor Ian Ross, Chair of the Planning Environment and Development Committee said: "Highland Council is committed to promoting the Highlands as a top year-round destination - we have a high quality tourist product to offer tourists from Britain and further afield. The Council has agreed that £80,000 be directly targeted to tie-in with VisitScotlands national campaigns. The priority will be to focus on Highland priorities such as Gaelic, green tourism, events and activities. Our investment has attracted an additional £30,000 of marketing funding from other partners which is good news and will enable Visitscotland to extend their marketing activity."
Scott Armstrong, Regional Director for VisitScotland commented: "We are delighted that our national campaigns have been so successful particularly in delivering more visitors to the Highlands who in turn bring more than £8million additional spend into the local economy.
"We are grateful to receive the backing from Highland Council to allow us to maximise the potential of these campaigns. We have also benefited from the participation of great partners to showcase all the things to do and see in the Highlands throughout the year and help increase visitor numbers.
"Scottish tourism has significant potential for growth and in the current economic climate it is crucial we continue to work together with partners to promote the Highlands as a year-round destination and to get tourism growth back on track."
The Council's cash injection will contribute to a number of marketing activities including an accommodation guide for the Highlands and the development of the regional website, as well as direct mail-outs to interested contacts, competitions and promotions.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
Plans to invest up to £60m new Capital in Highland roads and infrastructure have been approved by Members at the Council meeting on 14 March 2024. The decision will see an additional £40m Capital investment in roads and transport infrastructure.
A draft Delivery Plan sets out a roadmap which will ensure the delivery of £54.6m savings and over £100m investment agreed by Council over the next 3 years. The report is a difficult to follow series looing at areas but does not specify where the cuts to jobs will come over the next three years.
The Co-Chairs of the Inverness Castle Delivery Group, Fergus Ewing MSP and Cllr Ian Brown, are delighted to announce the award of £30,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in support of framing the 57 panels that will form the Tapestry of the Highlands and Islands. This financial commitment from HIE has contributed significantly to the preservation of the 57 panels created by communities across the Highlands and Islands, of which 32 will be included in the first exhibition as part of the Inverness Castle Experience.
Dawn Meston from The Highland Council's Housing team won a prestigious award at the Scottish Empty Homes Awards held at The Studio, Glasgow on Thursday 29 February 2024 in recognition of her contribution to bringing empty homes back into use across Highland. Between 1 April and 31 December 2023, a total of 25 empty properties were brought back into use following Dawn's intervention as Highland's Empty Homes Officer.
The Chair of The Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee has confirmed details of a trial, to start next week, of a thermal process for carrying out pothole repairs. An external contractor, Thermal Road Repairs, has been appointed to undertake the work using a thermal repair process.