Meeting
Cairngorms Tourism Partnership
23rd November, 2020
Cairngorms Tourism Emergency Response Group - Via Video-Conference
Cairngorms Tourism Emergency Response Group
23rd November 2020, 11am.
1.Welcome and introductions
Present: Mark, Murray, Janet, Pete, Grant, Rhona, Chris F, Alistair, Chris T, Colin (joined halfway through)
Apologies: Laurie, Geva
2.RESPOND
Business Support update
There was extensive discussion about the new Covid-19 business support grants for the different geographical restriction levels, being administrated by the local authorities. There is an initial application process for eligible businesses, but thereafter grants will automatically be paid retrospectively at the appropriate rate for the restriction level.
As with previous grants scheme there is some ambiguity in the guidance. There is particular challenge around the eligibility of hotels, especially in tier 1. Highland Council have raised this as an issue with the Scottish government, and asked that hotels be included in the scheme.
Aberdeenshire Council are distributing town centre improvements grants with £153k allocated to Ballater Enhancement Group and £142k to Victoria & Albert Halls in Ballater. Alistair will send details of those projects.
Nothing to update from HIE.
Key issues from DMOs
CBP. Mark raised the issue of business grants. The lack of support for businesses in levels 1 & 2 is causing huge challenges to the many businesses who rely on visitors from areas in levels 3 or 4, or from elsewhere in the UK. Mark asked if Highland Council would consider processing hotel grants in the expectation that the guidance would be clarified. Colin advised that they were reluctant to take on that risk.
VisitAberdeenshire are revamping their ‘locals’ campaign in run up to Christmas and beyond, with a promo video in production. They are also doing a survey for the local population to ask 1) about staycation experiences last summer, and 2) what are their hidden gems (if willing to share!).
Their seminars on key issues for businesses are ongoing, and the 3rd iteration of the Tourism Business Gamechanger will run from January to March and will be free for first time. There will be spaces for 12 businesses.
VisitScotland Update
The Scotland Reconnects online event starts at 12:00 today, with 250 buyers & 234 suppliers involved, and 4,000 appointments scheduled.
Adventure tourism week ran last week with over 800 registered businesses involved.
The latest STERG survey is now out and Chris thanked partners for sharing.
The Event Recovery Fund has now launched with £1-5k or £5-35k grants. There will be a webinar about the fund on Wednesday. Chris to send details around.
A high-level commitment has been made to the Tourism Declares initiative, along with Wild Scotland and Sail Scotland, and VS will be rolling out stakeholder engagement over the coming months. It was agreed that this fits particularly well with the Park’s status as Europarc accredited sustainable tourism destination and with other ongoing work. Chris offered to include CNPA in further direct discussions about how to translate the TD initiative into practical action, and it was agreed that this would be on the agenda for the next Cairngorms Tourism Partnership meeting in February.
3.RESET
Communications messages around the tier system
It was agreed that the restrictions for the 4-lvel system were well-understood, and there is clear information on the VisitCairngorms & CNPA websites. There does appear to be a small amount of nervousness from visitors again about where people are travelling from, and this is leading to some comments on VS’ social media posts.
4.RESTART
Meetings
Grant gave an update on a meeting with the new CEO of Keep Scotland Beautiful, Barry Fisher. KSB has a lead on litter messaging, and runs schemes for government on climate issues etc. They have recently launched the Green Key scheme for businesses.
Mark & Heather fed back on the national Visitor Management Education & Marketing Group. There is still work needed to agree national headline messages before a campaign can be developed and promoted. Mark felt that the group has grown, and purpose has slipped since initiated by DMOs and WildScotland. There is a need to focus on the two main aims 1) agree messages and 2) communicate them in an inspiring way.
There are Deeside, Glenmore & Angus visitor management meetings this week to agree visitor management plans, including what infrastructure could be put in place by the start of the Spring season. There has been a delay to the Scottish Budget announcement until 28th Jan so CNPA will need to plan ranger services before knowing if we have budget.
Grant is chairing the first national Visitor Management Infrastructure & Investment group meeting this afternoon. The group will establish priority area for investments and look at targeting future funds like RTIF.
In early December there are plans for another series of open community meetings including community councils and Scottish Land & Estates. The meetings will introduce the Heritage Horizons project as well as discussion of visitor management issues.
Colin has been attending ward business meetings as part of the consultation on a Highland Infrastructure Plan (and sub-area plans). The plan includes an audit of public and community-owned visitor infrastructure, and looks to identify gaps in provision. Both the Highland and Badenoch & Strathspey plans would be circulated to the group. It was agreed that ideally there should be only one plan for Badenoch & Strathspey rather than CNPA also producing a visitor management plan for the area.
5.RECOVER
Marketing Updates
Mark gave an update on the CBP winter campaign. An outline storyboard for the TV advert is going to Clearcast for approval before filming. Facebook personas have been developed to identify target audiences. In terms of promotion at this stage, there will be a limited number of dark social posts targeted to Aberdeenshire & Highland.
6.Any Other Updates
A new round of training for community tourism projects is being launched by the Social Enterprise Academy, open to Highland & Moray. Murray to send details to the group.
7.Date of next meeting
14th December
Relevant papers will be available here shortly before the meeting.