Its Wild People, Nature and Tourism in Scotland

1
Its Wild! People, Nature and Tourism in Scotland

• Workshop Reports

2
Strengths

• Distinctiveness
• International status
• Untapped potential
• Safe
• Wilderness yet accessible
• Year round wildlife
• Local knowledge

3
Distinctiveness

• Richness
• Remote
• Diversity
• Unexpected sightings
• Compactness
• Accessibility
• Space
• Culture

• Tranquility
• Good range of well established sites throughout
  Scotland

4
How to capitalise on strengths

• Greater collaboration packaging at all levels.
• Better use of IT and the Web
• Better integration of cross promotion
• Short breaks a key market sector.
• Four seasons approach
• Improve market research
• Local ownership allows the passion to be
  communicated.

5
Weaknesses

• Managing Impacts
• Lack of awareness of wildlife as a serious
  business demonstrate financial value and meet
  to raise awareness.
• Lack of linkages to land management and culture.
• Marketing
• Lack of collaboration packaging
• Quality managing meeting expectations

6
Marketing

• Market segmentation write for market
• Needs to be built from bottom up
• Visibility A Forever Wild distinct campaign
• A tiered approach come to Scotland for wildlife
  these are the experiences in Speyside
  external marketing
• Local word of mouth accommodation owners
  internal marketing pride and wildlife awareness
• Offering the whole local package fragmentation
  confusion
• Sharing customer information

7
Quality

• Interpretation
• Service- attention to detail
• Quality assurance applied to all sectors
• Encouraging non-price competition
• Attitudes of operators
• Licensing controlling numbers and quality
• Wildife is great the presentation is poor

8
Management of Impacts

• Poor quality guiding
• Irresponsible guiding
• Impacts and benefits.
• Good record of species and habitat protection
• Strong planning system?

9
Lack of Collaboration

• Cross promotion of fragmented product
• Local promotion by accommodation providers
  cross recommendation
• Local product knowledge and word of mouth local
  fam trips backing champions
• Dialogue Activity Scotland
• Lack of joined up thinking by government and
  contradictory policy

10
People, Nature and Tourism A final suggestion

• A possible solution
• Responsible Guidelines for Operators and Tourists
  taking responsibility local codes networks,
  backed by LACs
• Marketing from VisitScotland and ATBs to be
  withdrawn from operators who breach the code.
• Grant conditionality
• Convene a national partnership based working
  group to realise the aspirations of operators and
  resource managers.

• Contradiction or creative tension?
• treating natural heritage in a responsible
  manner Mike Watson
• Sustainable economic development
• quantity/quality
• short-term opportunism and cowboy operators