Press release -
A taste of Lanarkshire!
Tourism and hospitality businesses from all over Lanarkshire attended a special event last week (Thursday 30 April) to share ideas on how to capitalise on the opportunities presented by Scotland’s Year of Food & Drink.
Held at the Alona Hotel at Strathclyde Country Park, the event was organised by national tourism organisation VisitScotland, with support from theLanarkshire Area Tourism Partnership which manages VisitLanarkshire, VenuesLanarkshire and BeLanarkshire.
In addition to enabling attendees to network and make mutually beneficial connections with new and existing industry contacts, the event highlighted how Scotland’s Year of Food & Drink 2015 is designed to boost economic growth by promoting Scotland’s outstanding natural larder. A showcase of regional suppliers and producers also demonstrated the quality, range and diversity of Lanarkshire’s food and drink. Displaying their wares were Plan Bee, Hamilton’s Handmade, Kerr’s Bakery, Ovenbird Coffee, Chocolate Blanc, Millers’ Larder, Strathaven Ales and Katie’s Homemade Tablet.
VisitScotland Regional Director, Annique Armstrong, welcomed around 60 attendees and introduced the speakers – Amanda Brown of Scotland Food and Drink, Laura Alexander of VisitScotland’s Taste Our Best Quality Assurance Scheme, Warren Bader of Plan Bee, Colin and Deborah Richardson-Webb of The Lint Mill, Paul Mitchell of Sodexo Prestige for Hamilton Park Racecourse and Ian Donnachie of the Alona Hotel.
Their informative presentations aimed to encourage and inspire Lanarkshire businesses to grasp the business opportunities and encouraging them to use regional suppliers and local produce whenever possible. Research shows that visitors will pay up to 15% more for traditional dishes, regional specialities and fresh local produce. Enabling business reputation and profits to be increased, there is huge value to be gained by not only using regional suppliers and quality produce but also communicating that to visitors.
VisitScotland Regional Director Annique Armstrong said:
“Food and drink is Scotland’s fastest growing sector and incredibly important to our country’s tourism industry. Scotland’s Year of Food & Drink gives us the opportunity to build on that by promoting our incredibly diverse natural larder and the superb quality of our produce to our visitors as well as our local markets.
“To help businesses reap the benefits, we provide a range of support - including our Taste Our Best Quality Assurance Scheme and bespoke online food and drink business toolkit - so I’d urge Lanarkshire hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, cafes, bars and attractions to take advantage of these.”
In recognition of the Year of Food & Drink 2015, the Lanarkshire Area Tourism Partnership is offering a 50 per cent subsidy to eligible Lanarkshire Businesses for the first year of VisitScoland’s Taste our Best scheme.
Chair of the Lanarkshire Tourism Association, Mark Calpin, said:
“Food is an essential part of the visitor experience and tourism in Lanarkshire supports around 10,000 jobs and is worth around £300 million to the region’s economy. Therefore VisitLanarkshire is committed to ensuring Lanarkshire is recognised as a world-class destination to experience the very best food and drink that Scotland has to offer.
More than 17 businesses in Lanarkshire have already been awarded Taste our Best accreditation including the Alona Hotel, The Knights Rest Guesthouse and Hamilton Park Racecourse, and we hope to increase this by 20% by the end of Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink.”
- ENDS –
For further information contact:
Mon -Thurs
Ellen Drummond Ferroni, VisitScotland Regional Corporate Press Officer
Tel: 0141 566 4019 / 07801 820757; Email: ellen.drummondferroni@visitscotland.com
Thurs & Fri
Sharon Makepeace, VisitScotland Regional Corporate Press Officer
Tel: 01387 245 564/07771 981 236; Email: sharon.makepeace@visitscotland.com
Out of hours media enquiries: 07699 766986
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- year of food and drink
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation has three key roles:
- To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
- To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
- To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Food and Drink 2015
- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/tastescotland
