Press release -
Chief Executive is ‘all ears’ when it comes to tourism in West Dunbartonshire
Malcolm dropped by to speak to the John and Andrea Hughes during a special ‘Listening Tour’ organised by the national tourism organisation which took place this week in Balloch, West Dunbartonshire.
VisitScotland have organised a series of nine Chief Executive Listening Tours across the country during this, Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink. The tours are designed to give tourism organisations access to, and opportunities to speak directly with the VisitScotland Chief Executive.
Malcolm spent his lunchtime at Gowanlea Guest House on Drymen Road, congratulating Andrea and John Hughes on their commitment to using fresh, Scottish produce.
The four star guest house, which is enjoying a busy summer hosting many international visitors, serves up an impressive variety of Scottish produce making a sumptuous breakfast for their guests. This includes:
- fresh fish; smoked haddock, smoked salmon and Loch Fyne kippers ordered from Glasgow
- fresh fruit and berries from Perthshire
- sausages and bacon from France Farm at Gartocharn
- milk, hen eggs and cream supplied by Muirhead Dairy in Alexandria
- butter from Graham’s The Family Dairy in Bridge of Allan.
Taste Our Best is a joint initiative between VisitScotland and the Scottish Government. Launched in 2013 the scheme is designed to recognise businesses, including hotels, restaurants, cafes, takeaways, visitor attractions and B&Bs that not only offer a quality food and drink experience, but include and promote Scottish produce on their menus, to give consumers choice.
Results from the 2011/12 Scotland Visitor Survey highlighted that the sampling of local produce is the second highest activity undertaken by visitors when they come to Scotland. Gowanlea Guest House is now one of 700 businesses throughout Scotland to become part of the dedicated food and drink Quality Assurance Scheme introduced by VisitScotland last year.
John Hughes of Gowanlea Guest House, said;
“I am delighted to have received VisitScotland’s Taste Our Best award which recognises businesses who use quality, local produce and I know this is increasingly important to our guests as many of them ask about our food at the booking stage so really using local suppliers is what help sells our business.”
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said;
“Gowanlea Guest House is an excellent example of a business committed to providing a quality visitor experience.I am delighted they’ve been awarded with Taste Our Best, which is testament to their hard work in providing the best of fresh, Scottish produce. Two thirds of Scotland’s visitors think that quality food is an important factor when deciding where to go for holiday, so it’s important for all businesses to take their food and drink offering seriously and competitively to capitalise upon this.”
Following his visit to Gowanlea Guest House, Malcolm Roughead then went on
to meet tourism representatives from the area at Loch Lomond National Park Head Quarters.
Further details on Taste Our Best can be found at: www.visitscotland.org/quality-foodanddrink.aspx
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
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’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- 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 events 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
