Press release -
Tourism boss praises world-class watersports venue in Lanarkshire
VisitScotland’s Chief Executive, Malcolm Roughead, visited Strathclyde Country Park as part of his tour to acknowledge successful partnership working between the tourism industry and local destination management organisations.
In advance of the VisitLanarkshire partnership meeting, Mr Roughead took a trip up the recently upgraded timing tower at the Strathclyde Country Park, with local businessman and partnership chair, Mark Calpin.
This was followed by Mr Roughead joining the partnership meeting to listen to discussion around plans to develop Lanarkshire’s tourism, which already accounts for 5,158 jobs and is worth around £323m per annum to the local economy.
Having recently hosted the European Championships in the triathlon and rowing events, Strathclyde Country Park includes the only Olympic standard rowing venue in Scotland and is one of just two across the UK. The upgrades to the tower, which were carried out last year to comply with International Rowing Federation guidelines, include a new viewing platform and reglazing to allow unrestricted views of the loch.
The VisitScotland chief has visited a number of locations across the country as part of his ‘listening tour’, the intention being to give local tourism organisations and businesses the opportunity to speak directly to him and to give Mr Roughead the opportunity to engage in local debate.
VisitScotland Chief Executive Malcolm Roughead said: "I am delighted to visit Strathclyde Country Park so soon after the successful European Championships. The park hosted the rowing and triathlon competitions which was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the region to a global audience.
“I have enjoyed the opportunity to meet directly with VisitLanarkshire to hear about their future plans, following the successes of this year.
“Tourism is more than a holiday experience - it is the heartbeat of the Scottish economy and touches every community.”
Mark Calpin, Chair of the Lanarkshire Tourism Partnership, said: “It’s always good to have a debate about how we ensure that local tourism continues to thrive and the roles that industry and public-sector partners must play to make this happen.
“We are always focused on future opportunities for tourism in the Lanarkshire area, but having Mr Roughead visiting us was a real reminder of just how much we have to offer with Strathclyde Country Park being just one example of the range of world class venues that we have to attract visitors to the area.”
For more information on what’s going on in Lanarkshire, visit www.visitlanarkshire.co.uk
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- lanarkshire
- 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 five overarching strategies: Marketing, Events, Quality and Sustainability, Inclusive Tourism, International Engagement.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP
- 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
2018 Year of Young People
- The Year of Young People (YoYP 2018) will inspire Scotland through its young people aged 8 to 26, celebrating their achievements, valuing their contributions to communities and creating new opportunities for them to shine locally, nationally and globally
- Central to YoYP 2018 will be a celebratory events programme that puts young people at the heart of its development and delivery, creating new and valuable experiences for young Scots and the wider public, with links to the inaugural 2018 European Championships.
- Over 200 young people throughout Scotland are currently being recruited to become YoYP 2018 Ambassadors. Ambassadors will ensure that people and organisations in their communities know about what’s happening and will lead on projects and activities to create events and opportunities to celebrate young people.
- The Year of Young People will have six themes which were developed in co-production with young people themselves:
- Participation – looking at how young people can influence public services and decisions which affect their lives
- Education – creating a stronger role for young people in shaping their learning
- Health and Wellbeing – supporting young people to lead healthier, active lives and have opportunities to learn about and improve their mental health and resilience
- Equality and Discrimination – broadcasting the value of young Scots, challenging negative perceptions of young people, and supporting young people to take leading roles in challenging discrimination in all its forms.
- Enterprise and regeneration – celebrating young people’s role in innovation, entrepreneurship and the Scottish economy as well as making Scotland a greener and more pleasant place to live
- Culture – celebrating young people’s talent and contribution to Scottish culture and arts.
- Further information on what’s happening and how people can get involved can be found on the new website www.yoyp2018.scot or @YOYP2018 on Twitter.
