Press release -
Visitor information grows roots in Ayrshire
VISITORS to South Ayrshire will be offered the ‘seeds’ to grow a fantastic holiday experience, following the announcement of a new partnership between Craigiemains Home and Garden Centre and VisitScotland.
The garden centre, which includes a café, shopping, Alfie the donkey, miniature railway and children’s play area, has now added to its offering by joining an impressive network of VisitScotland Information Partners (VIPs), committed to providing visitors with local information.
In partnership with the Ballantrae Trust (formerly the Ballantrae Development Group), a dedicated information point for visitors has been developed within the garden centre. Its location on the Ayrshire Coastal Path and quality facilities make it the ideal stop-off for visitors to South Ayrshire and the new official ‘iKnow Scotland’ accreditation will add value to the services already on offer and make it easier than ever before for visitors to connect with local businesses.
Craigiemains Home and Garden Centre joins a list of 90 businesses and visitor attractions across Ayrshire & Arran to sign up to the scheme. Launched in May 2016, the VIP programme harnesses the local knowledge, warmth and enthusiasm of partners across the country to help visitors receive the warmest of welcomes and make the most of their trip to Scotland.
Marie McCulloch from Craigiemains Home and Garden Centre said: “We’re delighted to join the VisitScotland Information Partner programme. We have worked closely with the Ballantrae Development Group and now the Trust to create an information point for locals and visitors within the garden centre. Our proximity to the Ayrshire Coastal Path and our proximity to the ferry terminals, means we welcome a number of visitors and we want to ensure that they experience the best that Ayrshire and Scotland as a whole has to offer.”
Andy McAlpine from Ballantrae Trust said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Craigiemains to develop this focal point for visitors. It is a great opportunity to highlight the great visitor attraction that the centre is to visitors, and to encourage them to find out more about what’s happening within a radius of a couple of hours of the centre, and make the most of their visit to South Ayrshire and nearby Dumfries & Galloway.”
VisitScotland Regional Director Annique Armstrong said: “Craigiemains Home and Garden Centre is a fantastic addition to our network of VIPs. They have worked closely with the local community to ensure that visitors receive a high standard of customer service and sound local knowledge.
“The VIP programme celebrates and supports tourism businesses and local communities as they act as local ambassadors and help provide information, assistance and advice on all there is to see and do in the area. This follows a growing trend among consumers to use online resources to plan their trips and we now have partners throughout the country providing high quality information and advice to visitors with whom they interact.”
The programme forms part of VisitScotland’s focus on information which also includes a global online community to allow Scots and those who love Scotland to bring alive the streets, characters and landscapes of our country.
The scheme is open to a wide variety of businesses, as well as community groups, local authority-operated library services and social enterprises. VisitScotland provides the partner sites with official signage and collateral, promotional material and information resources to make sure visitors receive an excellent standard of information about the area and the rest of Scotland. For more information, visit www.visitscotland.org.
For more information on Craigiemains, visit: http://www.craigiemainshomeandgardencentre.com/
For more information on Ballantrae, visit: www.ballantrae.org.uk
VisitScotland Regional Director Annique Armstrong (centre) is pictured with Marie McCulloch from Craigiemains Home and Garden Centre (left) and Andy McAlpine from Ballantrae Trust (right).
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- ayrshire & arran
- iknow scotland
- 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 2018 will be the next of the Scottish Government’s series of themed years, following the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology 2017.
- 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:
- oParticipation – looking at how young people can influence public services and decisions which affect their lives
- oEducation – creating a stronger role for young people in shaping their learning
- oHealth and Wellbeing – supporting young people to lead healthier, active lives and have opportunities to learn about and improve their mental health and resilience
- oEquality 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.
- oEnterprise 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
- oCulture – 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.
