VisitScotland: the Scottish Government Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund now open for applications

EDINBURGH, 2018-Apr-03 — /Travel PR News/ — A new fund designed to help rural areas in Scotland invest in the quality of their tourism offering opens to applications today (30 March 2018).

Administered by VisitScotland, the Scottish Government Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund will support sustainable, well planned, inspiring and collaborative infrastructure projects to enable more visitors to enjoy Scotland’s rural communities.

Last month, Tourism Secretary Fiona Hyslop revealed three pilot projects on Skye and Orkney were to be among the first to benefit from support. The famous Fairy Pools and Neist Point on Skye and the Standing Stones of Stenness on Orkney have received up to £480,000 towards the completion of urgent works ahead of the main tourist season.

Now, local authorities or National Park authorities have been invited to submit applications on behalf of their communities for a share of the £6m fund, which was announced by the First Minister last year and will run for the next two years.

It follows the growing popularity of Scotland’s scenic areas, as well as increasing interest in film tourism, and successful initiatives like North Coast 500, which has led to an influx of visitors to some of the country’s more remote destinations.

In order to secure funding, successful applications must demonstrate the following:

• An enhanced visitor experience – through the provision of improved visitor facilities and infrastructure, particularly in areas that have experienced pressure from increased visitor numbers, leading to a positive impact on the local visitor economy.
• A sustainable approach– take a strategic and long term approach to planning, use of materials, impact on the environment and legacy implications of the asset created after project completion.
• Community capacity building– creating more resilient communities, more able to cope with peak tourism demands and the creation of new local business opportunities.
• Effective partnerships and collaboration– engagement with local community groups, destination organisations and tourism businesses, demonstrating how partnership working can increase awareness, advocacy and the quality of the final project.
• Project viability and deliverability– provide a clear strategic rationale for their proposed activity as well as a delivery plan, timescales, details of experiences and a budget outline.

Tourism Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “Tourism is a vital part of our economy, bringing jobs and investment to many rural communities across the country. While visitor numbers increase, it is important communities have the infrastructure to support this. The pilot project completed at Neist Point has been very successful, providing additional parking for visitors to the area. This fund will help more rural communities improve visitor experiences to ensure our world class destinations can be enjoyed for generations to come.”

Riddell Graham, VisitScotland Director of Partnerships, added: “Many of Scotland’s rural areas are home to the breath-taking scenery that helps attract thousands of visitors to our shores every year. Tourism is vital to the Scottish economy, creating jobs and sustaining communities. This fund will help these communities improve their facilities and enhance their offering to welcome more visitors in the future. VisitScotland is committed to working closely with partners to identify appropriate infrastructure requirements to help improve the quality of the visitor experience.”

Chair of the Highland Council’s Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor Allan Henderson said: “Work has been completed to improve parking facilities for visitors to Neist Point on Skye. This includes 300m of new additional parking, new passing places and resurfacing of the road and car park. This is excellent news and the improvements, ready in time for the main tourist season, will be welcomed by both visitors to this popular site and local communities.”

The deadline for final applications is 27 July 2018. For a full list of criteria, conditions and guidelines to apply to the Scottish Government Rural Tourism Infrastructure fund, go to: http://www.visitscotland.org/business_support/advice_materials/funding_opportunities/rural_tourism_infrastructure.aspxor contact rtif@visitscotland.com

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.

SOURCE: VisitScotland

MEDIA CONTACT

Louise Purves
Press Contact
Senior Corporate Press Officer – National
North Region, Consumer PR (Scotland)
Louise.Purves@visitscotland.com
0131 472 2052
Out of hours – 0131 472 2324

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