Moray is given £350,000 tourism boost
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Moray’s tourism sector has been given a timely £350,000 boost from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
The cash will be spent over the next three years on a series of initiatives aimed at helping businesses to recover.
Jim Davis is the chairman of Visit Moray Speyside (VMS), the organisation which will administer the cash.
He said: "Prior to the onset of Covid-19 tourism in Moray Speyside had been growing year on year.
"In 2019 we saw the highest ever number of visitors to our region and operators were anticipating an even busier year in 2020.
"HIE’s investment will enable Visit Moray Speyside to significantly increase its work on the ground throughout the region with communities, businesses and sector groups."
Mr Davis, who owns the Dunphail-based outdoor activities operator Ace Adventures, added: "We will be working together to get tourism back on its feet and equipped to face the future."
Visit Moray Speyside says there will be specific engagement with food and drink producers to better showcase Moray’s natural larder to a worldwide audience.
In addition, when the time is right again, there will be scope to create new, out of season events to encourage more visitors to the region.
Help will also be provided to tourism businesses to make sure they have the skills and knowledge to rebuild their operations and access new markets.
Meanwhile, communities will be given support and advice about how to improve conditions for visitors.
Angie Smith, HIE’s head of business growth in Moray, said: "Tourism is central to the local economy in Moray and a vital source of rural employment.
"Visit Moray and Speyside provides valuable coordinated support for the sector, tailored to the specific needs of tourism operators in the area.
"These businesses will become even more reliant on VMS in bringing about recovery in our tourism sector.
"We need to make sure the group has sufficient resources to be as effective as possible in delivering this important strategy, and that’s what this funding is about.
"We look forward to working with VMS and our tourism businesses to achieve a successful and sustainable recovery the sector."
The HIE funding is from £3m approved by the agency in September 2020 to support tourism organisations over the next three years, as part of wider support for the tourism sector’s recovery.
