Ayrshire & Arran Destination Alliance launched to drive tourism recovery
Industry leaders are coming together to ensure the sector can recover after the pandemic
Tourism bosses in Ayrshire have come together to form a new group, with the aim of ensuring the industry recovers and thrives after the pandemic.
Ayrshire and Arran Destination Alliance has been working with local and national government to focus on the challenges faced by one of Ayrshire’s key sectors.
Tourism contributes over £600 million and 13,000 jobs to the region
Earlier this year, industry leaders appointed international destination experts, in2destination, to conduct research on behalf of the region to shape thinking around the development of sustainable visitor management across Ayrshire. With input from North, South and East Ayrshire Councils, along with businesses and residents, the research highlighted that tourism is overwhelmingly a “force for good” contributing over £600 million of visitor spend and supporting over 13,000 jobs regionally – but there was a need for more cohesion and joint working across the whole region.
Building on this research, AADA worked collaboratively with VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and Local Authorities to successfully deliver a series of industry events throughout May and June attracting almost 200 industry representatives to look at areas of best practice from across the UK.
Through this work, Ayrshire & Arran Destination Alliance was developed and launched as an industry-led Destination Management and Marketing Organisation for the region. The organisation will operate on a not-for-profit basis, working collaboratively to grow the visitor economy sustainably to deliver benefits for businesses and communities. As part of this move, AADA has taken on management of The Coig – a collaborative tourist route project and will continue to promote this as part of the regional offer.
"By working together, there's a much better chance of getting out of the situation quickly"
Speaking to West FM News, Ayrshire & Arran Destination Alliance CEO Daniel Steel said: “obviously the last year has had a real impact on what’s a huge sector for the Ayrshire and Arran region. By working together there’s a much better chance of getting out of the situation quickly, to recover and regrow.
“There’s a huge amount of excitement and enthusiasm out there amongst the industry. The work that we do as the Destination Alliance will be about being the glue that brings things together. More cohesion and more partnership working.
Chair, Linda Johnston from Auchrannie Resort said: “We are incredibly excited to announce the launch of Ayrshire & Arran Destination Alliance. It has been formed with a very clear intention - as the regional Destination Management and Marketing Organisation we want to make sure that visitors to this region have outstanding experiences, whilst balancing this with the needs of our amazing communities and environment which make this region so special.
"Cohesion and focus to future tourism development"
“We have a huge amount of experience amongst our voluntary industry board, existing marketing channels reaching tens of thousands of visitors each month, an exceptional team already in place, and a range of exciting work planned over the coming weeks. Working closely with other sectoral, destination, and community groups, and our public sector partners, we believe we can help to bring cohesion and focus to future tourism development for the region.”
Ayrshire & Arran Destination Alliance will be communicating widely with businesses and groups across the region over the coming weeks to share plans and gain wide input to the future direction of the alliance.