Community Led Tourism

The aim of a community led tourism approach is to put local people at the centre of the decision-making process to produce benefits for the whole community – including allowing local businesses to capture the footfall of visitors to larger, popular local assets.

This Scottish Government Pilot Project is focussed on two areas – Brechin and Girvan.

SENScot, and Creetown Initiative will be working closely with national and local partners to provide direct support to the communities of Brechin, in Angus, and Girvan, in South Ayrshire, to develop their tourism offer and put community at the heart of the decision making process.

 

 

 

Community tourism can help preserve historic and cultural heritage, improve management of land and assets for community use, encourage the development of new business opportunities, and improve the quality of existing services.

This project will support the development of community led tourism action plans in the two towns, keeping community needs at the heart of the project and connecting with local partners from the public, private and third sectors.   We’ll be working with local partners to set out a clear vision and objectives, assessing existing community tourism provision, and identifying opportunities for further development.  We are keen to involve anyone who is interested whether they are from the public sector, private sector, third sector or a community member.

Sustainability will be considered throughout the process and we’ll work with the communities to develop businesses opportunities, create new projects and build on existing tourism activity,  this will include identifying funding and investment.

A Making History project took place with Historic Environment Scotland and Angus ceramicist Jennifer Alford, based around the historic Round Tower at Brechin Cathedral. A group of local individuals came together to create ceramic pieces based on their exploration of makers marks and the tower itself. Pieces were produced and have been showcased in the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh and in the Brechin Townhouse Museum

Flourishing Destinations

This EU Leader Project was all about connecting our communities and helping them to thrive through tourism. By promoting a more holistic experience for visitor and local alike we can have a positive effect throughout Angus.

The project was about engaging with individuals, in all three countries, who were willing to work around a shared vision, purpose and set of values. In Angus the project was led by the Angus Tourism Cooperative, Murton Trust and Flourish9, with all three organisations striving to promote shared learning in tourism and collaborative working within our community. The work being carried out allowed a rare opportunity to build and share knowledge of how a flourishing visitor economy can work.

As part of the project learning visits were arranged in each country. These trips offer the opportunity to learn from like minded individuals in Europe, visit local enterprises and activities. Participants came together in conversation to share lessons learned within their own region.

Unfortunately because of Brexit, Angus’ official participation on the project came to an end, but individuals associated with the project have maintained close connections with our partners in Belgium and Romania as they continued their journey to become Flourishing Destinations. They continue to engage and support the collaborative effort across the three regions.

For more information please see here

Contact

  • Norma Lyall

    ATC Lead

    ATC

    Norma is the point of contact to link the Community Led Brechin project to the ATC.

    Norma can be contacted at Flourish9norma@aol.com