Moray Tourism Destination Development.

Date Friday 22nd October
Time 10am-4pm (drop-in)
Cost of event Free
Location Elgin Town Hall, Trinity Place, Elgin, IV30 1UL
Contact name Lynn Allan, Business Gateway, 17 High Street, Elgin, IV30 1EQ
Contact tel. 01343 563 634
Contact email lynn.allan@highland-opportunity.com
Link www.moray.gov.uk/enterprising-moray

No matter what size your company is, or what stage of development you are at, Business Gateway and our partner network can help you to cut costs, optimise cash flow and increase profitability. To find out how, come along to Enterprising Moray on 22nd October from 10am-4pm in Elgin Town Hall.

ENGAGE with over 30 public and private sector partners including: Highlands and Islands Enterprise, The Federation of Small Businesses, Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ritsons Chartered Accountants, Bank of Scotland and Moray Tourism Development Group.

Be INSPIRED by the experiences and success of local entrepreneurs including Rene Looper from Tuminds and Ben Stege from Cumulus IT.

Be INFORMED by a series of topical seminars which will focus on the overall business benefits of investing in activities such as IT optimisation, social media utilisation and focusing on renewables. NETWORK with like-minded Moray businesspeople For further information please go to www.moray.gov.uk/enterprising-moray

Special preview of new work by Francis Boag on

Friday 1 October from 6.30pm to 9pm

at Baxters Highland Village, Fochabers

Gordon Baxter will introduce Francis at 7pm and he will be on hand throughout the evening to answer questions about his work. The shops will be open with a 10% discount on the night!

To book your place please email Diana Baxters or phone: 01343 820393

From Sunday 3rd October until Saturday 6th November the exhibition can be viewed at Just Art’s gallery in Fochabers

Various venues around Moray:

Dufftown:

Fournet House

Friday 24th from 10.30 a.m.

You are invited to come along to our new wellbeing room and meeting place, bien-etre in Fournet House (opposite the chemist) in Balvenie Street in Dufftown on Friday 24th September. We will be open from 10.30 a.m. so please call in to support Macmillan Caner.

Come along and bring a smile every mug will improve the lifes of people affect by cancer.

Bien-etre in Fournet House, Balvenie Street, Dufftown, Keith, AB55 4AB

Elgin:

Johnstons of Elgin

We are proud to be supporting Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning this Friday (24th September). Join us in our Elgin coffee shop between 10am-12noon when we will be serving coffee or tea with shortbread & a scone all for a set price of £2.50!! All proceeds from this event will be going to Macmillan Cancer Support – so come along and show your support for this fantastic event!

Beaver Travel:

Dont forget to pop into Beaver Travel this Friday for the MacMillan Coffee Morning from 9am-5pm. All proceeds from Coffee and tea sales will be donated. See you there!

MacMillan Support web site

From BBC news

Direct flights between Inverness and Amsterdam could be up and running by next summer, according to airline Flybe which we think is GREAT news for Moray tourism. We hope to speak to FlyBe soon to see how we can help making this flight economically viable

In the next few weeks a high profile PR and Social Media campaign will start promoting Moray as a must visit destination. This offers members of the destination a great opportunity to promote themselves to a wide national and international audience.

A portal will be set up to support the social media campaign and we thought it would be a good idea to also add autumn/winter offers of member businesses as this portal has the potential to attract many visitors.

Members will be displayed with a picture of their business, description, email and web link to their own web site and details of special offer.

We hope that this will give clear member benefits as requested by the delegates at last week’s tourism conference and this is just the start!

To become a member download the membership form and post it to:

John Yeoman,
Moray Tourism Development,
The Tower, 103 High Street, Elgin IV30 1EB.

Or register online using our online membership form

Business Gateway are delighted to be able to offer more FREE workshops for businesses in Moray during October and November 2010. We have some additional workshops on subjects we have covered before which were oversubscribed and also some exiting new workshops which we hope will appeal to established businesses as well as new ventures in all industry sectors.

All courses are delivered at an Elgin venue you will find a list of courses and dates below. Should you or your colleagues, clients; members, employees or students like more information or want to book a place please contact:

Lynn Allan
Administrator Business Gateway
17 High Street Elgin Moray IV30 1EQ
Tel: 01343 563634
Email: lynn.allan@highland-opportunity.com

Course titles:

Managing Employee Relations
Monday 18th October 9.30am – 4pm

Record Keeping
Wednesday 27th October 9.30am – 4pm

Presentation Skills
Tuesday 23rd November 9.30am – 4pm

Marketing & Selling Skills
Wednesday 24th November 9.30 am – 4pm

Overview of Employment Law
Thursday 25th November 9.30am – 4pm

Submitted by Speyside Artisians using the “add your event” form

15th – 19th September

An Exhibition of Contemporary and Traditional Art and Craft works. The Artisans will be there to chat with and there will also be various demonstrations. Scout Hall, Aberlour.

Submitted by Cullen & Deskford Community Council using the “add your event” form.

Following a successful Homecoming programme of fund-raising events in 2009, the Cullen & Deskford Community Council has been concentrating its efforts thus far this year on two very successful events raising funds for the Save the Cullen Beacon campaign.

A Ceilidh at the beginning of July, featuring the Strathspey Fiddlers, and a Sponsored Sail event at the beginning of August raised over £1,500 between them. Professor Ashley Mowat, Chair of the Cullen & Deskford Community Council, commented: “We were absolutely overwhelmed by the support we received for both the Ceilidh and Sponsored Sail events. The Strathspey Fiddlers are always a fantastic draw, and they certainly did us proud – with the audience of over 100 unanimous that the event was a resounding success. Great fun was had by all, and into the bargain, we raised a fantastic amount for the Save the Beacon campaign.

Difficult to beat we thought, so you can imagine our delight when the Sponsored Sail event – which could not have been possible without the Findochty Sailing Club, to whom we are indebted – raised a staggering £800 plus towards our total.”

The next event on the schedule is aimed at being more of a fun day – certainly for those of the older generation – with an assortment of classic and historic vehicles from years gone by on display on Sunday 19th September – including cars manufactured by Wolseley, Morris and Triumph – and tractors dating from the late 1930s to the early 1960s, including Fordson, Massey Ferguson and David Brown International.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

MORAY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

NEWS RELEASE

Monday, 6 September 2010

Moray Tourism Conference – Making the Connections Work

Moray Tourism Development will host an event, sponsored by Business Gateway, at the Eight Acres Hotel, Elgin on Wednesday 15 September. Local tourism and related businesses are invited to attend, to hear about the latest developments and to network and make connections with other related business.

Moray Tourism Development was launched at a well attended event in February, when businesses were asked to provide feedback on what they would like the new organisation to focus on. Businesses will be able to hear how their feedback has been used to prioritise and focus activities aimed at growing the importance and value of tourism in the area.

A key priority highlighted by businesses in February was the need for networking opportunities with other related businesses and organisations. Business Gateway responded to this feedback by offering to host this major networking event for local tourism businesses, communities and organisations.

Craig Robertson, Regional Development Manager of Business Gateway Moray said: “Tourism is one of Scotland’s strongest assets and Moray is a major reason why. The wonderful scenery, warm welcome and many visitor attractions draw tourists from around the world year after year. We are delighted to support an event such as this, enabling businesses to engage with each other and share their expertise.”

Since February’s launch, Moray Tourism Development has identified clear priorities for action over the next year. As part of this process, grant aid funding from VisitScotland’s Growth Fund has been secured for a major project to establish and launch a brand identity for the area.

Dale Winchester, Interim Chair of Moray Tourism Development said “The development and promotion of a strong identity for Moray is a significant step forward in putting the area firmly on the international tourism map. We will be presenting our plans at the event and it is important that as many businesses as possible attend to hear about them first hand and to have the opportunity to let us hear their views.”

The success of Moray Tourism is entirely dependent on the development of a true partnership approach between local businesses and public sector agencies.

Marion Walker, Executive Director of Moray Tourism Development said; “These are exciting times for tourism in Moray. The foundations and plans are in place but success is entirely dependent on business support. This event provides the opportunity to bring businesses together to get involved and help to make a real difference.”

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and The Moray Council has provided two years of funding for the establishment of an organisation to take the lead in driving and delivering change.

HIE’s Moray Area Manager Calum Macpherson said, “This event by Moray Tourism Development will help tourism businesses and professionals in the area gather for a shared purpose, to work together to promote the region. There are so many reasons for people to visit Moray, not least as the home of malt whisky, high quality local food and drink, outdoor activities, stunning wildlife and scenery.  HIE is delighted to support Moray Tourism Development in its work to promote everything there is to be proud of in and around Moray.”

Councillor John Russell said, “This event should see our shared vision of a joined-up, focussed, tourism industry come another step closer to reality.” VisitScotland are also actively supporting Moray Tourism Development and have provided the grant-aid support that has enabled the development of a clear identity for the area.

VisitScotland’s Regional Director, Scott Armstrong, said “VisitScotland is delighted to work with and support Moray Tourism Development. A great deal of hard work has been done by Moray Tourism Development to get to this stage and it is now vital that tourism related businesses in Moray get involved with the organisation and give their active support. There is a huge opportunity to raise the profile of Moray and attract many more visitors but it needs everyone involved in tourism to work together so we can grow the tourism economy of Moray”.

To register for Moray Tourism Development’s Making the Connections Conference please use the registration form

For further information, please contact: Marion Walker, Executive Director, Moray Tourism Development Tel: 01343 551117; Mobile: 07813 809882 Email: marion@moray-tourism.info

Moray Connections have commissioned COMPASS, in association with Rowan Tree Consulting, to look at ways of developing ancestral tourism (family history/local history research) facilities and services in Moray with the aim of encouraging more ancestral tourism visits and spend in the local area.

If you have any ideas/comments (including feedback as to what you think works/doesn’t work at present – perhaps from dealing with ancestral tourism queries through your own business), we would very much like to hear from you. Perhaps, for example, you have thoughts on how to improve the information available to intending or actual ancestral tourism visitors, or ideas as to how the heritage sector and tourism operators in Moray could work more closely together to mutual benefit.

Please contact Helen Smith/Hazel Bews at Rowan Tree Consulting, tel 01463 715225 or e-mail Helen@rowan-tree-consulting.co.uk – we would very much value your input.

Tourism businesses can also help by pasting a link on their websites to the ancestral tourism customer survey currently running as part of the research project. There are three ways to do this as shown below. (You might also like to e-mail your customers (especially those whom you know are interested in ancestral tourism) to make them aware of the survey.) There is a prize draw (prizes: archival prints of Moray to be selected by the winners) to encourage people to take part.