What's New

• 08 March 2010

  A taste of things to come - guidance on sourcing Scottish produce launched

  

  Next step in building Scotland’s food revolution announced in Inverness

  A new guide to help more visitor attractions and events planners showcase the very best of Scotland’s mouth-watering larder was unveiled today.

  ‘A Taste for Events’ offers simple and expert advice to anyone organising an event in Scotland.  It’s essentially a one-stop shop with contacts for local food groups, farmers’ markets, professional caterers, certification schemes - a comprehensive database of local producers and suppliers.

  The guide aims to build on the momentum created by the Scottish Government’s national food and drink policy, ‘Recipe for Success’, and the Homecoming celebrations, which have both helped increase awareness of Scottish produce. Last week Ministers announced that 2010 will be the ‘Year of Food and Drink’, delivering a major boost to the tourism and food sectors.

  The publication has been prepared by the industry’s Tourism Innovation Group with support from the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Scotland Food & Drink, VisitScotland and EventScotland. It’s part of ongoing work with visitor attractions, pubs, hotels and restaurants to capitalise on the £700m  spent on food and drink by visitors to Scotland each year.

  Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "Each year over 15 million visitors come to Scotland, spending over £4 billion, and almost a fifth of that is spent on food and drink. We know that visitors are willing to pay a premium for food and drink with a local provenance. This presents a major opportunity for Scottish tourism and food businesses.

  “This new on-line guide will help events organisers make the most of our wonderful produce. Whether you are planning a major event or something smaller in scale, there is now an abundance of expert advice and list of contacts in the one place to ensure you can source the finest fresh, seasonal and local produce. By working together we can build on Scotland’s fantastic food revolution."

  Category: Industry News
• 10 February 2010

  National Framework to develop Scottish Mountain Biking launched

  

  The Minister for Public Health and Sport, Shona Robison, and UCI Downhill World Champion, Steve Peat, today (10 February) launched Scotland’s first framework for the sustainable development of mountain biking, at Bannerman High School in Glasgow.

  Created by the Scottish Mountain Bike Development Consortium (SMBDC)* the framework aims to build on the growth and success of mountain biking in Scotland by continuing to increase the visitor numbers  to Scotland, grow the number of Scots participating in the activity and develop and support Scots to win medals in national and international competitions.

  Over the past 20 years, mountain biking has become established as a major sport and recreational pursuit in Scotland and the country has proved itself as a world-class venue for the activity. In addition to purpose built trail facilities such as 7stanes which attracts 400,000 visits a year, there are extensive opportunities for mountain biking throughout Scotland on the network of natural paths and tracks, and with around 11.8 million people in the UK owning a mountain bike, it is already a popular way of getting out and exploring the outdoors. Scotland’s stunning scenery, accessible countryside and world class routes also attract a high number of visitors from all over the world. The UK Tourism Survey found that 108,000 trips in Scotland in 2006 involved mountain biking, which rose to 197,000 in 2007.

  Host to both the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, which attract vast crowds of approximately 20,000 and world-wide TV audiences and with the event being voted the ‘mountain biking event of the year’ by IMTTO for 4 of the last 5 years, it is clear Scotland is at the international forefront of mountain biking.

  Against this background of progress and success, key national agencies worked together to plan how best to sustain and grow mountain biking in Scotland in a way which provides optimum and quantifiable returns in terms of participation in mountain biking, economic and tourism development and also in terms of public participation and sporting development and success. This has been seen by the agencies as a unique opportunity to build on a fantastic Scottish success story.

  To read the Sustainable Development of Mountain Biking – a National Strategic Framework, please visit www.scottishmountainbikeframework.org
  
  

  Category: Industry News
• 21 January 2010

  Increase in Edinburgh youngsters achieving sporting excellence

  

  The sporting talents of young people in Edinburgh are being recognised as more achieve sporting excellence.

  In 2008/09 over 80% of pupils attending the City of Edinburgh Schools Sports Academy achieved selection into regional or national squads.

  Around 90 pupils from 19 different Edinburgh secondary pupils attend the academy, which features badminton, basketball, cricket, cycling and football programmes.

  And last year, the Council set up two additional Talent Development Programmes. An ‘advanced player development Centre’ for football was set up a Meggetland Sports Complex and for cycling an ‘Advanced Rider Development Centre' was set up at Liberton High School.

  A key focus of the Scottish Government’s 2014 Commonwealth Legacy Plan is the introduction of ‘Community Sporting Hubs’.  The City of Edinburgh Council would like extend its sports academy to primary school age children and develop a possible collaboration with independent schools.

  The Council is keen to explore the idea of independent schools particularly situated in close proximity to state schools working together to bring added value to the national initiative.

  Category: Industry News