Tourism bosses take brand abroad

Perthshire tourism businesses are taking their brands to Frankfurt, Germany next week on a VisitScotland development mission to expand the market.

Blair Castle and Gardens, Iain Burnett The Highland Chocolatier, Dunkeld House Hotel, Fisher’s Hotel and Scotlands Spa Hotel are part of a delegation of 40 Scottish suppliers meeting representatives of key travel organisations from different European markets at a workshop on November 26-28.

European travel trade organisation reps from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium will be meeting the Big County accommodation and experience providers.

The event will gain greater visibility for the Perthshire companies with market awareness sessions, networking opportunities and one-to-one appointments between Scottish suppliers and European travel trade representatives.

This will be an opportunity to receive first-hand feedback from the European travel trade which will help them better match European visitor expectations and develop sought-after tourism products in Scotland.

Most recent figures from the International Passenger Survey rank Germany and France as the biggest European inbound markets to Scotland in terms of holiday spend. In terms of numbers of trips to Scotland, Germany ranks highest, followed by France, Italy and Spain.

She said: “Travel was getting really expensive and difficult. I don’t drive so we relied on Sean’s dad and public transport. The costs were adding up.

“We had to travel to Edinburgh for chemotherapy and then to Dundee any time Sean’s temperature spiked, sometimes in the middle of the night.”

The cheaper option might have been to go by bus, but Sean was highly susceptible to infection, so public transport was out for Amanda.

“We even got in trouble for using public transport from the doctors,” she said. “They said we should be using taxis as there would be less chance of picking anything up, but it was so expensive.

“The bus could be awful though, Sean had his nose tube in and was so thin in his stroller, so people would stare. There was once a woman who even came up and asked me ‘is it contagious?’ I didn’t know what to say.”

The good news is little Sean was given the all-clear in July 2014 and in August this year, now aged 11, he was given his five year all-clear.

His mum Amanda has come out in support of CLIC Sargent’s call to all party leaders to commit to a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund if they become the next prime minister.

CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people, is calling for support for families like

Sean’s who have experienced huge costs travelling for their child’s life-saving cancer treatment.

Many young cancer patients have to travel to specialist cancer centres across the UK for life saving treatment, which is often not available at their local hospital.

This means families face an average round-trip of 60 miles to get to and from hospital for treatment, spending at least £180 a month on petrol. Other families are forced to pay out hundreds in taxi fares or public transport costs.

During the extremely difficult time, Amanda was able to stay at one of CLIC Sargent’s ‘homes from home’, where families can stay for free to be near their child in Edinburgh.

The Perth family was also supported by a CLIC Sargent social worker who provided emotional, practical and financial support.

Amanda said: “Travel for treatment for us was very costly. If it hadn’t been for CLIC Sargent helping us out we would have been totally stuck. It’s hard enough going through your child having cancer you don’t need more stress on top.”

For more information and to join the call to all party leaders to back a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund, go to: www. clicsargent.org.uk/travel-costs