Promoting Oban worldwide
I was pleased to see the report in the Oban Times about the plans to promote Oban as a must-visit destination from 2022 and beyond. The town certainly has much to offer but there’s more to attracting visitors than showcasing restaurants, hotels and marine tourism. We need to sell Oban as a beautiful place to visit and unfortunately we’re not doing nearly enough.
Once the visitor leaves the seafront and ventures into the hinterland, it’s a very different story. Take a walk round the town and anyone with their eyes open will be unable to ignore the litter on the streets, the weeds along the pavements, the filthy and damaged road signs covered in stickers, the rusting broken fences and collapsing walls. To give just one example, the tourist crossing Tweeddale Street to access Jacob’s Ladder en route to McCaig’s Tower will see rubbish spread around the bins, broken glass on the steps, cans, bottles and carry-out boxes lying around the seats and the rubbish of decades strewn down the bank to the back of the Distillery. But it’s when the visitor finally arrives at Oban’s crowning glory, McCaig’s Tower, that the real horror is unfolded. Rubbish in the car park, scruffy and trodden flower beds, huge muddy puddles, broken glass and the usual carry-out debris on the viewing platform and more of everything tossed over the barrier to litter the bank below. It’s not a very good welcome to Oban. ‘Keep Oban Beautiful’ tries hard to stay positive, but it’s certainly not easy!
It’s no good blaming the tourists, Covid or the windy weather – it’s like this all year round. Many volunteers all over the town get out and about on the streets and beaches with bags and litter-pickers – whatever would the place look like if they decided to give up!
We as a town need to get on and do something about it if Oban’s to be taken seriously as a premier tourist attraction. We need education, encouraging signs, more bins and a lot more civic pride! Together we can make a difference!
Maurice Wilkins, Keep Oban Beautiful.