More than 100 at city tourism event

More than 100 people linked to tourism business in Stirling area last week attended a conference at the city’s Tolbooth.

The event centred on the challenges and opportunities open to the sector and was organised by Stirling Council.

Delegates heard contributions from VisitScotland,TripAdvisor and Scottish Enterprise and discussed the future of the sector in the area.

A council spokesman said the event was hailed a success and there were plans to turn it into an annual event.

An estimated £350million is spent in the Stirling area economy by the four million visitors to Stirling each year, playing a crucial part in the £11billion overall worth of tourism nationally.

The council launched a tourism and events plan in April and, added the spokesman, officials had been working with businesses and other public-sector bodies to put the strategy into practice.

Council finance and economy convenor Margaret Brisley said: “One of the biggest successes of the conference was its ability to attract representatives from all sectors of the tourism industry in Stirling.

“Smaller businesses such as rural accommodation providers were able to mix with key national figures in the industry and share knowledge and experience to help shape future plans.”

TripAdvisor’s Justin Reid, who attended the conference, added: “We can see from our data that the interest in Scotland and Stirling has gone up year upon year upon year – and that’s bucking the trend for a lot of UK based destinations.

“When we look at the reviews that Stirling is getting - accommodation is doing well, restaurants are doing well but it’s the visitor attractions that are really standing out from the crowd.

“Stirling is getting higher average reviews than the global average, the European average, the UK average and the London and Paris averages – so very positive news for Stirling.”