This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Tourism innovation development award
29/01/2003
Scottish Enterprise's Tourism Innovation Development
Award was launched at a conference in Edinburgh today.
The award promotes innovation by offering funding
assistance for those with proposals which will encourage
visitor spending, improve products or introduce new
products or processes.
Up to £15,000 will go to the best projects when the
first winners are announced in April.
Deputy Tourism Minister Elaine Murray said:
"There is no doubt that tourism businesses in Scotland
now compete on a global stage for customers. Competitors
are not the businesses down the road or in the next town,
but other tourist destinations all over the world. The
challenge to us all is to develop new and improved products
and services to win more customers.
"I hope this Award encourages Scottish operators to take
action - to think of new ideas individually and
collectively that will make a difference to the Scottish
tourism industry.
"By encouraging higher levels of innovation in product
and service development, we can develop an internationally
competitive tourism industry that is the envy of the
world."
The Tourism Innovation Day Conference was organised by
the Scottish Enterprise Network. It aims to provide
business leaders and managers in the industry with the
motivation, impetus, ideas and tools to make a difference
to their own businesses, work more effectively with other
businesses and enhance the Scottish tourism product through
innovation.
The Tourism Innovation Development award is a pilot
programme developed and funded by Scottish Enterprise over
a period of 18 months.
More than 20,000 businesses depend on tourism for their
success and profitability. Tourism supports approximately
193,000 jobs, eight per cent of the workforce.