Cold Water Tourism Conference on Arran 14-16 March 2016

Cold water island tourism is a new initiative to promote, celebrate and help develop tourism on small cold water island destinations around the world.

Meet private sector drivers of tourism – Investors – Public sector policy makers – Politicians and civic leaders – Destination managers and marketeers – Educationalists and researchers: it is all happening on the isle of Arran  on 14th – 16th March 2016.

SIF director Frank Corcoran will be attending and will report on the conference and its merits.

What the prospectus says:

For many cold water maritime countries, in both the northern and southern hemispheres, their islands make a valuable contribution to the overall tourism experience and the economy.

In the Northern Hemisphere this is especially the case in most of the North Atlantic (Scandinavian, Germany, Netherlands and Baltic nations as well as Scotland, Ireland, Wales and, to a lesser extent the rest of the UK).

In terms of our understanding of the value, market demand and economic impact there has been relatively little research. Most of the published work, and indeed the focus of most travel writers, is upon ‘warm water island’ tourism. This is also the case for many of the conferences that take place on this subject.

The AIM is to redress this situation.

The ‘cold water islands’ face common tourism opportunities and challenges. There is real potential for collaboration, sharing knowledge and developing a common research agenda.

There is a collaborative opportunity to DIRECTLY assist

island tourism. We need to develop a robust and innovative programme of activity designed to help tourism professionals.

Knowledge transfer and sharing sits comfortably with the notion of international cooperation.

At the same time there is scope to jointly develop events and festivals across a wide geographic area that can develop tourism visits.
It is possible to design and develop events to be hosted at several islands – to create innovation, quality and reduce costs.

A key element of a collaborative approach is to develop fresh appropriate methods for measuring and evaluating ‘success’.
In particular, there is the potential to develop a new Island ‘Livability Index” and to understand tourism’s contribution to this ‘index’.

ORGANISING GROUP

Lars Olsen — (Denmark)
Alastair Dobson — Visit Arran (Scotland)
Terry Stevens — Stevens and Associates (Wales)

Vision

Making small cold islands tourism destinations of choice helping to making them sustainable (financial, economic, social and environmental) and attractive places to live and work.

Mission

“Creating a unique network of cold water island destinations in order to benefit from having a representative voice of influence and forging collaborative working and sharing practical solutions based
upon successful actions and evidence.”

Aim

To give this mission with a starting point by organizing the first ANNUAL European Conference on ‘cold water island tourism’.

Objectives

— Share knowledge of successful practical projects; — Create networks of expertise and information;
— Discuss common issues and opportunities to grow

the value of tourism;
— Identify innovative solutions to underpin sustainable growth; — Celebrate and recognise best practice project;
— Develop a common agenda for support and development; — Promote awareness of cold islands as tourism destinations; — Influencing eu programs and policies.

Desired outcomes

— Establishing and growing an on-going network and dialogue between destinations

— Creating a central and accessible pool of research, knowledge and case studies

— Holding regular symposia, conferences and workshops — Promoting the interests of these destinations

We need to raise the status of tourism in the context of economic development in maritime countries. This is best done through improving our understanding of the potential for growth in the context of:

Market trends Innovation Investment Climatic issues Sustainability Accessibility

THE TIME IS RIGHT

The EU’s ‘Blue Growth Strategy’ is highlighting the importance of developing all aspects of the marine environment for economic development. This is supported by a new focus on “Cold Water Islands” as part of the EU programs 2014-2021.

International conferences have been announced to consider future of Island communities. There is a real opportunity to influence these agendas.

For many island communities, tourism is the main stay of their economy. It is a sector in growth and offers considerable scope for enhanced sustainable development. As a result, there is now a growing interest at the level of national Governments to take advantage of these island assets.

Tourism is becoming increasingly segmented with a diversity of markets and interest groups, which increases the opportunities for cold water islands.

THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION

Most island communities have a strong heritage and cultural resources. As a result of their heritage of having to be self sufficient there is generally a good asset base of local crafts and produce creating a very compelling sense of place.

Island tourism businesses tend to be micro / SMEs. They are often marginal businesses but the cash generated is vital for the overall survival of island communities. Much of the appeal and product base is also small scale. It takes the form of special interest tourism and events, often featuring indigenous art, music, history, archeology, hand crafts and sport.