Fife · up – Fife Golf Partnership, Fife Food Network, and the Outdoor Fife Group. The former two...

Fife Tourism Strategy

2014-2024

A joint strategy for Fife Council and the Fife Tourism Partnership

ForewordThis Fife Tourism Strategy sets out the ambitions Fife Council and the Fife Tourism Partnership share for the Fife tourism sector, as well as how we address challenges and make the most of the exciting opportunities ahead.

Throughout the economic recession, Fife has demonstrated its resilience by increasing visitor spend year on year by over 4%, whilst other areas of Scotland have experienced decline. This success is very much as a result of the strong business collaboration in Fife.

One of the key challenges is to keep tourism businesses engaged with Fife’s Local Tourist Associations. Local delivery is important, not just because this strategy aims to increase how long visitors stay, but also because partnership working is a key driver for success.

Seasonality is an issue for the tourism industry across the whole of Scotland and it’s important that Fife’s tourism businesses look at opportunities to stay open during the winter months to ensure Fife is viewed as a year-round visitor destination.

Fife is already well connected and will soon be linked by five bridges. An announcement on the bid for World Heritage status for the Forth Bridge will be made during 2015 which if successful, will provide a fantastic boost to tourism for Fife as a whole. There will also be opportunities to encourage new visitors to Fife as the V&A opens in 2017 in neighbouring Dundee. We need to be ready to welcome all our visitors, encourage them to stay longer and return to Fife.

Our strategy aligns with Scotland’s national tourism strategy which identifies both customer care and leadership as key ingredients for success. Fife will rise to this challenge through collaborative working to ensure continued and sustained economic growth.

Councillor Lesley Laird Alistair BruceDepute Leader and Executive Spokesperson Chair, Fife Tourism Partnershipfor Economy and Planning

Fife Tourism Strategy 3

Executive SummaryThe Fife Tourism Strategy aims to increase visitor expenditure in Fife from £313m in 2012 to £416m per annum by 2024 (33% increase). It links closely with the national tourism strategy for Scotland “Tourism 2020: The Future of Our Industry in Our Hands” and seeks to work closely with tourism businesses in Fife in order that there can be sustainable growth in tourism employment of 900 jobs over the period.

Fife’s Tourism Vision

‘By 2024 Fife will be a sustainable, leading tourist destination, with a year round economy, where businesses are growing and visitors return year after year’

Economic Context

The tourism sector in Fife has shown year-on-year growth since the outset of the economic recession. Tourism expenditure in Fife has grown by £56m since 2008 – this equates to an average annual growth of 4% compared with 1.2% in Scotland. There needs to be a continuation of this trend however, if the sector is to realise its ambitions for growth and jobs over the next ten years.

The key issues facing Fife’s tourism sector are:

• Addressing seasonality – visitor numbers are high in the summer and low in the winter.

• Increasing tourism jobs in Fife – despite an unprecedented increase in visitor revenues since the onset of the economic recession, tourism employment across Scotland as a whole has decreased although the decline was lower in Fife.

• Increasing business engagement with Local Tourist Associations (LTA) – further collaboration between tourism businesses, the LTAs and theme groups will bring about growth for the sector.

• Making the most of new opportunities – capitalising on the benefits of the Forth Bridge UNESCO World Heritage bid and linkages to neighbouring national assets in Edinburgh and Dundee, including the V&A at Dundee.

Delivering the StrategyThe following three strategic outcomes have been identified to enable the public and private sector partners in Fife to realise their tourism ambitions:

1. Improved visitor infrastructure

2. Increased employment and skills

3. Increased visitor spend

These outcome themes provide the direction for a programme of activities which will be delivered through a collaborative action plan.

Pittenweem

4 Fife Tourism Strategy

Measuring Success

Progress towards achieving the objectives and targets of the strategy will be monitored as follows:

• Economic Impact Research - This model utilises a number of surveys in order to calculate the annual volume and value of tourism.

• National Economic Performance Indicators - The performance of Fife’s tourism economy will be tracked annually by using the SLAED (Scottish Local Authorities Economic Development) Tourism Outcome Indicators. This will allow Fife to benchmark progress against other areas of Scotland.

• Fife Tourism Strategy Action Plan Activity Measures - The action plan will monitor the delivery of activities undertaken by all the public and private sector partners engaged in delivering the Fife Tourism Strategy.

Who will deliver the strategy?

This strategy is a Fife Tourism Partnership Strategy, which has been developed through consultation with tourism businesses and stakeholders across Fife. Delivery will be undertaken by all members of the Fife Tourism Partnership. A Fife Tourism Strategy Action Plan will show which organisation will lead and deliver each action contained within it. This activity will be monitored on a quarterly basis by the Fife Tourism Partnership Board. In order for the strategy to succeed all partners will need to commit to its delivery.

Tourism in Fife is worth £313m annually and contributes around 9% to the Fife economy.

View from Ravenscraig Castle, Kirkcaldy


IntroductionBackground

Tourism in Fife is worth £313m annually, supports 9,500 full time jobs and contributes around 9% to the Fife economy as a whole (Source: Scottish Tourism Economic Activity Monitor 2012). The tourism sector in Fife has seen year-on-year growth in expenditure since the onset of the economic recession whilst tourism expenditure in other parts of Scotland has shown decline. Success in Fife’s tourism sector has been assisted by the strong focus on business collaboration. The introduction of Local Tourism Associations (LTA) has had a positive impact on local areas as tourism businesses have increasingly collaborated locally and with other areas across Fife to maximise tourism opportunities.

The Fife Tourism Strategy 2014-2024 outlines a framework for the development of tourism in Fife over the next ten years. The strategy is fully aligned to the objectives of the Fife Community Plan 2011-2020 and the Fife Economic Strategy 2013-2023 and reflects the priorities of the national tourism strategy, “Tourism Scotland 2020”.

Fife boasts Scotland’s only Blue Flag beaches in Aberdour and Elie.

Elie’s Blue Flag beach


Achievements

The tourism sector in Fife is increasingly dynamic with 600 businesses registered on the Fife Tourism Partnership website and nearly 3,000 businesses engaged in the Partnership’s social media activities.

Businesses have been supported through training and workshops - over 2,400 individuals attended such events during the last three years. The events were focussed on areas identified as being important by the businesses themselves and included social media, marketing, PR and customer care.

During 2010, Fife, along with Angus, Aberdeenshire, and Aberdeen Councils was awarded almost £1m of European Regional Development Funding to develop the key sectors of Golf, Outdoor Tourism, and Food and Drink. In Fife this resulted in three themed groups being set up – Fife Golf Partnership, Fife Food Network, and the Outdoor Fife Group. The former two of these are now companies in their own right. The success of the project was recognised by the Scottish Government when it awarded the project ‘best collaborative project’ at their 2013 European Structural Funds Awards Ceremony.

Developing the Tourism Strategy

The Fife Tourism Strategy 2014-2024 has been developed by the Fife Tourism Partnership in conjunction with Fife Council and the LTAs along with detailed input from tourism businesses in Fife. The strategy sets out an ambitious, yet realistic, challenge for the Fife tourism sector to achieve even stronger economic and employment growth.

Wide ranging consultation was undertaken with tourism businesses and other key stakeholders in developing the strategy and its successful implementation will rely on all public and private sector partners playing their part in its delivery.

Delivering the Fife Tourism Strategy

The strategy identifies the strategic direction, nature and scale of the challenges involved in realising the overall strategic vision and achieving the objectives for each strategic outcome. A detailed Action Plan has been developed which sets out how each of these strategic outcomes will be achieved and which partners will be involved in delivering against each of these actions.

The Action Plan identifies which organisation will lead and who will deliver each Action. The Fife Tourism Partnership Board will then monitor progress of these actions against targets set within this strategy.

Fife has been voted No.1 outdoor destination for eight years in a row.

Crail


Policy And Economic ContextThe Policy Context

Fife’s Community Plan 2011 - 2020 seeks to make Fife a great place to live, work, visit and invest in by improving the performance of the Fife economy. This strategy will contribute to the economic outcomes of the Plan: extending employment and skills opportunities, developing a modern business infrastructure and growing businesses and employment in key sectors (including investment in renewables and tourism). It also aligns with the Fife Council Corporate Plan 2013 - 2017 which aims to grow a vibrant economy by increasing employment.

The 2011 Scottish Government Economic Strategy seeks to create a supportive business environment through developing its key sectors; one of which is tourism. In 2012 the Scottish Government endorsed the industry-led Scottish Tourism Strategy “Tourism Scotland 2020: The future of our industry, in our hands”. Tourism Scotland 2020 seeks to increase tourism by £1bn by 2020 by developing 4 key areas of tourism - Nature, Heritage and Activities; Destination Towns and Cities; Events and Festivals; and Business Tourism. The strategy also calls for the tourism sector to develop four key capabilities: Leadership and Collaboration; Quality and skills; Marketing; and Sustainable Tourism. The key messages from the policies outlined above are:-

• Tourism is a key economic sector for Scotland and Fife

• Tourism can contribute to delivering a more vibrant economy in Fife

• Leadership and collaboration are necessary to underpin tourism in Fife

• Employment and skills are key development areas for Fife

The Fife Economic Strategy 2013-2023 identifies tourism as a key sector within the Fife economy and recognises the importance of the sector in contributing to Fife’s overall economic growth. The Fife Tourism Partnership is recognised as the lead delivery agent for tourism within the strategy’s Action Plan.

Dysart


Fife’s Tourism Sector

The Scottish Tourism Activity Monitor shows that the tourism sector in Fife has increased its visitor expenditure by over 4% annually from £256.8 million in 2008 to £313.3 million in 2012. Although tourism employment nationally has declined over this period, Fife has experienced less of a decline (2.6%) than in Scotland as a whole (3.7%).

Analysis of the Fife employment data has shown that 500 jobs were lost from within the licensed clubs, public houses and bars sector. The remaining 100 is attributed to restaurants and take away food shops and a small number of direct tourism jobs (accommodation and attractions).

The tourism sector in Fife should not be complacent about the positive economic growth achieved in recent years. If Fife is to become a leading and sustainable tourism destination the sector will need to focus on increasing tourism employment and addressing seasonality, both of which continue to be key challenges for Fife.

Figure 1.2: Impact of Seasonality on Tourism Expenditure

• Between 62% and 72% of annual tourism expenditure was generated between the months of April and September across Fife. St Andrews was the most susceptible to seasonality with 72% of total expenditure generated during these six months.

• January to March was the quietest time of year in expenditure terms generating between 12% and 15% of annual tourism expenditure. Comparing seasonality across all years indicated only minimal changes since 2008.


Challenges, issues and opportunities

Seasonality is the biggest challenge for tourism in Fife and there needs to be a concerted effort by everyone in the tourism sector to tackle this Scotland-wide issue. This situation is further complicated due to the nature of some tourism businesses in Fife which close during the winter period.

Although tourism employment has declined since the outset of the economic recession, Fife has experienced less of a decline than the rest of Scotland and research is underway to determine the underlying reasons for the decline. Skills development, business competitiveness and business leadership need to be further developed so that Fife’s tourism businesses are able to sustain employment growth into the future.

Fife’s tourism businesses have demonstrated their resilience by collaborating to develop niche product offerings (i.e. golf, walking, activities etc.) in order to retain tourism spend in Fife. This collaborative approach needs to be further developed so there is a clear message to visitors about what Fife has to offer.

The V&A at Dundee, the opening of the new integrated Dunfermline library, museum, and art gallery incorporating the world’s first Carnegie sponsored public library, and the World Heritage site status bid for the Forth Bridge provide significant opportunity for Fife to position itself as a strong contender in Scotland’s tourism market. Fife’s proximity to key attractions and the larger conurbations of Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee give Fife an advantage in that visitors can base themselves in the area or if they are staying elsewhere they can also visit Fife.

The National Tourism Strategy, Tourism Scotland 2020, outlines leadership, quality and collaboration as important elements for future tourism growth. Fife has demonstrated its strength in working collaboratively, but it can develop this further to ensure that Fife has a more sustainable economy in the future.

The iconic Forth Rail Bridge celebrates its 125th Anniversary in 2015.

Forth Rail Bridge from North Queensferry


Fife is the undisputed Home of golf with over 50 courses to choose from.

Fife’s Tourism Vision And Outcome Themes Vision

“By 2024 Fife will be a sustainable, leading tourist destination, with a year round economy, where businesses are growing and visitors return year after year”

Drivers for Growth

Fife’s key strengths are both geographically based and thematically based. St Andrews with its unique position as the Home of Golf along with Dunfermline’s vision to be recognised as a city once more, provide a strong opportunity to grow their visitor economies. The new thematic groups such as The Fife Food Network and the Fife Golf Partnership are continuing to demonstrate a strong ethos of collaboration and these groups will also provide the opportunity to drive tourism growth in Fife.

Investment in tourism infrastructure will also help to attract visitors to Fife; the new Network Rail Visitor Centre in North Queensferry and the ambition of the World Heritage Status for the Forth Bridge will create a catalyst for tourism in the south of Fife and this, coupled with the investment in the Dundee Waterfront and the opening of the V&A at Dundee will set Fife as a must visit destination. Other investments like the Kirkcaldy Galleries and the multi-million pound investment in the Dunfermline Museum and the Carnegie Library, the Adam Smith Foundation and the new road and rail connections with Edinburgh all provide a stimulus for growth in Fife.

Fife’s unique coast and outdoor space has been voted No.1 for outdoor recreation for eight consecutive years, attracting millions of visitors to its blue flag beaches and to the longest coastal walk in Scotland. This coupled with the myriad of fishing villages come together to create an unrivalled coastal experience and one which can be further developed, for example through the development of the Fife Pilgrim Way to act a key driver for tourism growth in Fife.

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, St Andrews


Key Priorities

During the development of this strategy and through consultation with businesses and wider stakeholders the following key priorities were identified:

• Sharing the vision for ‘brand’ Fife with Fife’s businesses

• Attracting international events, increasing the number of attractions in Scotland’s top 100 list and promoting success to raise the profile of Fife as a strong visitor destination

• Tackling seasonality is the biggest challenge - one which the whole of the tourism sector in Fife needs to address. Activities such as events, longer opening dates and business tourism can help to address this.

• Increasing business competitiveness and enabling tourism businesses to grow by building on successful collaborative activities

• Increasing jobs within the tourism industry by driving quality, developing skills and carrying out market intelligence and research to better understand the tourism sector

• Improving digital connectivity, developing an on-line, social media, mobile and app strategy that includes real time communications with potential visitors

• Increasing the economic value that tourism brings to Fife, through strengthening the tourism products in Fife and working with businesses through the Local Tourist Associations

• Addressing the negative perceptions about tourism as a career choice by working closely with Fife Schools and Fife College

Fife hosted over 6000 events and festivals during 2014.

Bruce Festival , held in Dunfermline each year


From these priorities three outcome themes have been identified which will bring about increased growth in the tourism sector in Fife:

1. Improved visitor infrastructure

2. Increased employment and skills

3. Increased visitor spend

The following diagram shows how these three outcome themes will work together to position Fife as a leading tourist destination.

DIAGRAM

Measuring success

Progress towards achieving the objectives and targets of the strategy will be measured as follows:

Measure Target by 2024Number of jobs created and sustained through the strategy’s activities

900 jobs

The number of new tourism facilities 10Increase in visitor revenue 33%Reduced impact of seasonality 10% decrease No. of graduates in tourism 150 per annum

These are the top line measures, there will be other measures relating to specific activities and these along with those above will be captured in a separate monitoring document and managed by the Fife Tourism Partnership Board.


Fife Coastal Path is Scotland’s longest continuous walk at 117 miles.

Positioning Fife as a Leading Tourism Destination

Fife needs to underpin its activities with a clear proposition as a leading tourist destination and this can be achieved by partnership working between the public and private sector partners so that everyone is articulating the ‘Fife brand’ message in a clear way. The following activities will be undertaken to achieve this:

• Developing a clear tourism brand for Fife – The Welcome to Fife brand tool kit will be developed to include key tourism messages. Once completed the tool kit will be made available to all tourism businesses in Fife so that they can use the brand in their own communications and marketing

• Positioning Fife as a top tourism destination - Following on from the brand development, a positioning statement will be agreed by all partners. This statement will succinctly state where Fife wants to be by 2024

• Positioning Fife as an easy to get to destination – Visitor communication channels will be used to articulate this message

Measure Target by 2024Number of jobs created and sustained through the strategy’s activities

900 jobs

The number of new tourism facilities 10Increase in visitor revenue 33%Reduced impact of seasonality 10% decrease No. of graduates in tourism 150 per annum

Fife Coastal Path - Pittenweem


Strategic Outcome 1:Improved Visitor Infrastructure Providing consistent and relevant information to visitors at each “touch point” of their trip will be important if the Fife tourism sector is to further increase visitor expenditure. Local Tourist Associations will be encouraged to engage further with their local businesses so that they adapt their own business practices to encourage visitors to come to Fife and to stay longer once they are here. Embracing new technology will be at the forefront of all activities developed through this strategy as it will enable Fife to become more attractive to the modern visitor.

Priority Activities

• Strengthening the Local Tourist Associations - LTAs will be given help to develop their area plans and to support local engagement so that more of Fife’s tourism businesses are encouraged to join and get involved in the activities of the LTAs

• Fife’s Digital Tourism Plan - A digital tourism plan will be developed in consultation with digital technology experts so that Fife can be at the forefront of new initiatives

• Online visitor information – There will be one main visitor website for Fife welcometofife.com which will act as a portal to support all other tourism related websites. This de-cluttering will ensure that those interested in Fife are able to obtain the information they require quickly and effectively

• Visitor information points – All five unstaffed visitor information points (these provide leaflets and maps) will be replaced by a Fife-wide network of digital information kiosks so that visitors can access tourist information 24 hours a day in all parts of Fife. The network will consist of a mix of indoor and outdoor information kiosks which will provide up-to-date and downloadable tourist information

The challenges for this outcome are to:

1. Strengthen Fife’s Local Tourist Associations

2. Develop a digital tourism plan

3. Streamline visitor information provision

4. Develop Business Tourism

Kirk Wynd, Kirkcaldy


Fife’s new visitor website - welcometofife.com - will launch in 2015.

• Visitor Information Centres (VICs) – Fife has five VICs; St Andrews, Kirkcaldy, Crail, Dunfermline and Anstruther. Crail and Kirkcaldy are now partnership VICs run between VisitScotland and a partner (Crail Museum Trust and Fife Council respectively) Partnership approaches will be established for Dunfermline and Anstruther as a way of streamlining the VIC network across Fife. St Andrews will remain as a regionally strategic VIC and as such will be supported entirely by VisitScotland

• Developing Fife’s business tourism offer – through collaboration with key partner organisations such as VisitScotland, St Andrews University and other public and private sector partners will develop a strong proposition and partnership approach to securing international conferences for Fife. The sector will also benefit from a pilot project, working with VisitScotland that will investigate best practice in conjunction with Fife’s business tourism sector as a way of developing a sector-wide tool kit for businesses. Working closely with VisitScotland and St Andrews University a strong ambassador’s programme will be developed so that Fife can effectively attract more association business

Falkland Palace


Strategic Outcome 2: Increased Employment And Skills Fife needs to grow the number of jobs within the tourism sector; the target set for this strategy is to increase tourism employment from 9,600 jobs to 10,700 by 2024; an increase of 900 jobs.

Whilst Tourism employment figures have shown a decrease of 600 jobs since the outset of the economic recession, an analysis of the data has shown that the jobs have been lost from the pubs, clubs and bars sector rather than from direct tourism businesses.

The increase in jobs will be achieved by encouraging investment in existing businesses and by increasing the number of new businesses. It will also be increased by improving the customer welcome as there is a clear link between this and the reason visitors return and recommend. A stronger, more focussed approach to positioning tourism as a career choice will be achieved by working with colleges, training providers and other agencies to encourage young people into seeking jobs in the tourism sector.

Priority Activities

• Developing a Tourism Academy in Fife - The Fife Tourism Academy will work with tourism businesses, Fife schools and Fife College to offer work placements and Modern Apprenticeships. This will also help to build a stronger, more positive image for tourism as a career choice

• Tourism skills and training opportunities for businesses - A survey of tourism businesses will be undertaken to assess the training and skills needs of the sector. From this a training plan will be developed in order to deliver the required courses

• Research – Understanding the visitor environment in Fife is crucial if we are to capitalise on emerging opportunities and overcome any constraints. Research to determine the volume and value of visitors to Fife will be carried out each year. Studies into on-line visitor behaviour and “during visit” visitor analysis will be undertaken in order that Fife’s marketing and visitor management efforts can be more targeted and effective

• Fife Tourism Careers Day – An annual careers seminar for schools and college students will be held in partnership with Fife College, training providers and tourism businesses to encourage higher participation in tourism as a career


1. Encourage more young people to seek tourism as a career choice

2. Ensure that Fife’s businesses have all the skills and training they need

3. Understand trends and future opportunities to attract visitors to Fife

Hill of Tarvit, Cupar


Strategic Outcome 3: Increased Visitor ExpenditureThe Fife tourism sector is well positioned to achieve further growth in tourism expenditure. This can be achieved by increasing the opportunities for business collaboration; by strengthening existing groups; and through the development of Fife’s visitor attractions.

Priority Activities

• Attracting international events – through collaboration with key partner organisations such as VisitScotland, EventScotland, Creative Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, St Andrews University and other public and private sector partners we will develop a strong proposition and partnership approach to securing international events for Fife.

• Developing Fife’s visitor assets – Fife currently has seven attractions in Scotland’s Top 100 paid attractions list and the ambition is to increase this to ten during the life of the strategy. The Partnership Action Plan for the V&A at Dundee which sets out to develop a regional cultural interface will also be developed to capitalise on the opportunities the V&A at Dundee offers to Fife.

• Developing Fife’s product strengths – the Golf, Food and Drink, Outdoor tourism, Cruise tourism and Business tourism groups will be further strengthened so that all of these can adopt a sustainable business model. Activities for the groups will include the development of collaborative marketing campaigns and the creation of packages that accommodation providers can use in order to attract more visitors. Arts and Crafts form a major part of Fife’s festivals and this sector will be further developed in terms of its tourism potential, and opportunities to further exploit culture, heritage, and ancestral tourism will also be explored.


1. Attract international events

2. Encourage new visitor attractors

3. Increase the number of attractions in Scotland’s top 100

4. Further develop Fife’s product strengths

5. Achieve World Host destination status for customer care

6. Develop accessible tourism across Fife

Dunfermline Abbey


• Achieving World Host “Destination Status” for customer care - Customer care is at the forefront of the way in which a visitor experiences a destination. One negative experience can result in a strong ripple effect that could deter others coming to the area. The intention is to work with Fife’s tourism businesses to achieve World Host Destination Status for Fife as a whole.

• Supporting Fife’s events strategy – Fife’s vibrant events and festivals attract thousands of visitors each year. Fife’s events will be supported by raising the profile of events, creating vibrant and engaging promotional campaigns to attract visitors, by profiling events at exhibitions and through VisitScotland’s promotional activities.

• Supporting Fife’s Cultural Strategy – this tourism strategy is aligned to Fife’s Cultural Strategy which aims to strengthen Fife’s cultural offer, develop Fife’s cultural economy, and contribute to the wellbeing of Fifers. The new Kirkcaldy Galleries has shown how modern investment in museums and galleries can increase visitor interest. The investment by the Adam Smith Global Foundation in a new Adam Smith Visitor Centre in Kirkcaldy will also stimulate visitor interest in the town. The forthcoming significant investment in Dunfermline library, museum, and art gallery will also add significant value to the heritage offer within Dunfermline.

• Supporting Fife’s Creative and Cultural Industries Strategy – this tourism strategy will embrace the objectives of Fife’s creative and cultural industries strategy, Create in Fife, which is focused on ensuring that Fife is recognised locally, nationally, and internationally as a creative place in which the creative and cultural industries are supported to thrive.

• Encouraging new visitor attractors – Working in partnership with VisitScotland, Scotland Development International and the private sector, the potential for a new visitor welcome port to capitalise on the new Queensferry Crossing will be investigated.

• Accessible tourism development – Accessible tourism is worth £325m to Scotland’s economy yet it is not promoted effectively in Fife. To establish Fife as an accessible tourism destination, a pilot will be created by working closely with VisitScotland and Fife’s accommodation sector. The pilot will consist of an audit and appraisal of accessible tourism and following this a promotional campaign through VisitScotland will be developed.

Pittencrieff House Museum, Dunfermline


Fife has Scotland’s highest number of national attractions.

Supporting ThemesBest place to do business

This tourism strategy is aligned to the Fife Economic Strategy 2013-2023 and as such shares its vision to make Fife the best place to do business. If Fife is to maintain its strong economic growth, it must start with the premise that customers and businesses in Fife have a stream-lined experience before they come to Fife, whilst they are here and after they return.

Sustainable & Responsible Tourism

Fife needs to encourage and implement more sustainable tourism principles, to be characterised by productive local businesses, motivated and skilled local people, and environmentally sustainable practices.

Economic sustainability

Fife’s ability to work collaboratively within the tourism sector provides the ideal basis from which economic sustainability can be achieved. Thematic groups such as the Forth Cruise Initiative have proven that by working together businesses and key partners can increase the number of visitors to an area and thus achieve an increase in spend in that area.

Collaboration alone will not sustain Fife as an economically stable destination however; it will also need to ensure that it keeps up with the latest and emerging tools and opportunities within the tourism sector, such as the development of the digital economy. Skills and training also play an important role here too.

Knockhill Racing Circuit


Social sustainability

It is firmly understood that tourism begins at home; i.e. if the environment is safe and secure and a nice place to live, then tourists will also feel at home. Customer care is at the heart of this and Fife will work to achieve World Host destination status during the life of this strategy.

The “Visiting Friends and Relatives” market is important to Fife, accounting for 2.5 million visits to the area each year. All of the campaigns developed through this strategy will be articulated through promotions and marketing to Fife residents so that they can take advantage of what Fife has to offer too.

Environmental sustainability

Fife boasts an amazing coastal and outdoor offer which attracts millions of visitors each year and this reputation for outdoor recreation has seen Fife voted “No 1 for outdoor recreation” for eight consecutive years.

In order to maintain an environment that is welcoming but not over used is important for Fife, and therefore working jointly with the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage, the RSPB and others, Fife will protect its outdoor assets through careful promotion and appropriate maintenance.

Fife will host the Open Championship in St Andrews in 2015 and the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns in 2017.

St Monans Church - film location of ‘The Railway Man’


Performance Monitoring In order to track progress against targets and to constantly review activities, it is essential that performance towards achieving the objectives and targets this strategy is monitored over the coming years. This will be achieved by:

• Economic Impact Research Fife Council, along with VisitScotland and the majority of Scotland’s Local Authorities, subscribes to the DREAM trip economic impact model. This model utilises a number of studies in order to calculate the volume and value of tourism.

• National Economic Performance Indicators The performance of Fife’s tourism economy will be tracked on an annual basis using the tourism related indicators within the National Economic Performance Indicators developed by Scottish Local Authorities Economic Development (SLAED).

• Fife Tourism Strategy Action Plan Activity Measures The action plan will report on progress of the activities undertaken by all the public and private sector partners engaged in delivering the Fife Tourism Strategy.

welcometofife

@welcometofife

Culross – film location of Outlander

The information included in this publication can be made available in any language, large print, Braille, audio CD/tape and British Sign Language interpretation on request by calling 03451 55 55 00.

Calls cost 3 to 7p per minute from a UK landline, mobile rates may vary.

Fife Tourism Strategy

2014-2024

A joint strategy for Fife Council and the Fife Tourism Partnership

Prepared by Fife Council on behalf of the Fife Tourism Partnership

Date post:	25-Sep-2020
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