On Thursday 26th May 2022, under bright sunny skies at Elgin Town Hall, the first in-person Moray Speyside tourism conference in three years took place. Almost 150 delegates from across and beyond the region came along, from hotels and visitor attractions to self-caterers and specialist tour guides. We were also joined by elected representatives and key business groups.
We heard from Rob Dickson, VisitScotland’s Director of Destinations about strategic direction for tourism in Scotland and the importance of collaboration. We heard about the Visit Moray Speyside Business Barometer – a quarterly survey of business confidence which will run for two years, conducted by our friends 56 Degree Insight
We learned about the importance of user experience for tourism websites from Stephen Whitelaw and about the future for technology and tourism from Joshua Ryan-Saha
We got up to speed on the Short-Term Letting Regulations with Fiona Campbell and Joanna Millar
We announced the first award from our SSE Beatrice funding for communities to refurbish and run their local toilets – £5k to Portknockie Paddling Pool Group towards refurbishing the facilities at the harbour.
We published brand new visitor data which showed a strong recovery in 2021 – giving good reason for optimism in the year ahead.
Finally, our partnership with Fiona Campbell of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers saw Moray Speyside become the first destination in Scotland to pilot Fairbnb.coop – a new approach to online booking which sees 50% of booking commission directed to support local tourism projects.
Presentations (click to download)
- Rob Dickson, Director of Destinations and Industry Development, VisitScotland – Keynote Speech
- 56 Degree Insight – The Moray Speyside Business Barometer
- Stephen Whitelaw – Digital Marketing Expert – Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About UX
- Fairbnb – Scottish Launch
- Josh Ryan-Saha – Traveltech for Scotland – The Future of Technology and Tourism
