The recent Highland Council report on tourism highlighted the growing importance this industry has to our local economy. Overseas visitor numbers are on the rise, with most coming from other English-speaking nations such as the USA, Canada and Ireland. Inverness is now one of the top 20 UK city destinations for international visitors — coming in at 15th with just over 250,000 overseas visitors a year.

We remain popular with the domestic market, with 87 per cent of tourists visiting the Highlands coming from the UK. We are also seeing a trend for people to take short breaks as they find themselves with more money but less time to spend.

In the Highlands, tourism keeps at least 14 per cent of the workforce in employment, and generates over £637 million a year in direct expenditure. Within our city and area alone, the tourism industry is worth £200 million. This is big business.

And why do people come here? Each visitor has their own story, but the quality of the environment and the spectacular scenery are of course a major draw. Just as officials in Beijing must squirm to see world class athletes don masks rather than breathe the local air, we should surely be proud that in Inverness city one can enjoy some of the cleanest air around — the lichens growing on the trees around the Ness Islands being nature's own air quality monitor, thriving only in the cleanest of environments.

But what do we do to preserve this precious asset we have? Every business, individual and organisation must work to nurture the unique quality of our environment. Those not convinced by the "hearts" argument of the need to preserve such beauty, can use their "heads" to examine the profit and loss of maintaining the unique selling point that is the environment we are located within. Tarnish this attraction and we threaten the income, jobs and lifestyle which so many of us currently enjoy.

Do we actively protect and nurture our assets, be they natural or man-made? Notice the pristine floral displays around the city centre. Do we value the men and women from the council nursery who genuinely do get their hands dirty — shifting earth, planting bulbs and using their horticultural expertise to bring us displays which thrive at latitudes north of Moscow? The river running right through the heart of Inverness is a powerful force — could this be harnessed to generate electricity?

The current dialogue on the proposed flood defence scheme combined with the new Highland Council administration and provost provide a great opportunity to open up such a debate. Thinking more widely, could buildings be clad in solar cells to generate power, can we promote city centre purchasing as a "one stop shop" which reduces shopping miles? We must celebrate, nurture and promote all the assets we have. A wise investor looks after his portfolio. The question is, are we wise enough?

Business News - only in Tuesday's Courier
UHI Beechwood campus to include business school
Hotel to invest in wind energy
Business Diary 

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---