Tourism group Visit Inverness Loch Ness expands team to focus on community development and sustainable tourism

Visit Inverness Loch Ness (VILN) has welcomed two new members to the team, boosting the organisation’s ability to deliver sustainable tourism.

Thanks to funding secured by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Bryony Beck and Lee Gratty have joined Scotland's first Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID), taking the team to seven members, a full-time equivalent of 6.2, twice as many as in 2020.

Bryony Beck has significant experience in customer service and the environmental sector, and is a recent graduate from Lews Castle where she achieved a distinction in her master’s degree in sustainable rural development. Her role will focus on sustainability.

She said: “I am really enjoying my new role at Visit Inverness Loch Ness. I’ve joined a great team and with sustainability very much in the public conscience following COP26, there has never been a better time to look at sustainable tourism. My focus will include working on our carbon footprint, looking at carbon offsetting and also working with communities so that together we can make Inverness and Loch Ness a great destination and build tourism sustainably.”

Lee Gratty has over 20 years of experience working in tourism and dealing directly with holidaymakers, having worked at some of the flagship holiday parks in the Highlands including Parkdean’s resorts at Nairn Lochloy and Grannie’s Heilan’ Hame in Embo. He has also recently completed a degree in business management with the Open University where he graduated with 2.1 BA Honours.

Since starting at Visit Inverness Loch Ness at the beginning of last month, he has been working on numerous initiatives including a live stream webcam project, applications for lottery funding and research for upcoming initiatives that VILN hopes to introduce in 2022.

“I am delighted to be involved in promoting one of the most famous destinations in the world," he said.

"I am in the process of relocating to Inverness from Orkney and if I don’t get a selfie with Nessie before Christmas, I will be very upset!”

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