Introduction from Victoria Harvey, Development Manager
"Tourism businesses and operators across the Outer Hebrides and beyond are experiencing their first full season without any legal restrictions since 2019. I am encouraged by the return of the visitors to our islands after what has been an incredibly difficult time for our industry and while 2022 has brought some degree of optimism, we are still facing local and global challenges.
We’re working hand in hand with partners and our tourism and events industry to rebuild this vital part of the Outer Hebrides’ economy and providing the right support to lead the recovery along with key partners in the region.
It's important to understand the current landscape and how visitors are responding, through initiatives such as the UK Sentiment Tracker. This research offers insight into how UK and Scottish residents are behaving when it comes to travel and shows that the rising costs of living, personal finances and the costs of fuel are affecting people’s habits.
Marketing campaigns by Outer Hebrides Tourism, funded by our Destination & Sector Marketing Fund, have been running through the earlier part of the year, to ensure our islands are front of mind when visitors are choosing a destination.
Another welcome note is the return of in-person events of all sizes, which as well as encouraging visitor numbers also provide that important buzz and social interaction we’ve missed so much. Even as I am writing this sitting above the iCentre in Stornoway we have a town readying to welcome HebCelt revellers, something which we have sorely missed these past few years and I know that this feeling of things returning is echoed across the islands.
In the spring we held our first tourism industry event in a few years, centred on a screening of the Road Dance, the movie adaption of STV news anchor John Mackay’s novel, which was filmed entirely in the Outer Hebrides. This event provided a spotlight for us to celebrate all that screen tourism brings to the islands. We are supporting a number of upcoming events this year through our EventScotland programme and the Year of Stories including An Lanntair’s Seanchas series of activities which take place this week with four storytelling residencies with local stories from Lewis and Harris being gathered and shared throughout rural communities.
Taigh Chearsabhagh on North Uist will feature as one of the 12 “Unexpected Gardens” springing up at community libraries, waterfronts and car parks from April to September, bringing together food, science and musical performances. Commissioned by EventScotland and funded via the Scottish Government, they are part of Dandelion, Scotland’s contribution to UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, a series of nationwide creative events and engagement. Plus, there was a return of HebCelt, the very first Outer Hebrides Wildlife Festival in June and Ceòlas Summer School has just wrapped up in their new building in Cnoc Soilleir.
The impact of tourism spreads far beyond the industry itself and responsible tourism remains at the fore - it benefits our economy, our community and our wellbeing. I hope we can all look forward to a more predictable and enjoyable summer period and do remember to contact the local VisitScotland team in Outer Hebrides where we can provide a range of support and advice to tourism businesses. We would love to hear from you."
