Events and festivals are focus of Highland Council tourism seminar.

Tourism operators from across the Highlands will be gathering in Inverness this week (Thursday 25th Nov) for The Highland Council’s annual Tourism Seminar.

This year’s topic will be events and festivals. The seminar will be looking at the role of events and festivals within the overall Highland tourism product and considering the economic and social benefits that they can bring to the host communities.

Setting the scene will be Torquil Macleod, Programme and Funding Manager with EventScotland and Fiona Hampton, Director Highland 2007. They will present the national and regional strategies for developing events in Scotland.

At a local level, delegates will hear about the experiences of community based event organisers, including Ullapool Book Festival and Sea Cromarty Sparkle.

Councillor Ian Ross, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Planning, Environment and Development Committee, who will be chairing the seminar said: “In the lead up to the Year of Homecoming 2009, we felt it would be an ideal opportunity for tourism operators and community groups to assess the importance of events and festivals. A strong programme of events and festivals can help to attract more visitors to the area and, as the tourism industry prepares to face what could be a difficult year, this would seem to be a very relevant topic for our seminar.

He added: “We were particularly keen for organisers of local events to share their experiences and to demonstrate that small scale events can have an impact on local communities and can be sustainable.”

Also addressing the seminar will be Sue Crossman from the Tourism Innovation Group who will be examining ways of maximising the economic impact of events and festivals.