Date :
22/02/2013
Small businesses in one of Scotland’s most beautiful yet less well known areas have come together to reach a bigger audience through a shared, collective voice.
Established in 2010, the Heart of Argyll Tourism Alliance (HOATA) was formed to showcase the collective destinations of the Mid-Argyll area. Set up as a co-operative so that every member has the same influence, HOATA now has some 50 members and is a genuine voice of the tourism sector working with partners and delivering innovative projects on the ground.
“Mid-Argyll has a huge amount of historical interest and strong natural heritage but it is not very well known as a destination,” explains Carron Tobin of Rural Dimensions, who helped establish the alliance.
“Once people have been, they love the area, our challenge is to get them here in the first place.”
The group runs a series of initiatives to help promote the area and recently received a significant investment from Creative Scotland to develop a cultural programme and cross promote existing events and festivals.
With a collaborative approach at the heart of the project, HOATA is also running workshops on local initiatives such as the Scottish Beaver Trial, so local businesses can come and find out more about other attractions and cross-promote them.
“The key is encouraging people to work together and not see each other as competition,” says Carron. “Ultimately a visitor to a particular attraction could be looking to book a wildlife tour for the next day or, better still, be a return visitor in the future.”
The focus of HOATA is not to attract visitors to the wider Argyll region but to benefit from the marketing activity of the larger Argyll and Isles Tourism Cooperative and enjoy a cascade of visitors.
“A lot of local groups used to think they were in competition with each other,” explains Carron. “They are now realising that a visitor that comes to Argyll to a particular area invariably passes through other areas – and has a wonderful choice of routes to take - so we need to share and build on that flow of visitors.”
For further information, visit the Heart of Argyll website