The prospect of securing a commercial link to Dundee’s V&A design museum was high on the agenda for tourism operators at a major trade event on Wednesday.
Opportunities for businesses to connect with the £45 million project the focal point of a £1 billion redevelopment of Dundee’s waterfront were being promoted for the first time at the VisitScotland Expo at the SECC in Glasgow.
V&A museum representative Tara Wainwright said the interest in the project had been phenomenal.
“This is our first opportunity to talk to the world of tourism about the V&A at Dundee,” she said. “There has been a huge amount of interest, and people are very excited and have been coming to the stand specifically to talk to us.”
Ms Wainwright said it was important for the V&A which will showcase Scottish design work as well as host travelling exhibitions from its mother museum in London to establish the right links with the tourism industry in order to maximise the project’s overall impact.
“We will have visitors who will be locally and regionally based, but clearly it will be an international tourism destination so the opportunity to come and do something like this is really valuable.
“Tour providers set up their tours two to three years in advance, so we really want to get people excited about what they can come and see.
“The great thing about the Expo is there are about 20 of us here from Dundee, and it is a great opportunity for operators to speak to other cultural organisations from Dundee. We are all talking about Dundee as a city of culture, and the ethos behind that is about working together and promoting the city together.”
Dundee has 15 individual operators or groups represented at the Expo, including local hotel and serviced apartment operators, the Westpark Conference Centre, various tourist attractions and cultural venues, and Dundee’s One City, Many Discoveries’ campaign.
There is also a significant Fife presence at the event including the Old Course Golf Hotel at St Andrews and Knockhill Racing Circuit, as well as exhibitors representing the tourism trade from across Perthshire, including Aberfeldy’s Moness Resort recently the subject of a management buyout Crieff Hydro and Gleneagles Hotel, the venue for next year’s Ryder Cup.
More than 250 Scottish operators have taken space at the conference, and VisitScotland expects business worth around £21m to the Scottish economy will be concluded over the 48 hours of the Expo.
Tour operator and travel agents from more than 40 countries have flown to Scotland for the event.