Adventure tourism's growing significance to North-east Scotland’s £1.2billion visitor economy was underlined at a major industry conference in Aberdeen on Tuesday November 19 November.
The North-east Tourism Conference at P&J Live heard that more than £3.2million of public and private sector investment through the North East Adventure Tourism (NEAT) project is delivering iconic new infrastructure, increasing participation and visitor numbers, and building an international reputation for the region.
The investment includes more than £2million of funding secured from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund.
NEAT is the region's transformational adventure tourism project, led by Opportunity North East (ONE). Established in 2019, it is developing exemplary low-carbon infrastructure, investing in industry and skills development, promoting the destination, and growing the sector through collaboration.
New community-led infrastructure is being delivered to support the region’s ambition to make adventure tourism a driving force in its tourism sector. Earlier this month Aberdeenshire was named best destination for the third consecutive year at the Scottish Mountain Bike Awards.
In the past year, a new cycle pump track, changing facilities, and the first phase of water sports infrastructure have been created at Huntly Development Trust’s (HDT) Greenmyres Adventures site outside the Aberdeenshire town with funding from NEAT.
Alongside the developments at Huntly, NEAT has backed major new projects on Deeside and in Aberdeen.
Multi-award-winning mountain bike trails and supporting infrastructure and amenities were created at Tarland Trails’ Pittenderich site, attracting 40,000 users in under a year. Transition Extreme on Aberdeen’s beachfront has installed a new pump track , high ropes, a new café and canopy seating area, and external landscaping and upgrades as part of its redevelopment.
New events and marketing activity have also helped to raise the region’s profile and reputation as a destination in UK and international markets, including mainland Europe and North America.
Last year, 9,000 people participated in NEAT-supported events, which generated £400,000 in visitor spending.
Will Clarke, NEAT project manager, said: “The targeted support to businesses and funding for major community-led and not-for-profit projects through NEAT is successfully growing the region’s high-value adventure tourism market.
"Our profile as a destination is higher than ever in the UK, and internationally, new iconic infrastructure is attracting tens of thousands of visitors, and more money is being spent on adventure tourism and hospitality businesses in our rural communities.
"The vision and ambition of the sector and the NEAT partners over the past five years have made a significant impact, and we aim to maintain that momentum and be a world-class destination.”
Donald Boyd, joint general manager at Huntly Development Trust, said: “The new cycle pump track, changing facilities and other site infrastructure we have developed with the NEAT investment are a real game changer for us, both in terms of attracting visitors and in providing an exciting new venue for our community.
"The NEAT support - along with that of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Canoe Foundation and our own contribution from the Greenmyres wind turbine are helping deliver the first tangible steps in our Greenmyres Adventures journey. Both the financial investment and the vote of confidence in us and our community are hugely welcome.”
NEAT’s goal is to invest £18million over five years to transform a rapidly growing sector into a market-facing industry, to generate an additional £150million of visitor spend and create 500 new jobs, mainly in rural communities.
The NEAT partners include businesses, Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, Aberdeenshire Council, VisitAberdeenshire and the Cairngorm National Park Authority.
Jennifer Craw, CEO of ONE and chair of the NEAT steering group, said: “The unique approach to developing the region's adventure tourism opportunity through NEAT is driving investment in new infrastructure, upskilling people in the sector, building our portfolio of events, and promoting the destination.
"The private sector-led partnership we have co-created with the sector partners and co-funders is delivering growth. Adventure tourism is a growing market and is key to the continuing development of the region’s visitor economy. We will continue to make the case for significant investments to fully achieve the NEAT ambition.”