Meeting of the Parliament 16 June 2015
That shows how excellent our education is, which I am sure is what we will hear from the education spokesperson at First Minister’s question time. There is no end to the bonhomie that has broken out in the chamber this afternoon.
I say to Liam McArthur that I was delighted to pay a further visit to Orkney fairly recently, when I attended the convention of the Highlands and Islands. In the course of that visit, I learned among other things that in addition to Highland Park, Scapa, which is the other excellent whisky that is distilled in the Orkney Islands, has established a visitor centre. That is a key destination for the thousands of people who visit Kirkwall from the cruise liners. Indeed, I played hookey from the COHI official proceedings for about 30 minutes and had the pleasure of meandering along Kirkwall’s main street and seeing the excellent shops and establishments that are sources of entertainment for visitors to that excellent place.
As Chic Brodie quite rightly pointed out, the strategy document is not just rhetoric or hi-falutin’ words and ideas; it also sets out a number of key actions on providing authentic experiences. Those include:
“Develop a comprehensive list of marine and related events, and identify opportunities and gaps within the calendar
Look to align and link regional, national and international events further to both cross-sell events and capture the wider economic and community impact and benefits
Develop a sports specific event strategy for the sector, and build on the success of events such as the Scottish Series
Secure two international events by 2020 (for example Tall Ships/Volvo Ocean Race event)
Revisit the River Festival and Clyde Fortnight, and ensure the co-ordination of the wide variety of regional and local events”.
On improving the customer journey, which, again, Chic Brodie mentioned, the key actions in the strategy relate to improved booking facilities, improved marine hosting arrangements and improved digital landscapes.
The strategy document has brought together the whole sector in a way that has never been done before. I am told that it was not always an easy challenge to overcome, because people in the sector were not used to working together and there were differences. However, they have all been brought together.
I quoted those extracts from the strategy document because it is not just a high-level strategy, but a plan for action that we can take.
This has been a most enjoyable, harmonious and, at times, jubilant debate, where nary a cross word of controversy has been spoken—a somewhat rare event, as I said.
We have, in the course of the afternoon, travelled widely and extensively, from Argyll to Orkney, from Aberdeen to Arran—via Greenock, whether we wanted to or not—
Members: Oh!