Meeting of the Parliament 16 June 2015
This has been an afternoon of consensual debates, and it is certainly right that we have found consensus on the motion lodged by the minister on marine tourism. As Graeme Pearson said, the afternoon’s debates have dovetailed neatly: I will be talking about the work of our harbours and the important contribution that they can make to marine tourism, too.
It is right for the Scottish Government to recognise the importance of the opportunities offered by marine tourism, not least for our economy and particularly for North East Scotland. I am sure that Aberdeen Harbour will have been referred to in the previous debate on the Harbours (Scotland) Bill, and I will return to the plans for it later on. However, I also want to discuss the importance of Aberdeenshire’s harbours to the local economies of the region. Often in those local economies it can be much more difficult to stimulate local employment, particularly in the aftermath of some of the decommissioning in fishing, but we have a very positive story in the development of marine tourism.
There has been a great deal of investment in harbours in Aberdeenshire to enable them to capitalise on the opportunities for marine and coastal tourism. It is well worth making the point, particularly in the context of the current political debates across the country, that a great deal of that funding has come from European Union funding streams. The Aberdeenshire European fisheries fund programme funded 26 projects to a value of nearly £700,000. That was important support for the region and for our coastal communities, and it resulted in funding for a number of different projects, including the Peterhead heritage trail, with the seafood festival and trail linking marine tourism with the north-east’s great reputation for food, and other projects such as the Banff coast tourism development programme.
The Banff marina was established in 2003, when the local community identified the need for a marina to boost the harbour’s attraction to the growing tourism trade. The marina now provides 76 berths. Not just in Banff but in Macduff and other harbours too there has been important investment.
Of course, there is always the potential to do more to obtain even greater benefits from marine tourism for local communities, and I know that there are calls to invest further to improve Rosehearty harbour and to develop further the coastal walk between Fraserburgh and Rosehearty. I am sure that that would be beneficial for the north-east, as well in developing marine tourism.
As Lewis Macdonald referred to in his speech, there are exciting plans for Aberdeen Harbour too, which would also be of huge benefit to marine tourism in the north-east, with the £320 million plans to upgrade Aberdeen’s Nigg Bay harbour to accommodate cruise ships—plans that are supported by Aberdeen City Council and Scottish Enterprise. I hope that the plans will therefore receive strong support from ministers as well.
Lewis Macdonald rightly set out challenges for ministers as well. Even in a consensual debate, it is important to do that. Beach quality is vital to attract more people to our beaches and our coastal communities. Also, considering the devolution of new powers over the Crown estate, it is right to argue for those powers to be located in local communities. Banff marina, where the need for development was identified locally, is an example of why it is right to devolve powers beyond Holyrood and into local communities.
More work remains to be done to promote marine tourism in Scotland, but it is good that the Scottish Government has identified it as an important area of work and it is right to recognise what is already being done to capitalise on the great natural resources that we have—the beauty of our coastline, the attraction of our beaches and the fantastic facilities that we have, more and more, in our harbours across the coast—so that we capitalise on the opportunities that they give us and we encourage even more people to visit and enjoy Scotland’s coast in the future.
16:35