Do you feel tourism just happens to your community?
Are you feeling overwhelmed by tourism?
Do you feel tourism just passes you by - yet your community has a lot to offer?
Why not take time to
Could tourism help your community become an even better place to live, work and visit?
Find out more about our SCOTO Press Pause facilitated workshop and action plan initiative, which brings business and community interests together to consider what’s working, what’s not working and what could be done better/differently in your community.
The Press Pause approach was developed initially through a partnership with the North Highland Initiative in the summer of 2023.
Following successful pilots in Lochcarron and Thurso in 2023, North Highland Initiative (NHI) has commissioned a second phase of Press Pause initiatives, to be delivered to a further ten communities. This has been made possible with additional grant support from Highland Council’s Community Regeneration Fund, via Wester Ross Biosphere- Read NHI's full press release and a Press Pause overview report here.
Each pilot receives an 'easy to read' report, developed from an inital online and in destination mystery shopper appraisal to assess their appeal as a visitor destination. Then, a half-day face to face workshop is held with community and business interests to further enhance understanding and collaboration. The workshop considers various aspects of destination development, management and promotion and focuses on priority issues within the individual community.
Further Press Pause initiatives were developed with the Social Enterprise Academy in 2023 through their Imagining New Futures Together programme, funded by the National Lottery Communities Fund, with Glen Urquhart, Langholm, Colmonell, Girvan and Selkirk and the Valleys.
We are working with self-funded communities in Upper Nithsdale, Braemar and Gorebridge and earlier in 2024 worked with ARIA (Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition Fund) to support three communities within three different Ayrshire Valleys in North, South, and East Ayrshire in 2024 – Stinchar Valley, Loudoun Valley and Garnock Valle
Roll Out Of Press Pause Across Scotland
Created October 2024
Testimonial
“Press Pause has been really worthwhile. You’ve really helped steer our course and given us a fantastic platform to work from, thank you.”
Vicki Steel and Barbara Harrison
Ettrick and Yarrow Tourism Association
What is Press Pause?
SCOTO has developed a Press Pause programme for geographic communities across Scotland to take time out to consider what is working, what is not working and what could be done better/differently in their communities.
The programme focuses on action and solutions, and seeks to help each and every community recalibrate how tourism is delivered and measured locally.
By taking time to ‘Press Pause’ a community can collectively review what is happening and look at realistic changes which bring the community’s interests and priority needs to the fore and support local business prosperity.
Press Pause revolves around a half day facilitated workshop in a local venue, engaging both business and community interests in collective discussions. It is not a public meeting.
Key outcomes will be a shared understanding of what is and isn’t working and what could be done differently or better to help make the community a better place to live, work and visit. An easy to read destination competency appraisal will be produced and place branding will be considered in detail from a local perspective. SCOTO then do the heavy lifting and develop a number of recommendations which are refined into a prioritised activity plan – with early actions highlighted.
The process is owned by the local community and led either by a community organisation (eg development trust, business association or community council) or a dedicated group with representatives from a number of local groups.
At its heart Press Pause is seeking to help communities recalibrate how tourism is delivered and measured locally to ensure there is a focus on positive impacts and wellbeing.
Testimonial
"Undertaking the Press Pause workshop was invaluable. Learnt so much, even about things you thought you knew about locally as different folk had a different perspective.
It also meant you could discuss ideas and thoughts in a ‘safe setting’ and see whether they were practical - and what you would need to do to make them become a reality.
Having an independent but knowledgeable coordinator was hugely helpful to question long held perceptions and pull in experience from elsewhere."
Angela Williams, Development Manager, Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, Langholm
What happens?
The Press Pause workshop and action plan will look at:
- >Exploring different perspectives of what is working and what is not working and what could be done better or differently
- >Defining the destination from a local and visitor perspective
- >Consideration of competitors and comparators to learn from
- > The local visitor profile – past, present and future – what type of visitors would you like to see?
- > Destination competence appraisal – collective consideration of 15 different criteria
- > Place Branding – what distinguishes your community from others?
- > Community led visitor propositions and product development
- > Recalibrating how tourism is measured locally
- > Next steps
What's the cost?
The cost for Press Pause is £4545 excl. vat (£5454 incl. VAT) plus expenses* for a village-sized community and £6060 excl. VAT (£7272 incl. VAT) plus expenses* for a town or urban neighbourhood.
We can quote for an area or multiple communities' Press Pause work.
This includes:
- > Initial meeting to scope out delivery details
- > Set up and facilitation of the in-person half-day workshop
- > Development of bespoke recommendations for your community, including early actions and longer-term initiatives.
- > A detailed, easy-read Press Pause document with an agreed prioritised activity plan.
- > A follow up online meeting to review and refine the report and activity plan.
- > An engaging summary of the key recommendations for local and wider circulation.
* Expenses would be venue hire and catering, plus travel, overnight and subsistence for the facilitator if needed. SCOTO is now VAT registered Before submitting any funding bids please reach out for an accurate quote and to secure our commitment on availability.
What's next?
What to know more about Press Pause and how it can help your community/area?
Provide some details below and our Executive Director Carron will reach out to you to explore further.
Programme support for Press Pause is becoming available in some geographic areas and there are also local funds in most parts of Scotland which could support this type of initiative in your community/area. SCOTO can provide advice on securing funding.
Please remember, SCOTO operates as a self-funded network, with SCOTO Consulting serving as our main source of revenue. A minimum of 20% of all fees directly supports the operation of the SCOTO Network and the development of valuable resources.
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