Our Travel Editor takes a tongue-in-cheek look at previous masterplans and blueprints aimed at luring visitors to the Borders
by PHIL ROOMS
Had you noticed? The South of Scotland's new Tourism Strategy is doing the rounds. Not just any old strategy this one...it's a RESPONSIBLE tourism strategy no less which tends to suggest its dozens of predecessors were probably IRRESPONSIBLE.
The current version certainly doesn't lack chutzpah. The authors claim it will "increase our visitor economy by £1 billion to £1.76 billion by 2034". And it will support a further 6,000 plus jobs, boosting the total number employed in the sector to 20,000 full time equivalent posts ten years from now.
Ever since the 1960s there have been different strategies spouting formulae calculated by expensive teams of consultants. Many of them were swallowed by wide-eyed members of the local tourist board before it became clear the targets which had been set would never be reached. So, time to ditch the bulging road map and commission a replacement. A veritable gravy train for 'specialist tourism advisers'.
Thankfully (or perhaps regrettably) remnants of many of these overblown grand designs can still be found in the archives here at Not Just Sheep & Rugby. Some of these gems may or may not be worth a second look.
The earliest example we could find is dated October 1967 when a working party of officials from six Border counties was to be set up to consider the formation of a Borders Tourist Council to "co-ordinate efforts to attract tourists". If such a body emerged from the talks it must have been short-lived and cannot have achieved much.
Next came initiatives linked to the bi-centenary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott in 1971. In the months leading up to the big day package tours were being offered to wealthy Americans. A Scottish Tourist Board spokesman stuck his neck out to declare: "I think it is fair to say that Scott is more popular in America than Burns".
The modern-day ten-year strategy for the Borders and Dumfries & Galloway with its 'Scotland Starts Here' slogan is merely a variation on a theme. As far back as 1970 Peeblesshire County Council produced its own ten-year programme aimed at improving tourist facilities in the locality.
Plans included a picnic area capable of accommodating 250 cars and a touring caravan park for 100 trailers. It was estimated that more than 500,000 cars (and their drivers) would be within an hour's drive of Peebles by 1985.
The accompanying report trumpeted: "Peeblesshire is going to experience a massive inflow of visitors as a result of circumstances largely outwith the county's control. It is hoped the proposals will provide the structure from which the influx can be controlled and exploited to the benefit of the population and without detracting from the charm of the county as a whole".
County councillors never had the chance to see the fruits of their labour...the authority was abolished in 1975 to make way for local government reform.
The early attempts by the Scottish Tourist Board [STB] - now called VisitScotland - to set up regional boards was fraught with difficulty when it turned its attention to the Borders, also in 1970. Melrose and Peebles, the two burghs with the best hotel accommodation in the area, decided not to join the party.
Provost Curtis Hutcheson, of Melrose, said bluntly: "We merely decided not to give encouragement to the regional body because we felt it would be of no value to us".
And Peebles provost Alexander Melrose was equally dismissive: "There is a perfectly efficient tourist authority operating in the town and covering our entire county".
Colonel Howard Paterson, the colourful champion of regionalisation for the STB warned: "Towns who do not take part cannot be branded as untouchable but they are isolating themselves from the benefits which a regional authority can bring".
The completion of the M74 motorway linking Glasgow and Carlisle in the early 1970s prompted councils on the east coast to come up with a strategy in a bid to reverse the falling volumes of tourist traffic on the A1 between Newcastle and Edinburgh.
This blueprint was far from slick...it simply involved handing out copies of a 'special' leaflet through the AA and the RAC, and at filling stations cataloguing the undoubted attractions along the east coast trunk road.
Civic leaders in the Borders must have been well pleased when, in 1971, the STB selected the area for a pilot strategy to provide "wet weather" entertainment for visitors. Naturally, the proposals had come from a working party.
As a first step it was planned to make films and equipment available to hoteliers and local groups at short notice. And the inaugural meeting of the Borders Tourist Association heard that Jedburgh would be getting one of three national tourist information centres at a cost of £35,000..
Recently appointed Borders Tourist Development Officer Alfred Scott said the first subjects to be considered included the production of a regional tourist guide, an accommodation register, an inventory of existing facilities, and a diary of events. Sounds like a tourism strategy, does it not?
AND FINALLY in part one of our trip down strategy lane...perhaps the most ill-conceived and ludicrous master plan ever dreamed up in the history of Borders tourism.
Jedburgh Town Council was daft enough and profligate enough back in 1973 to bring in Edinburgh consultants to look at the burgh's decidedly bland appearance with a view to transforming it into something more attractive.
The advisers certainly didn't hold back. I kid you not, their proposals to make Jedburgh 'the main tourist centre in the Borders' included the development of Market Square "along the lines of Dubrovnik, Venice or Copenhagen." So, how did that one work out?
According to the report which must have been quickly binned by the council: "Jedburgh should assume the role of principal gateway to an area of outstanding recreational and tourist potential.
"Outside seating and gay awnings in front of cafes and restaurants would add stimulation to the scene. The tasteful use of international flags and, at appropriate times, the tasteful use of either live or recorded music would add yet another dimension to heighten the total tourist appeal of the town.
"Something must certainly be done to brighten the burgh's facade. Presently speaking, too great an impression of dreariness and even dilapidation is conveyed to the visitor".
COMING NEXT - Strategies touting a "Horseman's Aviemore" in the Borders and plans to cash in on the region's bloodthirsty past.
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