Black Isle Tourism

In the first Black Isle Tourism newsletter of 2023, Becky Richmond,  Chair of Black Isle Tourism Steering Group, writes

The Black Isle Partnership has received funding to oversee the production of a Local Place Plan, and following the usual application and interview process, I was successful in being contracted as a part-time Project Manager.  Part of my remit is to develop the work of the Black Isle Tourism team.

The team regrouped in the early autumn and have been active ever since.  We are relaunching as Black Isle Tourism, which is being managed by a Steering Group consisting of:

Becky Richmond, Black Isle Guides and Project Manager to the Black Isle Partnership

Jon Palmer, The Cheese House, Cromarty

Rose Grant, (Communications Lead), Fortrose

Julian Paren, (Treasurer/Membership Secretary), Munlochy

Anne Phillips, Rosemarkie and Fortrose Community Council Chair

We are one of the few Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) working on an almost entirely voluntary basis.  This is something we will need to address if we are to give Black Isle Tourism a more consistent presence - but that’s a conversation for another day.

Read the Black Isle Tourism newsletter

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Previous bulletins / newsletters

June 2021
March 2021
February 2021
July 2020
January 2020
Autumnn 2019
Summer 2019
January 2019

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BITT  'Slow Tourism' video

Created by TBI Director and BITT Steering Group member Julian Paren, this is a sequence of themed and captioned images (mostly Julian's photographs) illustrating the wide range of both active and more relaxed tourism opportunities available on the Black Isle, complete with appropriate music.

View the video

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Who are we?      2018 update

Formed in Autumn 2014, the Black Isle Tourism Team (BITT) is a subgroup of the Black Isle Partnership (BIP). We aim to encourage and enable businesses, organisations and individuals around the Black Isle who have an interest in tourism to work together to improve the visitor experience and to raise the profile of the area. 

What have we achieved?
So far we've joined forces to produce the area's first visitor map, hosted several busy networking and information events, worked with the North Coast 500 and Visit Scotland teams to improve the profile of the Black Isle on their main visitor sites and to raise issues of interest to our members. 

We have worked with Plexus Media in Cromarty to update this site as an information resource for the Black Isle: www.black-isle.info. We have also supported funding applications, worked with the Highland Council on the improvements at Chanonry Point, researched and set up new Facebook pages: Discover the Black Isle and Black Isle Nature, and carried out various other practical tasks.

We have proudly developed a brand identity for the Black Isle: "savour the unexpected" - reflecting the desire to encourage visitors to stay longer and see what we have to offer.

What next?
In 2018 we intend to build on the work we have done and the tools we now have to help raise the profile of the Black Isle. We will continue to listen to our member priorities and take these forward, most recently from the Autumn Networking event. We have another networking event planned for March.

How can you join?
If you are interested in becoming a member or you simply want to find out more, send the team an email at tourism@black-isle.info 

Membership costs £40 per annum.  As well as the opportunity to add your voice to tourism development in the Black Isle, membership benefits include:

• Member updates
• Black Isle Maps (a handy tear-off foolscap, full-colour item to give free to customers/guests)
• A window sticker to promote the Black Isle brand and indicate that you are a member
• A £40 discount off North Coast 500 membership
• Twice yearly networking opportunities

How are we funded?
Our work is funded in part by our membership fees and by short term grants for specific purposes, e.g. printing the Black Isle Visitor Map and producing the feasibility study for the Discover the Black Isle initiative. Our membership budget is matched by an equivalent grant from Highland Council.

Activity is coordinated by a steering group of local member volunteers. We follow in the footsteps of Lizbeth Collie who was instrumental in her original post as Destination Development Officer at Black Isle Bicycles, funded by the Coastal Communities Fund.

We are formally constituted as a project of the Black Isle Partnership (BIP) who aims to support and strengthen the area through social, environmental and economic activity, promoting community enterprises and companies with similar aims. For more information about BIP, contact Roy Sinclair, Company Secretary by email at roy.sinclair8@btinternet.com

We also enjoy a close working relationship with the North Coast 500 and the Highland Council, sharing best practice for sustainable tourism growth in the Highlands and Scotland's National Tourism Strategy 2020 “Making Scotland a destination of first choice for a high quality, value for money and memorable customer experience, delivered by skilled and passionate people".

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