Highland Renewables Roadshow continues its series across the Highlands with events held in Grantown and Dornoch.
Highland Renewables continued its 2024 Roadshow series in Grantown and Dornoch today, where more than 60 leaders from the tourism and renewables sectors came together to discuss an investment and destination strategy for the Highlands. The Roadshow series, hosted by Kate Forbes MSP and sponsored by Statkraft, will also stop off in Skye and Fort William over the next eight weeks.
Kate Forbes, MSP and Highland Tourism CIC Ambassador, said: “It’s really encouraging to see the momentum building in communities throughout this Roadshow series. Today at events in Grantown on Spey and Dornoch we saw tremendous support for the ambitious plans for the Highlands to become one of the world’s most sustainable destinations for all those who live, work, study and visit here, driven by Highland Tourism CIC and Highland Renewables. We know that depopulation is an extremely pressing risk for Highland communities, but not through lack of enterprise and ingenuity on the part of communities. The Highlands has all the resources we need – but we need to work together and unlock the biggest opportunities. These are critical discussions on a transformational investment and destination strategy for the region.”
Yvonne Crook, Chair of Highland Tourism CIC and Highland Renewables, said: “Our partnership seeks to ensure all who live, work, visit, study and invest in the Highlands benefit from this unique moment in our region’s history. Investments in renewable energy together with developments such as the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Freeport have the potential to bring about significant economic and community transformations. The boom in the renewables industry coincides with growth in life science, whisky and food and drink. And tourism leaders recognise the scale of the opportunity to reposition the Highlands as a high value visitor destination, based on the development of the ‘Highland Brand’ and the community’s sustainable vision.
“But while the rapidly expanding attractiveness of our region creates opportunity, it also increases our fragility. Highland Tourism CIC represents people and businesses in the Highlands who understand the scale of the opportunity and empowers communities to embrace, plan for and benefit from the transformative nature of the renewables sector which, with the right investment and support, can help address challenges in the Highlands such as depopulation, housing, workforce and jobs for generations to come.
“For the past three years, HTCIC has been working in partnership with stakeholders in the Highlands’ key sectors of tourism, renewables, whisky, food and drink, land and estates, and life sciences to develop a destination strategy and build a ‘Highland Brand’. Our strategy aims to capture our shared priority to harness the region’s extraordinary potential into a powerful, unified driving force for the whole Highland economy.”
Iain Robertson, Head of Statkraft Scotland, said: “The Roadshows are continuing at pace, and we’ve already seen fantastic engagement from key representatives in the tourism and renewables sectors. I’m pleased that Statkraft’s support is helping bring people together, with Highland Tourism CIC and Highland Renewables, to encourage conversations and creativity around economic growth and investment in the area. We look forward to seeing what emerges, and what further benefits can be brought to our local communities in the Highlands.”
Highland Renewables Roadshow events are taking place throughout the Highlands through to the end of March 2024. If you’d like to learn more about Highland Tourism CIC and Highland Renewables and how to get involved, please email info@highlandrenewables.org
