Joan Mitchell resigned from the position of Chair of DD&G on the 7 January 2010. She had always intended to pass on the torch after the initial work had been done. With all  her other commitments, she was finding it increasingly difficult to devote the time that she knew the work needed. The rest of the Shadow Board have expressed their thanks to Joan for all the hard work that she has done; without her vision and enthusiasm it is unlikely that DD&G would now be in such a strong position. At a meeting on 11 January 2010, the Shadow Board elected Liz Chambers as Chair, ably supported by Angela McIntyre and Alan Keith as Vice-Chairs.

Liz Chambers said "We will all miss Joan on the Shadow Board but she has given us  vision, enthusiasm,  and a strong sense of direction, so that DD&G can continue to work towards an imaginative, industry led tourism organisation." It was later announced that the private sector had already pledged over £18,000 towards a Growth Fund Application submitted by DD&G to VisitScotland this week. (See 'Contributions' page)

Destination Dumfries & Galloway is now up & running!

‘Destination Dumfries & Galloway’ (DD&G) is the official name of the company formed to lead tourism development in Dumfries & Galloway. At a historic meeting last week, some of the region’s most successful tourism businesses gave the thumbs up to DD&G by agreeing to act in an advisory capacity to DD&G board members in promoting our fabulous region.

Council approves initial grant

On 13 October 2009, Dumfries and Galloway Council approved an initial grant of £35,000 to advance the work of the DDO as part of a package of support to tourism. 

Councillors welcomed the emergence of the organisation and commended cooperative working with Visitscotland.

Follow this link to read a summary of the Business Plan submitted to the Council.

Businesses take international best practise in tourism on board

A group of key tourism and community business representatives took the lead on tourism development in Dumfries and Galloway this week acting quickly on the results of a comprehensive study by leading tourism consultants.

The findings of this 6 month long study commissioned by the Dumfries and Galloway Council on behalf of the Area Tourism Partnership and the Association of Accommodation Providers (ADGAP) clearly identified the opportunity for businesses and the wider community to take more of a leading role in tourism development in the area.