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.

DDO announces need for new tourism organisation for DG

The newly formed Dumfries and Galloway Destination Development Organisation (DDO) published its business plan this week which highlights the region’s

underperformance in terms of tourism expenditure. Research undertaken by the DDO shows that the average spend per head per UK tourist is £29 less than for other regions in Scotland. By developing tourism in line with other areas in Scotland, the region has the potential to generate an additional £30m of direct tourism expenditure to the economy each year and a further £5m of indirect expenditure.

DDO Business Plan responds to industry consultation

In response to the industry consultation, one of the DDO’s first jobs is to review all marketing activity in the destination and to develop a marketing plan. This will include a review of the destination’s brand, the development of a web portal and the implementation of a creative PR campaign, all of which will be designed to reposition the region and ensure it achieves standout against other areas in Scotland.

DDO works with VisitScotland

The DDO is preparing a tourism development strategy which will seek to address the underspend highlighted above and has agreed a pilot initiative with VisitScotland to ensure this is market led and in line with VisitScotland’s national product development plan.

DDO seeks funding

The DDO highlighted the need to secure £175k of funding for its first year in order to implement the business plan and will soon be approaching public agencies and private businesses in the area. 

Industry Welcomes the move to DDO

The DDO’s news was welcomed by tourism business, Drumlanrig Castle and Country Estate. Mark Coombs, Estate Manager, said, “We have had a very good year this year with visitor numbers up by approximately 20%. This has been as a result of an investment in developing our product into a 5 star visitor attraction and a new approach to marketing, however we can see limitations in the success we can have as a business until the region’s tourism economy starts to perform better and we are delighted to hear of the progress the new DDO are making on behalf of the industry”.