Innovation has been largely responsible for transforming CairnGorm Mountain from being simply a long-established winter sport centre into a year-round visitor destination and that has been fully recognised this week by the Scottish tourism industry at two separate prestigious tourism conferences.
On Wednesday 24th, Bob Kinnaird, CairnGorm Mountain’s Chief Executive, addressed the Aberdeen & Grampian Tourist Board’s one-day seminar in Aberdeen on the subject of “Tourism Innovation - What can you do for your business?” while, the following weekend as an invited contributor, he will be part of the Tourism Innovation Group’s involvement in Scotland United 2004, the high-profile tourism conference at Aviemore Highland Resort.
Said Bob Kinnaird: “Both of these invitations demonstrate that CairnGorm Mountain is very much at the cutting edge of what is now perceived as best practice in developing Scottish tourism. Each presents a great opportunity to demonstrate how innovative thinking has enabled us to diversify our product to meet new markets and influence staff attitudes towards providing consistently high quality customer service.”
“Several years ago, we realised that we were operating in a highly competitive global marketplace in which ever-increasing standards were expected. To ensure that we remained competitive, we not only had to be innovative in our product development but also had to create an attitude and develop a culture that provided a high standard of customer service on a regular basis.”
“The development of the CairnGorm Funicular Railway, the new Ptarmigan building and their associated visitor attractions became the catalysts for change, out of which developed other innovations such as the CairnGorm Mountain Garden, the new mountain pathways and the CairnGorm Mountain art gallery. At the same time, we introduced a culture change among our staff that encouraged individuals to be innovative in how they related to customers and that has paid dividends in ensuring that visitors to CairnGorm Mountain can fully enjoy the experience and keep coming back.”
Among other innovations introduced at CairnGorm Mountain has been a drive towards pro-active “Green Tourism” and it speaks volumes for the company’s success in sustainable tourism that not only was it awarded the prestigious Gold Standard award at its first assessment in 2001 but also managed to increase its ranking within that same Gold Standard category when it was re-assessed earlier this year.
Continued Bob Kinnaird: “The Green Tourism Gold Standard Award is a particularly difficult one to retain and we were delighted that we managed to increase our ratings to an astonishing 91% this time round. Many of our environmental management schemes were highly commended by the assessor for their innovation and we are already taking on board some of his observations on other ways in which we could effect further improvements.”
“For a business to be awarded a Gold Standard means that it has to demonstrate excellence in environmental practice and, across the Scottish Highlands, only five visitor attractions have merited Gold Awards. CairnGorm Mountain is delighted to be one of them - which again underlines our continuing commitment to balancing sustainable tourism with environmental awareness.”
Next week’s Scotland United 2004 Conference on tourism is expected to attract several hundred high-power delegates from the tourism industry to the Aviemore Highland Resort on Sunday (28th) and Monday (29th). Working much closer to home, Bob Kinnaird will be one of a small group of invited guest innovators selected by The Tourism Innovation Movement from across Scotland to demonstrate in a practical way how each has used innovation to overcome the various challenges faced by their visitor attractions and turn them into positives.
Explained Bob Kinnaird: “Our role throughout the two days is to network with other delegates to encourage them to speak with us and find out from our own hands-on experience how innovations - even quite small things – can have a positive impact on any tourism business. In some ways, we will become walking case studies but showing the human side of a business that is very much people-focused as well as people-driven.”
“CairnGorm Mountain’s vision of success remains very much people-focused and that was recognised recently when we again qualified for Visit Scotland’s Four Star Visitor Attraction Award. What was particularly encouraging in the Visit Scotland assessment was that we were rated highly in those areas where we have direct control of our product, such as the quality and content of our brochures, and the general attitude, appearance and efficiency of our staff. All of this speaks volumes for the dedication of our staff in ensuring that all of our visitors are made welcome and have a good time and, in a people business, staff are crucial to its success.”
The two keynote speakers at Scotland United 2004 will be leading Scottish entrepreneur and innovator, Sir Tom Farmer, and the Scottish Executive’s recently appointed Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Patricia Ferguson, MSP. Bob Kinnaird is hopeful that either, or both, of them might find time to travel the relatively short distance between Aviemore and CairnGorm Mountain to experience at first-hand the importance of innovation in tourism and how successful innovation can be in ensuring that visitors receive a World Class experience when they come to Scotland and its leading visitor attractions.
Said Mr Kinnaird: “We have already invited the Minister to visit us and hopefully she might manage to fit a short visit into her already busy schedule either on this occasion or later in the year when, snow conditions permitting, we will be functioning as Scotland’s leading winter sports centre. Sir Tom’s career has been built on innovative thinking and customer care and we would be delighted if he were able to experience both of these at CairnGorm Mountain.”
Further information from:
BILL NOLAN
Tel: 07885 071804
or
BOB KINNAIRD
Tel: 01479 851306
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