Scotland may have spent the last month of 2010 shivering, but Perth and Kinross Provost John Hulbert insists there are still reasons to be cheerful.
He said 2010 Perth’s 800th birthday had been a “spectacular” year.
Dr Hulbert also pointed out that hotel room occupancy had risen significantly over the last 12 months, one of several signs which could suggest the local economy is at last on the road to recovery.
“Here in Perth and Kinross we can look back on 2010 as a very special year that will live long in the memory,” he said. “Much of that is thanks to the spectacular success of the Perth 800 programme of events.
“The year had many highlights for me personally, including the visit of Prince Charles, the visit of Prince Edward for the Perth Day celebrations, the Tay Descent canoeing event and the Freedom of the City ceremony to honour the 51st Highland, 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
“The 800th birthday celebrations were rounded off a few weeks ago with Lightnight, which included the most amazing fireworks display Perth had ever seen.”
Dr Hulbert said there had been something for everyone during the year-long celebration.
“We had over 100 major events throughout the year which involved practically every sector of our population,” he said. “When we began putting together the programme we had several specific aims in mind and we invested a great amount of effort and resources to achieve these ends.
“Our first objective was to promote civic pride. This can be gauged by the enthusiasm with which all sections of our community embraced the challenge. The fact is that attendance at almost every event exceeded expectation.”
Dr Hulbert said Perth and Kinross’s lifeblood tourist trade had also benefited.
“We also wanted to stimulate the local economy. This is easier to measure, and a full assessment will follow in due course,” he said.
“However, there is already plenty of evidence to show that the local economy has benefited greatly. The average hotel room occupancy for Perth city hotels increased by 4.5% from 2009 for example, and at 80% is at its highest level for a number of years.
“Highland Perthshire took up the Perth 800 challenge with enthusiasm. The economic impact of Etape Caledonia this year was over £1 million for the first time, and next year’s event is already full with 5000 entries.
“Meanwhile, tickets for the Enchanted Forest were also up 11% on 2009.”
Dr Hulbert said Perth 800 had also raised the national and international profile of Perth.
“We achieved very good publicity … and I would like to thank The Courier for its backing,” he continued.
“On the international front we have brought many hundreds of international visitors to Perth most of them for the first time.
“Meanwhile, we had a steady stream of visitors from our twin towns, especially Aschaffenburg and Bydgoszcz from whence over 500 visitors came during the year.
“Perth Festival of the Arts ticket sales were up by 28% on 2009 figures and the proportion sold to people from outwith Perth and Kinross was up by nearly 4% to 39.8%, and I understand that tickets were sold to every single postcode in the UK,” Dr Hulbert added.
The provost believes the successes of 2010 have set a “strong foundation” for Perth’s city status bid.