The opportunities to boost Scottish tourism on the back of a new Disney Pixar film set in the Highlands will be explored at a conference in Perth.
The animated fable, Brave, which is due for release in America in June, features the voices of some of Scotland’s best known actors and actresses Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Craig Ferguson and Robbie Coltrane and is seen as a major opportunity to focus attention on Scotland as a tourist destination.
The film is one of a number of events which are seen as opportunities and will be examined at the conference on March 13 in Perth Concert Hall.
The Winning Years conference, part of Scottish Tourism Week, will examine practical ways to make the most of everything from the movie to the Commonwealth Games.
Delegates will be looking at a number of events including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the 2014 Ryder Cup, the 2012 Olympics, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and the Year of Creative Scotland.
”With a number of events and milestones over the next three years, The Winning Years is the biggest opportunity to put Scotland on the world stage for decades and it couldn’t be a better time to make the most of these opportunities,” said one of the organisers.
Scottish Tourism Week, which runs from March 6 to 13, is now in its seventh year.
The Winning Years campaign is headed by VisitScotland’s chairman Mike Cantlay with the aim of encouraging investment in tourism in Scotland as well as ensuring tourism businesses benefit from the opportunities ahead over the next three-year period. Currently it is estimated that tourism in Scotland contributes £11 billion to the Scottish economy and employs over 220,000 people in 20,000 businesses.