As some of our members may already know; The ATC, represented by Ann-Marie Black and Stuart Clark, is one of the Angus partners working on a European funded project aimed at enhancing local communities in Angus whilst developing tourism. It’s based around the concept of ‘Flourishing Destinations’; where we grow tourism in an organic way that benefits the wider community and not just those deemed to be specifically a ‘tourism’ businesses. Our partnership is with Flourish 9 and Murton Trust to deliver the project locally whilst Angus Council are involved to facilitate funding through the EU Leader program. Flourish 9 and Murton Trust, also members of the ATC, and will be represented by Norma Lyall and Alison Elliott respectively.
We are working with two other regions in Europe. Our European partners are based in Meetjesland in Belgium and Bazinul Dornelor in Romania. We begin our work in earnest this coming month and have a learning visit to Romania scheduled for March 2019. This opens up the opportunity for some people who either work, live or contribute to the rural community in Angus to attend and become part of the project.
But, most of our work will be done in Angus as we get out and about amongst our local community. In fact, although the project is just starting officially; we have been working hard behind the scenes on a quite exhaustive application process which began well over a year ago.
There’ll be lots more information about events, workshops and get togethers coming your way throughout the next 18 months as we hope to engage with individuals, in all three countries, who are willing to work around a shared vision, purpose and set of values. We aim to promote learning and act collaboratively within our community. The work being carried out allows a rare opportunity to build and share knowledge on how a flourishing visitor economy can work.
Our first community engagement meeting will be on the 20th of February at the FriockHub in Friockheim.
If you would like to attend please follow this link to find out more – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/flourishing-destinations-angus-leader-project-meeting-tickets-55651678669?aff=ebdssbdestsearch