Earlier this week, Paisley’s recently refurbished town hall played host to the inaugural edition of the Renfrewshire Economy Conference.
Organised by the region’s Business Support Partnership alongside the Local Authority, the event was an opportunity to hear from a range of stakeholders working at the local and regional level to develop and sustain the regional economy across all facets.
The first half of the conference afforded the opportunity to hear from regional strategic and policy leads alongside representatives of the area’s anchor institutions, of which UWS and West College Scotland are foremost examples. Insightful overviews of the work being undertaken at Scottish Government and City Region level were provided by Richard Murray (Scottish Government), Kevin Rush (Glasgow City Region). The specifics of Renfrewshire’s regional position were presented from a variety of viewpoints by those in position of leadership at several of the Authority’s ‘anchor organisations.’ UWS Principal, Prof James Miller, and West College Scotland’s Vice Principal, Stephanie Gunn, discussed the skills and qualifications agenda. Ruth Cooper (Renfrewshire Council) spoke on wellbeing economy and community wealth building and, Barbara Walker (Renfrewshire Council) detailed some of the large scale (cultural) investments that the Local Authority has made; looking forwards to some of the potential positive outcomes that projects such as the revitalisation of Paisley’s Museum is hoped to bring.
After a quick break for coffee and a bit more networking, delegates were invited to attend one of six workshops, aimed at providing a platform for more nuanced and focused discussion of some of the issues signposted in the morning’s presentations. Alongside colleagues from VisitScotland and Renfrewshire Council’s Tourism Team, CCSE’s Professor Sandro Carnicelli co-hosted the Tourism Development workshop.
Here, local business owners and industry stakeholders had a chance to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with both the development and delivery of the local authority area’s tourism offer and the process of bringing the recently unveiled Tourism Strategy to fruition.
The workshop played host to a vital discussion of the factors that make Renfrewshire unique, recognising that while the post-pandemic appetite for travel is considerable, tourism is ever more competitive as a sector. Today’s tourists are seeking unique, memorable and personalised/ ‘personalisable‘ travel experiences. Renfrewshire and Paisley possess an abundance of cultural, heritage and event focused assets; signposting these and pointing to the ways in which they might be combined with attractions in the wider Glasgow City Region to form a compelling visitor offer (for both domestic ‘travellers’ and those from further afield) is a foremost question for those working to ensure that tourism’s contribution to every level of Renfrewshire’s economy continues to develop; for example, through successful conversion of day trips into overnight stays and, of overnight stays into week long sojourns!
How long could someone spend in Paisley & Renfrewshire?
The event provided an absorbing insight into the multiple lenses through which economy can be considered in relation to the local context. It was also a great opportunity for UWS and CCSE to speak directly with industry stakeholders; hearing of their views and experiences, and letting them know of the work that we do to – we hope – contribute to the continued success of the sector and, by extension, related aspects of our economy.
This blog was written by Sophie Mamattah, Research Associate at CCSE.
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