Angela Leitch highlights growing opportunities in East Lothian

The economic rewards of this year’s championshipThe economic rewards of

A door Opens

Angela Leitch highlights growing The golf coast

Business Insight

Thursday June 20 2013

Thursday June 20 2013 | the times

Business Insight2

Business in the near East

Sport with its home in Scotland brings prize of £220 million trade in tourism

Next month hundreds of millions of TV viewers will watch the Open Cham-pionship which is being staged at Muirfield in East Lothian. In advance of the competition, this issue of Business Insight examines some of the economic pillars of the region, golf, tourism and food and drink and how the council is using these elements to drive the economy.The chief executive of East Lothian Council also outlines her economic vision for the region and the initiatives that are in place to support existing businesses and attract new businesses.We also consider the economic importance of golf tourism, not only to the economy of East Lothian but the country as a whole and how the staging of world recognised events can be used as a tool to encourage inward invest-ment.

Welcome

Inside ...Peter JonesTakes a stroll through the opportunities for wildlife tourism Page 4

Times Business ForumOur experts’ panel gathers to assess how to maximise the value of golf to business Page 5

Cover storyAngela Leitch, chief executive of East Lothian Council on the region’s future Page 6

We are the championsHow the 2013 Open will bring wider benefits after the event Page 8

Golf rock solid for ambitious East Lothian

Tourism is identified as a key sec-tor in East Lothian Council’s 2012-2022 economic development strategy. Others include food and drink, higher education, an entrepreneurial culture, a diverse busi-ness base, skilled workforce, closeness to Edinburgh, and quality of life.

The strategy sees opportunities around these and also ‘new’ sectors such as re-newables, life sciences, creative indus-tries, as well as in relocations from Edin-burgh, and through better promotion of East Lothian’s assets.

The main strategic goals are to increase the number of businesses in East Lothian with growth potential — and to raise the proportion of East Lothian resi-dents working in and contributing to its economy.

Strategic objectives for achieving these goals include: becoming Scotland’s lead-ing coastal, leisure, and food and drink destination; providing high quality em-ployment pathways for East Lothian’s workforce; becoming ‘the best place in Scotland to set up and grow a business’; building on proximity to Edinburgh to encourage study, work and spend in East Lothian; and becoming Scotland’s most sustainable local economy.

The aim in tourism is to encourage more visitors, and visitors who stay long-er and spend more. “We can’t ignore the bread-and-butter, the day trippers from

the central belt of Scotland,” says Smith. “But we want to encourage more to stay and we have arrangements in place across the board from caravan sites and camp sites to top range hotels and private providers to cover accommodation.”

Water sports activities are emerging as a strong draw. They include Coast to Coast Surf School, and Foxlake the only cable wakeboard park in Scotland, both of which are at Dunbar.

The Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick and the nearby Bass Rock gan-net colony are well established draws and expansion beckons. The National Museum of Flight at East Fortune is ever popular, and the area boasts 40 miles of inspirational coastline, golden sands, hill walking country and cliff parks, all close to Edinburgh.

Raising awareness of this is high on the agenda. “Overseas visitors recognise the names Scotland, Edinburgh, Glasgow and parts of the Highlands,” Smith acknowl-edges. “So getting known as ‘Edinburgh’s coast and countryside’ encapsulates what we are aiming at.”

As part of this, Smith’s team encourage linkages between sectors. “One example is trying to ensure that promotional websites

The Open Champi-onship at Muirfield, East Lothian, next month will generate around £70 million for the economies of the area and for Edinburgh, accord-ing to researchers at Sheffield Hallam

University who analysed the benefits of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious golf event.

While revenues from the Open are a welcome bonus whenever Muirfield hosts the competition, golf is a peren-nial money-spinner for an area with 22 courses and which promotes itself under the brand East Lothian: Scotland’s Golf Coast (golfeastlothian.com).

We report more fully on the ‘golf divi-dend’ in East Lothian on page 9 of Busi-ness Insight but suffice to say here that the game’s importance is recognised in the tourism and economic development strategy of East Lothian Council.

“We have a quality and diversity of courses that is a magnet for visitors,” says Susan Smith, economic development manager at East Lothian Council.

“That’s important because this is the highest spending visitor group. We’re well placed to capitalise on that from the Open this year, and after the event.”

Just eight competitors and a hand-ful of spectators were on hand to witness the playing of the very first Open Championship, held 153 years ago at Prestwick Golf Club in Ayr-

shire and designed to settle a clubhouse argument by determining the world’s best professional golfer.

More than a century and a half later the goal remains the same but the stage on which it is played is significantly bigger.

The Open Championship in the 21st century is not only one of the most pres-tigious sporting events on the planet, it is also big business and provides a major

economic boost to those regions of the United Kingdom lucky enough to be home to a course on the Open rota.

In Scotland, the Open Championship is held on average three out of every five years and is regarded as the jewel in a glittering portfolio of regular golf events, which can deliver an economic impact upwards of £100 million in a single year.

This year the spotlight falls on East Lothian, which is estimated to see a £70m windfall on the back of the Open Championship at Muirfield, meaning it will give a major boost to a golf tourism industry which is worth more than £220 million annually in Scotland.

Dr Mike Cantlay, chairman of VisitScotland, says: “Scotland’s portfolio of regular golf events plays a hugely important role in maximising Scotland’s return on golf tourism. We are known worldwide as the home of golf and many golfers from around the globe flock to play our fantastic courses because of the rich history they possess and the unique memories they provoke.

“However, a strong bank of golf events is vital to keeping Scotland at the forefront of global golf and that is where events such as the Open Champion-ship, the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and the RICOH Women’s

The region has set itself strategic goals that will maximise the benefits of golf and also help develop a diverse business base that will create new wealth, writes Rob Stokes

The Bass Rock highlights the scenery while Queen Margaret University, below, is a major East Lothian employer

Dr Mike Cantlay says golfers are high spenders

Business Insightthe times | Thursday June 20 2013 3

Sport with its home in Scotland brings prize of £220 million trade in tourism

pure perfectionsince 1672

© Mark Alexander

golfeastlothian.com

Supported by

Host to the Open Championship at Muirfield 14-21 July 2013.

East Lothian has been golfing since 1672, is home to many

of the world’s finest links and has 22 must-play courses

along 30 miles of stunning coastline. Experience the best.

for sectors feature each other,” she says.She sees scope for greater collabora-

tion with Edinburgh. “They recognise that their visitors will not spend all their time in the city every time they visit,” she says. “So they’re happy to identify oppor-tunities to get people out and about.”

A successful summer 2012 event in a busy central Edinburgh location under the advertising strapline ‘Wish You Were There’ showed what East Lothian had to offer. The exercise will be repeated this August.

East Lothian has few large employ-ers; but one, Queen Margaret University (QMU) plays an important role in eco-nomic development. With 6,479 students and 438 staff, it is a major contributor to the local economy and has a strong repu-

tation in tourism and food and drink.The East Lothian Hospitality & Tour-

ism Academy is a collaboration between QMU, Edinburgh College, East Lothian Council schools, and sector employers such as Marriott Hotels, Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Novotel.

Entry to the Academy takes place in S5 (school year 12) and continues into S6 (year 13), with seamless and flexible tran-sition to either further or higher educa-tion or into employment.

The Academy has created a better match between employers’ needs and the curriculum. 35 young people are finishing their first year but the initiative has £4.6 million in government funding to include more secondary schools in East Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian and the Scottish

Borders and to create new academies in priority sectors: food science and nutri-tion, health and social care, and creative industries.

QMU anticipates that over the next eight years, as many as 1,200 youngsters will receive specialist Academy training while still at school.“This addresses a skills gap in hospitality and tourism, two of the Scottish government’s priority ar-eas for economic growth and significant sectors for East Lothian,” says QMU vice principal Professor Alan Gilloran. “It pro-vides targeted training in an area that is still desperately seeking new, well quali-fied employees and is geared towards raising pupils’ aspirations and awareness of the wealth of quality careers available in the sector.”

East Lothian Council works closely with QMU’s International Centre for the Study of Planned Events to evaluate what happens in the area and to develop future events.

East Lothian has fewer business-es, and more small businesses, per head of population than the Scottish average. As part of local commitment to small and me-

dium sized enterprises, QMU last year launched a Business Innovation Zone. This included: “incubator” accommoda-tion space; East Lothian Council’s Busi-ness Gateway Service (BGS), the first time in Scotland that a BGS support and advice service had been located on a university campus; and other facilities. The Inno-vation Zone supports local start-ups and encourages student and graduate entre-

preneurs. Youth Business Scotland, part of The Princes Trust is also located there.

The Big Cheese Making Kit, a local start-up, was recently offered space in the Innovation Centre and receives sup-port from QMU’s dedicated business de-velopment team as the firm rides a wave of UK-wide publicity for its DIY-cheese product.

Other East Lothian food and drink companies with positive stories include: brewers Belhaven, drinks giant Diageo’s Glenkinchie distillery, Belhaven Smoke-house, Thistly Cross Cider, Scots Cheer liqueur makers, and The Chocolate Tree, makers of artisan handmade organic bars and chocolates. Under the banner East Lothian Food & Drink (foodanddrink-eastlothian.com) local firms attend many important trade fairs.

Another larger employer, Torness, the nuclear power station owned by energy giant EDF, provides high-class appren-ticeships for boys and girls and employs more than 600 people. It also contributes to tourism. The plant is marking 25 years in operation and re-opened a new visitor centre in May.

QMU is also a partner in East Lothian Works, Haddington, a new central point of contact for advice on jobs, training and skills development.

It provides a ‘joined-up’ gateway for locals and businesses to access employ-ment, education and training services and advice from East Lothian Council, the Business Gateway, Job Centre Plus, QMU, Edinburgh College, Social Enter-prise East Lothian and Skills Develop-ment Scotland as well as others.

British Open among others play an important part.”

Attracting golfers to visit Scotland is a key part of VisitScotland’s strategy, not simply because of the numbers in which golfers travel but the money they spend while in the country.

On average a golfer will spend twice that of a regular visitor to Scotland and for every £1 they spend on green fees a further £5 will be spent on extras such as hotels, restaurants and retail.

And many visitors to golf events extend their stay and play golf during their trip. According to a study in 2005, there were almost 10,000 additional

rounds of golf played in Scotland by visitors to the Open Championship.

In 2014 Scotland will also play host to the Ryder Cup, an event which is expected to deliver like no other in the country’s history with an estimated economic impact of £100 million during the week of the event alone.

Dr Cantlay adds: “The Ryder Cup will bring an added dimension to a catalogue of events which is already the envy of the rest of the world. With the legacy of The Ryder Cup and the top-class list of golf events set to continue for years to come, the prospect for golf tourism has never been so bright.”

A strong bank of events is vital to keeping Scotland at the forefront of global golf

Getting known as Edinburgh’s coast and countryside encapsulates what we are aiming at

Thursday June 20 2013 | the times

Business Insight4

Global focus on Muirfield golf event offers investment opportunities, says SDI director

Going out across the globe to spread the word about Scotland as a business hub is often the working aim of Scottish Develop-ment International (SDI)

executives; but they are currently enjoying a rather special circumstance – in that the world is coming their way.

That’s thanks not only to next month’s gathering of golfing clans at the British Open being held at Muirfield, East Lo-thian, but also to next year’s other major sporting events set to shine a spotlight on the country – the Ryder Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

The Muirfield spectacle alone is expect-ing a worldwide television audience of no fewer than 550million, and – in the full realisation that such huge multiple op-portunities don’t often come any country’s way – the international arm of Scottish Enterprise is “in the process of finalising a programme of activities around all these events”, says Neil Francis, the SDI’s inter-national trade and investment director,

The object, of course, is to see this attention translated into inward invest-

ment, and – while he confesses to not being a golfer himself “so my handicap is rather large” – he is enthusiastic about the unique opportunities presented by such events.

“Each of them provides a window glob-ally on Scotland,” he says. “So, there are two ways in which see its benefits. One is the general kind of image-backdrop that projects Scotland just through the cover-age of these events, with our key assets – such as landscape – showing the country as an appealing place to be.

“Secondly, and more specifically regarding the business environment, they do give us a unique opportunity to engage with high-level individuals from compa-nies that are either existing significant investors here or considering investment in Scotland.

“With the focus so intense on the country, such an event provides a hook to continue or start relationship-building with people on either side of that fence.

“More influential people are obviously keen to visit on such occasions, and that’s a good reason to stage our ‘inward mis-sions’ around their timing. It’s about using something that’s already happening to our advantage.”

And what of Scotland’s heritage as “the home of golf” – how advantageous is that? “In my view, that does two things,” says Mr Francis. “It has a general kind of business benefit across all our sectors and a particular benefit in attracting inward investment into the tourism industry, in which we are also interested.”

Open for business cOmmercial repOrt: SDi

So as both a venue and a heritage-focus, Scotland’s special relationship with golf is a real game winner for its business world, with a highly promising future in the wider world. “Golf is an ever-developing pursuit among grow-ing economies,” says the Welsh-born director. “It’s huge in North America, of course, and as a mature, well-estab-lished market, it’s the single biggest investor in Scotland. But in terms of the emerging economies like China, Brazil, India and Russia, clearly as these countries’ middle classes expand they like the status symbols that signify that they are of that class. Golf is seen as one such potent symbol. And there are other benefits for Scotland…

“One of the key things is the whole issue of what we call ‘premium and

provenance’. If you think of some of Scotland’s high-quality products like whisky, textiles and food, in the context of these coming markets, we have a number of things that can all fall under this positioning of ‘premium and provenance’ – and golf is just one of the ways of drawing attention to that.”

The SDI has been working closely with East Lothian Council in the run-up to the Muirfield event, and the latter’s economic development manager Susan Smith – also keen to stimulate inward investment – says: “With the eyes of the world on East Lothian in July, this year presents a unique opportunity to capitalise on this attention.”

Neil Francis concludes: “We can all be joined up to maximise the potential benefits for Scotland.”

Neil Francis, SDi’s international trade and investment Director considers how events such as the Open can encourage inward investment

Scotland’s special relationship with golf is a real game winner for its business world

In East Lothian, where I live and golf is king, wildlife — especially in the form of deer galloping across carefully tended greens and rabbits digging burrows in bunkers — is often regarded as a serious irritation.

Personally, I fi nd my usual golf mediocrity is greatly compensated for by the sight and sound of larks

rising, gannets plunging, and kestrels and owls hunting over the long grass where most of my balls now live.

Indeed, the importance of wildlife to East Lothian’s tourist trade is growing but perhaps still under-unappreciated and its potential not fully realised.

This may be because, while the value of golf can be calculated fairly precisely from visitor tickets, wildlife tourism’s worth is much harder to work out. Most visitors go unrecorded, although they may visit a few shops and buy a meal.

A 2010 study for the Scottish govern-ment by Bournemouth University concentrated on trips made within and to Scotland primarily for viewing wildlife, estimating overall spending by these visitors at £276 million, with a net economic impact of £65 million.

Compared to the value of golf,

estimated by a recent KPMG study to generate £1.17 billion in revenues, producing a net gain to the Scottish economy of £496 million, it looks pretty small beer.

This, however, may be mislead-ing. Another 2010 report, compiled by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), estimated total spending on all forms of tourism where wildlife and landscape is a signifi cant feature at £1.4 billion.

This comprised walking and moun-taineering (£533 million), viewing landscape and scenery (£420 million), adventure activities (£178 million), shooting, angling and deer-stalking (£136 million), and wildlife tourism (£127 million).

On this basis, it is golf which is the junior tourism partner.

This is certainly not true in East Lothian. The concentration of courses, crowned by Open Championship venue Muirfi eld, and studded with other tournament quality courses at Dunbar, North Berwick, Gullane, Archerfi eld, Longniddry, and an under-rated little historic gem at Musselburgh, gives the county a premier position in not just Scottish, but also global, golf tourism.

And around two-thirds to three-

quarters of Scotland’s wildlife tourism takes place in the Highlands and Islands and the west coast. East Lothian, surely, cannot compete with the whales, basking sharks, eagles, and mountains to be admired in the north and west?

No, it can’t. But, fairly common sea-shore waders — dunlins, knots, plovers, redshank — have different attractions. “We forget that a lot of people just don’t get to see these because they live in the city,” said Duncan Priddle, Countryside Offi cer with East Lothian Council’s ranger service.

The success of the Scottish Seabird

These activities can also draw in winter visitors and help sustain small businesses

Peter JonesWalk on the wild side reveals wealth of nature’s attractions

LESLEY MARTIN/SCOTTISH SEABIRD CENTRE

Centre at North Berwick, which opened in 2000 demonstrates the point. Through its pioneering use of cameras on the islands on the Forth, which can be remotely controlled by centre visi-tors, it brings them close up to estuary seabird life, not the least of which is the massive gannet colony on the Bass Rock which erupts so dramatically a mile offshore.

Its visitors, now more than 250,000 a year, while they may now be causing car parking problems in the town, bring much business to local shops, cafes and restaurants. So too, do people who come to walk, or canoe and kayak along the coast.

In fact, while the county may not have mountaineering, it has all the other elements of countryside tourism identifi ed in the SNH study — angling on inland rivers and lochs, walking and shooting on the Lammermuirs.

What’s more, and unlike golf, these can also draw in winter as well as summer visitors and it helps to spark and sustain a lot of small businesses: teashops, guided tours, craft trades, taxi fi rms, etc.

And it is the birthplace of the world’s most famous naturalist and the founder of America’s national parks — John Muir — commemorated in a country park, a coastal walk and with his Dunbar birthplace now a little museum.

With that historical anchor, and with a bit of planning and investment, East Lothian looks to have all the assets needed to make wildlife tourism a much bigger part of the county economy.

Business Insightthe times | Thursday June 20 2013 5

Business Forum

It might have been founded more than 500 years ago as a sport for gentlemen on Scotland’s links, but the Royal and Ancient game is now worth over £1 billion a year to the home of golf and employs more than 20,000 people in Scot-land. The R&A forecasts that this year’s Open Championship at Muirfield will deliver an economic

benefit of £70 million to the East Lothian and Edinburgh region, where Scotland’s 30-mile Golf Coast, stretching from Mus-selburgh to Dunbar and encompassing 22 golf courses, including Muirfield, was launched last week by Enterprise and Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing.

In terms of supporting local businesses to maximise benefits from next month’s Open, what lessons have been learned and what more can be done?Angela Leitch said that the key has been preparation. “If you’re going to maximise the benefit of the Open, you need to start your marketing at a very early stage and in East Lothian we’ve been well positioned because we are the only local authority to have a golf tourism officer,” she said.

Allan Minto added that the council had been advising local businesses about extending their opening hours and being more flexible with the range of services to better match the flow of visitors in and out of the championship itself.

Can you estimate how much money the tournament will bring in to area?Minto said that the forecast figure is £70 million, with £25 million in direct spend related to the championship and £45 mil-lion in projected media value.

“As the sunniest and driest part of Scotland, we’re anticipating some great media coverage that will entice people to come back and visit!”

Brian Hay noted that when people think of golf tourism they tend to think of people on the golf course; but that golf tourism is much more to do with indirect linkages to local businesses.

While John McMillan suggested that the challenge for the council was to wel-come visitors to the Open and to offer them an open invitation to return, Bob Gunning noted that the biggest impact will be from television.

“The Open championship is the third biggest worldwide TV event, next to the Olympics and football, and it’s reckoned to reach around 550 million homes,” he said.

How will the slowdown of the economy impact on the benefit to be derived?Robbie Clyde suggested that the return of the Open to Scotland this year, when

for golf. “We recognise that collaboration is key. Yes we compete against each other but if we can increase the size of the cake, then we can all get a bigger share,” he said.

Endorsing the work undertaken by the Alliance, Clyde said that it is regarded as an exemplar across the rest of the country.

Are our hospitality skills at the right level to maximise the opportunities?Lawrence Durden said that the Scot-tish government works with the Scottish Tourism Alliance and other bodies to de-velop a skills investment plan to identify what the priorities are and that there is a clear template of what is required across Scotland, such as customer service, im-proving visitor attractions and manage-ment training. “The Open provides an opportunity to inspire young people to see what a great industry tourism and hospitality can be to work in,” he said.

Leitch suggested that it is about open-ing up young people’s minds to what the hospitality and tourism industry has to offer, mentioning that local schools are working with Queen Margaret University on a Hospitality and Tourism Academy.

Hamish Grey said the Scottish Golf Union had run a management develop-ment training course for golf club manag-ers over recent years which has been recog-nised internationally as a success. He added that the customer experience is crucial.

“The way in which golf is being played is changing,” he said. “These changes put challenges on the traditional mem-bership-based model of our clubs and unless you have a healthy, vibrant club you haven’t got a golf tourism product.”

How do we develop golf as a business?Grey emphasised the importance of ensuring that golf is a game accessible to all. When McMillan stressed the importance of encouraging entry into the game from kids, Leitch noted that East Lothian enjoys a very strong children’s golf community.

“In some of the small villages, the activity of the community revolves around the golf club rather than a com-munity centre,” she said.

Grey noted that, over the past decade,

more than 260,000 nine year olds at Pri-mary 5 had been introduced to the game and that up to 15 per cent of these young-sters go onto structured development.

“Our challenge is to ensure that we have the right welcoming environment to keep developing those youngsters into a lifetime of golf,” he said. “The key to the future of most of our clubs is family. We have a lot of clubs that say they are ‘fam-ily-friendly’, but I would describe them more as ‘family-tolerant’ — and there’s a big difference.”

Where are the most promising inter-national markets to develop the golf industry in Scotland?Clyde said traditional markets are the rest of the UK, then the US, parts of Western Europe, Scandinavia and Germany.

“There’s a lot of work going on in terms of building the next tier of markets below that in other countries in Western Eu-rope, such as France, Italy, Spain and Hol-land and some of the BRIC nations too — particularly India and China,” he said.

Gunning noted that while Americans tend to choose the trophy courses, the majority of visitors to Longniddry are from England and Scandinavia — and the availability of direct flights is a major factor. Given that 70 per cent of golf tour-ism comes from the UK, Hay emphasised that the importance of day visitors should not be underestimated.

“There is a big market on the doorstep from golfers coming to East Lothian from Edinburgh and Newcastle — so why go to India when you’ve got half a million people living in Edinburgh?” he asked.

Rae noted that a major benefit of East Lothian is its transport links and Leitch added that the council is very keen to communicate the benefits of these links to potential employers.

What one thing would improve the golf industry?McMillan emphasised the importance of the family welcome while for Dur-den the important thing was to explain to small business owners the benefits to their businesses of training their staff and making them aware of the range of sup-port available.

Clyde suggested the emphasis should be placed on maximising the opportuni-ties rather than exploiting the opportuni-ties that the Open will bring. Grey said that it is ultimately about the interaction of people and the welcome they receive, whether as a member or a visitor.

While Rae suggested that the issue of women’s golf requires to be addressed, for Archibald the pressing issue was the need for more publicity to change perceptions and increase awareness.

Gunning agreed with Grey that a pri-ority was the welcome to visitors at golf clubs whilst Hay suggested that an exten-sion of the season beyond April to Oc-tober would help businesses and make them more sustainable in the long term.

Minto said that golf courses were world class but that some clubs were still striving to deliver world-class experi-ences whilst, for Leitch, the key message was that East Lothian is open for business throughout the period of the champion-ship and that its local hospitality sector operators adapt their offering to make the most of the opportunity.

The Times Scotland Business Forum discussed how a drive in East Lothian is aiming to maximise economic benefits from the 2013 Open. Graham Lironi reports

Around the table�� The Business Forum was chaired by Peter Jones, columnist for The Times Scotland, who was joined by:�� Angela Leitch, Chief Executive, East Lothian Council�� Cllr John McMillan, East Lothian Council�� Robbie Clyde, Ryder Cup Project Director, EventScotland�� Bob Gunning, Chair, East Lothian Golf Tourism Alliance�� Hamish Grey, Chief Executive, Scottish Golf Union�� Prof Brian Hay, Queen Margaret University�� Allan Minto, Golf Tourism Officer, East Lothian Council �� Lawrence Durden, Manager of Tourism, Skills Development Scotland�� Rob Rae, Midlothian and East Lothian Chamber of Commerce�� George Archibald, Chief Executive, Midlothian and East Lothian Chamber of Commerce

there is mounting evidence of economic recovery, is good timing for the country; particularly since three of the next four Open championships will be in Scotland.

Gunning said that even though they might be struggling, people are passion-ate about golf and will continue spending money on it. Hay agreed, suggesting that golf tourists will protect their expenditure on golf, often at the expense of other ac-tivities, because of that passion.

Rob Rae noted that the economic im-pact study from the 2010 Open revealed that spend per visitor was higher than both Wimbledon and the London Mara-thon. George Archibald proposed that premium goods and services were the least affected by a recession and suggest-ed that the Open has not been harmed greatly by the downturn.

Minto bolstered this proposition by indicating that sales figures for official hospitality at the Open have been even stronger than in previous years.

Are the golf clubs fully involved in extracting the maximum value from the Open to develop as businesses?Gunning said that golf clubs are involved in the East Lothian Golf Tourism Alli-ance, which is a collaborative scheme between East Lothian Council, local golf courses and businesses to ensure that clubs, courses and hotels work together to promote East Lothian as a destination

A door Opens to opportunity

Global focus on Muirfield golf event offers investment opportunities, says SDI director

Going out across the globe to spread the word about Scotland as a business hub is often the working aim of Scottish Develop-ment International (SDI)

executives; but they are currently enjoying a rather special circumstance – in that the world is coming their way.

That’s thanks not only to next month’s gathering of golfing clans at the British Open being held at Muirfield, East Lo-thian, but also to next year’s other major sporting events set to shine a spotlight on the country – the Ryder Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

The Muirfield spectacle alone is expect-ing a worldwide television audience of no fewer than 550million, and – in the full realisation that such huge multiple op-portunities don’t often come any country’s way – the international arm of Scottish Enterprise is “in the process of finalising a programme of activities around all these events”, says Neil Francis, the SDI’s inter-national trade and investment director,

The object, of course, is to see this attention translated into inward invest-

ment, and – while he confesses to not being a golfer himself “so my handicap is rather large” – he is enthusiastic about the unique opportunities presented by such events.

“Each of them provides a window glob-ally on Scotland,” he says. “So, there are two ways in which see its benefits. One is the general kind of image-backdrop that projects Scotland just through the cover-age of these events, with our key assets – such as landscape – showing the country as an appealing place to be.

“Secondly, and more specifically regarding the business environment, they do give us a unique opportunity to engage with high-level individuals from compa-nies that are either existing significant investors here or considering investment in Scotland.

“With the focus so intense on the country, such an event provides a hook to continue or start relationship-building with people on either side of that fence.

“More influential people are obviously keen to visit on such occasions, and that’s a good reason to stage our ‘inward mis-sions’ around their timing. It’s about using something that’s already happening to our advantage.”

And what of Scotland’s heritage as “the home of golf” – how advantageous is that? “In my view, that does two things,” says Mr Francis. “It has a general kind of business benefit across all our sectors and a particular benefit in attracting inward investment into the tourism industry, in which we are also interested.”

Open for business cOmmercial repOrt: SDi

So as both a venue and a heritage-focus, Scotland’s special relationship with golf is a real game winner for its business world, with a highly promising future in the wider world. “Golf is an ever-developing pursuit among grow-ing economies,” says the Welsh-born director. “It’s huge in North America, of course, and as a mature, well-estab-lished market, it’s the single biggest investor in Scotland. But in terms of the emerging economies like China, Brazil, India and Russia, clearly as these countries’ middle classes expand they like the status symbols that signify that they are of that class. Golf is seen as one such potent symbol. And there are other benefits for Scotland…

“One of the key things is the whole issue of what we call ‘premium and

provenance’. If you think of some of Scotland’s high-quality products like whisky, textiles and food, in the context of these coming markets, we have a number of things that can all fall under this positioning of ‘premium and provenance’ – and golf is just one of the ways of drawing attention to that.”

The SDI has been working closely with East Lothian Council in the run-up to the Muirfield event, and the latter’s economic development manager Susan Smith – also keen to stimulate inward investment – says: “With the eyes of the world on East Lothian in July, this year presents a unique opportunity to capitalise on this attention.”

Neil Francis concludes: “We can all be joined up to maximise the potential benefits for Scotland.”

Neil Francis, SDi’s international trade and investment Director considers how events such as the Open can encourage inward investment

Scotland’s special relationship with golf is a real game winner for its business world

Collaboration is key. If we can increase the size of the cake we all get a bigger share

Back row, left to right: Hamish Grey, Lawrence Durden, George Archibald, Rob Rae, Robbie Clyde, Prof Brian Hay, Bob Gunning, Allan MintoFront row, left to right: Cllr John McMillan, Peter Jones, Angela Leitch

Thursday June 20 2013 | the times

Business Insight6

Cover story

The City of Edinburgh casts a long shadow over the border to East Lothian, an area too easily summed up as a tourist destination, with its magnifi cent castles, historic towns and beautiful coast-line. In fact, Scotland’s

capital is rather like an older sibling to its next-door local authority; always seem-ing to have more pocket money and being invited to all the best parties. The bonus, of course, is they also tend to have rather interesting friends …

There lies the challenge for Angela Leitch, chief executive of East Lothian Council, and tasked with bringing the

area out from underneath that substan-tial shadow — while maintaining those important economic and cultural links with Edinburgh.

In autumn 2011, the council commis-sioned the University of Glasgow to help them determine their economic priorities and enable them to work with a range of local and national agencies to deliver a blueprint that will encourage investment and growth in East Lothian while also creating and sustaining new jobs.

The result is a 10-year economic strat-egy, developed and owned not just by the council, but also partner organisations such as Scottish Enterprise, Skills Develop-ment Scotland, Jobcentre Plus, Edinburgh College, Visit Scotland, Queen Margaret University and a raft of local businesses.

“We recognised our economy in East Lothian was largely dependent on Edin-burgh, and over the past few years, the downturn in the city and a loss of jobs has had an impact on our area,” says Leitch. “This new strategic framework is driving economic development activity in our area and we fully appreciate that our proximity to the city is a strength that we

need to draw on. Marketing ourselves as part of the city region is important in se-curing further investment.

“For instance, there are opportunities for businesses servicing manufacturing and freight companies in and around the Port of Leith to move to the west side of East Lothian and take advantage of the good road and rail links. “We’re pleased to see that the National Planning Framework identifi es Cockenzie as a key hub for off-shore renewable energy and that the port could also help meet the need for addi-tional freight capacity in the Firth of Forth.

“This strategy sets out not only our ambitions, but also targets growth in the number and size of businesses and in the number of jobs. Our combined actions are very much directed by the strategy.

“This is about asserting our identity, making sure we really are on the map. East Lothian as a brand already has a high profi le for tourism, for golf and for food and drink. So yes, we continue to work on establishing East Lothian as a destination as we want people to come here and enjoy the area — but we also want them to come and invest here.

“We want to grow our economy, and grow our towns across the county. We have been looking at how we market ourselves, and have worked with Scottish Development International, so we can make our potential clear to investors.”

This is an area renowned for both natural beauty and heritage, with towns such as Dunbar, North Berwick and Had-dington not only popular with residents, but visitors too. Property in East Lothian is not as expensive as it is in the capital, but still maintains good values, and there are plenty of good schools in an arearenowned for both natural beauty and heritage. The local economy has ben-efi tted from the food and drink industry, tourism, and golf. Of course, given these and other attractions, being a city neigh-bor means East Lothian can also make the most of the traffi c that fl ows their way.

“We recognise the importance of Ed-inburgh to our economy,” says Leitch, who hails from the capital. “Living inEdinburgh and working in East Lothian has reinforced for me the complementary nature of the city and our historic and vi-brant county. We depend on each other and recognise that working across the city region is essential to benefi t econo-mies in the south east of Scotland.”

She knows the city’s dwellers form a signifi cant number of those who fl ock to East Lothian’s countryside and coast-line every weekend and throughout the spring and summer. However, as a des-tination, East Lothian is working hard to attract more visitors from further afi eld.

“Just 10 minutes from Edinburgh are so many different activities,” she says. “As tourism represents about 10 per cent of

East Lothian is blossoming as a base for new business opportunities. Angela Leitch explains an exciting strategy for the region to Ginny Clark

Time has come to leave shadow of the capital

Angela Leitch, the chief executive of East Lothian Council at North Berwick golf course

JAMES GLOSSOP FOR THE TIMES

Business Insightthe times | Thursday June 20 2013 7

our business activity, it’s vital we work to increase our bed occupancy rates, not just the numbers of day visitors. One of the strategic issues is that as Scotland’s lead-ing coastal and leisure destination, with a big emphasis on food and drink, we need to encourage short breaks. We’ve done a lot of promotional work with our product manufacturers, and we use every oppor-tunity we have as an umbrella organisa-tion to support businesses in the market-place supporting them at exhibitions and making links at home and overseas.

“Also, while there is already a good spread of accommodation, ranging from caravan parks to B&Bs and luxury his-toric homes and hotels, we do need more, and we’re currently working with a local company to support a new development of a hotel and lodges.

“There are terrific development oppor-tunities on the west side of East Lothian at Musselburgh, in and around Queen Margaret University, which moved there in 2007. Around 40 hectares of land has been zoned for employment use, and we’re working with site owner, Scottish Development International, and QMU to promote this area, which sits at the be-ginning of the city bypass on the A1 and has a station with a regular train service that takes you to Waverley in six minutes.

“The council is also continuing to campaign for the dualling of the A1 from Dunbar to Morpeth. We believe this will open up the north of England and beyond to East Lothian, Edinburgh, and the east coast of Scotland.

Supporting development and encour-aging investment is key to East Lothian’s

ambition, however, with the priority to boost local employment, the council is also taking a hands-on approach.

“It’s all about increasing the number of jobs, and it’s pretty challenging,” admits Leitch. “So we’re also using our own pur-chasing power to stimulate opportunities to support people into the workplace. As we let council contracts, there’s a requirement for suppliers to choose from a menu of community benefits that is now producing jobs, particularly for young people. These benefits include extended work place-ments, internships and apprenticeships.

“Overall we have a stable business base, with start-ups and closures year on year lower than the national level, and we have a higher number of SMEs, at 66 per cent, than the 63 per cent level across Scotland. This gives us a resilience, a solid core, to our economy. We’re working to build on that, to help businesses to grow. One step we’ve taken is to set up our own funding arm, East Lothian Investments Ltd, allowing businesses based or located here to borrow from us. It’s run as an arm’s length organisation, with two local business people having been appointed as directors. Loans are determined on the basis of business plans, and it’s proved extremely successful, with a bad debt rate of less than 3 per cent. We’re also keen to work with employers to increase the number of employees, with a scheme of-fering financial support to a business tak-ing on another member of staff.

“The council has established a hub, bringing together its own services and agencies such as Jobcentre Plus and Skills Development Scotland into one unit to support people looking for work and helping them access the training they need. Last year, during the strategy development, it was recognised young people going into tourism and hospitality jobs saw them as a stop-gap, not a career. We’ve helped in the creation of the Hos-pitality and Tourism Academy at QMU, which has been so successful they have secured additional government funding to roll it out across east Scotland.

The young people involved not only benefited from the academic experience but also the work-based contact with

leading chefs in top hotels here and in Edinburgh.”

Growing sustainable jobs is crucial to the area, but the nature of the leisure and tour-ism sector means it also provides oppor-tunities that are temporary. East Lothian have been working closely with the R&A in their recruitment of temporary staff for next month’s arrival of the Open at Muir-field, and also secured agreement that local businesses will be used among the event’s suppliers. However, an event such as the Open also stimulates long-term benefits.

“The Open provides a tremendous opportunity for us to showcase East Lo-thian: not just our 22 golf courses but eve-rything the area has to offer.”

For Leitch, it seems, half the battle is getting people to East Lothian. Once they’ve been, they’ll want to come back, or they won’t want to leave. “We want to use the event as a way of showing poten-tial investors the advantages of locating in East Lothian and encourage visitors to return to enjoy our fabulous county.”

The Open provides a tremendous opportunity to showcase everything that East Lothian has to offer

The business of leisureEast Lothian’s growing popula-tion of just under 100,000 sup-ports what is a popular leisure, food and drink and tourism destination – and the economic development strategy’s aim is to make it Scotland’s Number 1.

The Golf Coast is just part of the story … The 40-miles plus of coastline also brings surfers, watersport enthusiasts and sailors to their golden sands. Walkers and cyclists enjoy the unspoilt countryside, with the John Muir Coast to Coast Trail stretching from Dunbar, John Muir’s birthplace, across to Helensburgh, and the Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick. Heritage is important to East Lothian too,

with historic towns, beautiful gardens, castles at Dirleton and Tantallon, and the National Flag Heritage Centre at Athelstan-eford, birthplace of the Saltire.

The area is also home to the Museum of Flight at East Fortune and museums at North Berwick, Haddington, Dunbar, Musselburgh and Prestonpans.

Festivals are also a popular feature, from Fringe by the Sea in August, Three Harbours art festival in May, Lammermuir Festival (classical concerts) in September and Lennoxlove Book Festival in November.

The Open Championship comes to Muirfield, East Lothian from July 14-21. www.muirfield2013.com

commercial report: tHe Brunton

Half a year into its rejuve-nating effect on the heart of East Lothian’s largest town, it smells remark-ably fresh and woody – the latest stage (almost

literally) in the short but eventful three-part life of The Brunton Hall that houses Musselburgh’s lively and much-loved 296-seat The Brunton Theatre.

Venue 1, as it’s known, is not strictly an extension to the original theatre. Blossoming out on a level above, boast-ing 500 seats and costing £3.9 million, it’s a completely reconceived space with an expansive floor area and a wider raison d’être to include more commercial options such as business conferences and weddings through community events and catered functions to dance perfor-mances, concerts, and even new movies.

But neither is Venue 1 designed to upstage the traditional ground-floor theatre, a place so respected in the trade that some of its seats are sponsored by big Scottish stars like Robbie Coltrane, Brian Cox and Siobhan Redmond. Since the 1970s, this intimate horseshoe has entertained – and won – local hearts and minds with a mix of family-minded pro-and-am productions in drama, dance, music, comedy, children’s theatre, film,

workshops and musicals, not to men-tion scores of Edinburgh Festival Fringe productions. And it doesn’t intend to slow down now.

“Indeed, creating the new venue with more commercial possibilities is comple-mentary to the original theatre, as it’s designed to provide a flexible space capa-ble of hosting the widest possible range of events,” says the woman responsible for that programme, principal arts officer Lesley Smith. “The commercial events help to support the areas on the arts side that need a little bit more subsidy.”

The ‘Honest Toun’ is probably now more famous for this remarkable multi-functional facility than for its previous notables industries. But it was wire-making that brought about the first part of its story. When John D Brunton died in 1951, this son of the local wireworks founder left £700,000 to provide commu-nity halls for Musselburgh’s people. The council decided to go for a Brunton Hall that would incorporate not just some of its own offices but – because the town then boasted several amateur drama and oper-atic societies – a fully-equipped theatre.

The result, now managed by East Lothian Council, is a unique under-one-roof mix of council formality – such as a registration office with two marriage

rooms – sitting alongside thespian-rich posters for productions like the Reduced Shakespeare Company, the Singing Ket-tle, and East Lothian Youth Theatre’s Annual Showcase.

The complex was opened by the Queen Mother in 1971; and while it was well received, by the early 1990s it was ready for its second stage of life: a radical upgrade – funded by East Lothian Council, the Scottish Arts Council and the European Regional Development Fund – that saw it reopen in 1997 with enhanced facilities featuring a fly tower, audio description booth, lift and wheel-chair gallery. Not to mention smart peripheral elements such as a ‘designer’ box office and pre-theatre bar and bistro.

That still-appealing look “has stood up pretty well” and sits comfortably

the next stage of entertaining successA £3.9 million investment at The Brunton’s Venue 1 brings action-packed potential to this much loved East Lothian theatre, reports Frank Simpson

with the ‘stage three’ top-level facility unveiled at the turn of the year. Venue 1 represents the transformation of an under-used vacuum into a dazzling and highly versatile space that’s already justi-fying the bold thinking that was sparked by a routine need for rewiring. Now smartly kitted out with state-of-the-art lighting, heating, acoustics, dressing rooms, high-spec technical equipment and banks of brand new seating – as well as new wiring – it’s making a big impres-sion on clients already.

Ms Smith explains that “while the old space had its uses, it was not being fully exploited; certainly not as now… we’ve done some concentrated work with consultants on the promotional side and we’re starting to see the demand seriously build up.”

Business is benefiting from the new, versatile space that is justifying bold thinking

Thursday June 20 2013 | the times

Business Insight8

commercial report: Queen margaret university

The ever-smiling Profes-sor Petra Wend is clearly pleased she can see the sea from her elegant princi-pal’s eyrie atop the sleek complex of buildings hous-

ing Queen Margaret University. But as a modern European, she can see two more significant things about today’s Scotland: a growing focus on “service” industries accompanied by … no, not the usual tale of youngsters’ grudging acceptance of that but a positive change in such attitudes.

“I believe the problem has been use of the word ‘service’,” says the peripatetic German-born professor, who came to the Scottish establishment four years ago after senior positions in three London

universities. “Service is just the wrong word for it. And we are helping to change that through our involvement in the new East Lothian Hospitality and Tourism Academy.”

So could “hospitality” be the magic word introducing, through training, a new sense of pride into the business? “Yes, perhaps hospitality. It’s such an important industry, not only to East Lothian but to Scotland as a whole. It needs well-quali-fied young people to go into it, and there are jobs to be had, and real professional pride to be had in it too.”

But can they find that respectful Euro-pean feeling for the profession? “I think so. A prominent Italian and Edinburgh hotel manager told me how, from an early age, he felt his mother did not ‘serve’ him

food but ‘gave’ it to him. That’s the differ-ence. But now I sense it is changing. One of our Scots students was recently enthus-ing about how much he enjoyed waiting at tables and engaging with people.

“But we are also trying to point out that it’s not all about waiting at tables. The list of openings in the hospitality industry is endless. There are HR and finance departments in hotels, holiday camps to be run, and hundreds of international opportunities.”

The focus of this subject is on her doorstep, however. Launched last year, the East Lothian Hospitality and Tourism Academy presents a wealth of opportuni-ties to 16-to-18-year-old pupils from three local secondary schools, while raising standards across our hospitality and tour-ism industries. The academy helps pupils move seamlessly from school to college or university, and from there directly into industry.

The initiative – in which the university is partnered with East Lothian Council, Edinburgh College, schools and leading hotel groups – has seen 34 pupils from Tranent’s Ross High, Musselburgh Gram-mar, and Prestonpans’ Preston Lodge, em-brace academic and practical skills classes at the university and college several times a month, while the hotels involve them directly in the industry by providing placements and hands-on opportunities to help them hit the ground running when it comes to their career.

Pupils with sights on a degree can now complete an HNC in Hospitality while remaining at school. And on com-pletion, they will be able to progress to year two of the International Hospital-ity and Management degree at Queen Margaret University.

All of which can only be good for a local economy already well served by the hive of energy that is Queen Margaret University – located in what would otherwise have been something of a wilderness. Indeed, soon after the East Lothian coastal complex opened in 2007 – moving from a scattered Edinburgh estate – it was estimated that it registered a £380,000 impact on the county’s economy, a further £830,000 on the rest of Scotland, with a projected

Wanted: a new word for a new attitude‘Giving’ rather than ‘service’ should define Scotland’s growing culture of hospitality. The principal of Queen Margaret University explains her aims to Rick Wilson

professor petra Wend is ‘inundated’ with demand for products and development

£77 million boost to the UK economy as a whole.

The spotless, award-winning campus provides an ultra-modern study environ-ment with access to computers every-where for 1,000 students, of whom 50 per cent are from Scotland and the rest from England, Northern Ireland and further afield, bringing an off-campus spend-ing power of £11 million, in addition to boosting tourism and raising the region’s international profile. Not to mention its local profile nurtured by a commitment to community engagement – from theatrical productions to helping senior citizens.

No fewer than 500 staff members guide the students in a rich variety of disciplines that fall into three main “flagship” areas – health and rehabilitation, creativity and culture, and sustainable business. Talking of which…

Research-based development of new businesses is the second leg on which the university’s economic importance stands, and a key driver of this is the Business Innovation Zone (BIZ) established last year in cooperation with East Lothian Council whose Business Gateway is at the heart of BIZ.

Signalling the university’s aim to step up engagement with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the Zone also features new business incubation space with accommodation and other facilities for small business start-ups, which goes along with research support and the em-bedding of entrepreneurship into courses to encourage students to see starting their own business as a viable graduate career option.

So how has it been going? “Very well indeed!” says Professor Wend with an undisguised glint of pride. “We have been inundated by almost 40 companies keen to work with us on products and develop-ment.”

Success stories so far? She cites a number that have made big strides with university help – Raw Film, a fledgling documentary production company which has already won a BAFTA award; drinks companies Roots Soda and Get Juiced; and a one-woman firm that would have raised eyebrows in Dragons’ Den, with a cheese-making kit that is now for sale in Harrods.

In addition, the university has won awards for its partnership with Advanced Microwave Technologies, a small business which has developed a very gentle process of pasteurisation that extends the shelf life of food and drink without destroying nutrients and antioxidants and without altering taste.

Of course, the university has its own success story – having recently been presented with a top award at The Times Higher Education Leadership and Man-agement Awards ceremony in London last year: acknowledgment that within three years it has met many challenges in finances, strategy and organisational culture, to be recognised as having the best leadership and management in the sector in the UK.

“I got an email saying Queen Margaret had been put down as the success story and everyone else had been measured against that,” says a “delighted” Profes-sor Wend – noting with due modesty the contribution of her team; but all things considered, she can surely be forgiven another slight glint of personal pride in a job that’s going rather well.

Hospitality needs well qualified young people to go into it and there are real jobs to be had and real professional pride too

A heritage of innovationThe new-generation boost being given to the hospitality industry by Queen Margaret University harks directly back to its original spirit – not just to the sainted 11th-century Scottish queen herself, who handed out food to the poor, but to the university’s founding forerunner, the Edinburgh School of Cookery and Do-mestic Economy, started in 1875 by Christian Guthrie Wright and Louisa Stevenson, both members of Edinburgh Ladies’ Educa-tional Association.

The school began as a women-only institution. “But it was not a bridal finishing school,” says the university’s current principal, Professor Petra Wend. “It was one of the first colleges to give women an education, so it was actually quite revolutionary.

“It was dedicated to improving the diets of the working classes – to generally enhancing the well-being of the people. And these are the proud roots that are still behind many of the innovative activities the university is engaged in today.”

the east lothian Hospitality and tourism academy is aiming to raise standards across the industry

Business Insightthe times | Thursday June 20 2013 9

commercial report: Queen margaret university The golf economy

Sharing in a £70 million economic bonanza from the Open Championship at Muirfi eld is one thing; making sure the legacy is not a quickly forgotten hole-in-one is another.

A high percentage of visitors to the Open are day visitors whose spend

locally will necessarily be limited. The real prize will be the greater awareness of East Lothian created by the event. Golf tourist numbers usually increase after an Open; but compared with when the Open was last at Muirfi eld in 2002, the area has more irons in its bag to secure greater and longer-term benefi ts.

One is the East Lothian Golf Tourism Alliance, developed with support from East Lothian Council, as a partnership of best practice spread across the public and private sectors. Another is the golfeastlo-thian.com website where the world can fi nd out about local golf courses, book ac-commodation and golf package holidays as well as tee times at selected courses, and contact local restaurants. Local golf tourism businesses co-operate under the brand East Lothian; Scotland’s Golf Coast, setting aside competition to bake a larger cake to share.

This joined-up approach aims to win the area its fair share and more of some one billion pounds worth of economic activity that golf generates in Scotland each year.

This estimate was published earlier this month in a study by consultants Oxford Economics and global accountants and consultants KPMG for the Scottish Golf Union in association with state develop-ment agency Scottish Enterprise and tourism agency VisitScotland.

VisitScotland fi gures underline one reason why golf tourists are so highly val-ued: they spend more per head than any other category of tourist. Another reason is that in an uncertain global economy, golf tourism has maintained growth for 20 years, according to the London-based International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO), the global trade or-ganisation for the golf tourism industry.

IAGTO estimates that its operators con-trol more than 85 per cent of golf holiday packages sold worldwide and that its oper-ators took care of the travel arrangements for more than 1.6 million golfers in 2012, with golf holiday sales reaching nearly €1.5 billion (nearly £900 million).

Its fi rst-ever Annual Golf Tourism Re-port, published in March, found operator sales 9.3 per cent higher in 2012 compared with the previous year and noted that these businesses were optimistic about 2013. The report is important because it is the fi rst time anyone has assessed the relative growth of 75 golf destinations and provided an indication of sales. The mar-keting intelligence will prove invaluable to golf resorts, courses, hotels, tour opera-tors and tourist boards, IAGTO says.

“Even after 9/11, golf tourism basically stayed fl at and has been more resilient than standard tourism fi gures,” said IAG-TO general manager Carlton Carugati.

“All markets are now coming into align-

ment in terms of golf tourism growth. There is fast growth in Latin America, Africa and Asia, recovery in the US and stable numbers in Europe. So we expect golf tourism overall to begin a period of annual growth globally from 2013-14 for at least four or fi ve years.”

Scotland fi gures prominently among destinations asked for by golf tourists. “It is a key European golf destination and many long haul golfers from Asia, Africa and the Americas demand to visit Scot-land at least once,” says Carugati. “Obvi-ously, St Andrews (in Fife) is the main draw, but outside of that the regions in Scotland have so much to offer in terms of quality and diversity of courses. Af-ter- golf activities and cultural attrac-tions also help in making a true Scottishexperience. Scotland has history on its side and this is something other destina-tions fi nd diffi cult to promote.”

That said, golf tourism is very com-petitive in both long-haul and short-haul markets. More than 90 countries, some with more than one destination, such as Spain and the US, are actively promoting golf tourism from the government down.

Tour operators in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa reported sales growth averaging more than 20 per cent in 2012. While Europe slightly outper-formed with a 9.4 per cent rise, North

America turned in a 13.5 per cent in-crease, and Asia Pacifi c returned weaker growth of 5.1 per cent.

While the UK in general, and Scotland within that, is an important destination, it is also far and away the number one ‘ex-porter’, in both summer and winter, of Eu-ropean golf tourists booking trips to loca-tions elsewhere in Europe, IAGTO found.

Underlining this international compe-tition, when VisitScotland and the East of Scotland Golf Alliance (promoting golf in Fife, Angus and Dundee, and Perth-shire) co-hosted a showcase for Swedish tour operators at a golf day organised inSweden by IAGTO in May, the other hosts were South African Tourism.

Four key attributes distinguish the most successful destinations, says Caru-gati: whether the price is right for the

target market; the quality of courses and hotels; accessibility — direct fl ights and having courses close to each other makes a destination easier to sell; and a destina-tion has to promote all these aspects as consumers have a lot of choice.

East Lothian ticks these boxes, says former banker Bob Gunning, chair of East Lothian Golf Tourism Alliance and gen-eral manager at Logniddry Golf Course, an Open qualifying venue covering links and parkland on the shores of the Forth.

“We’re pretty competitive on price in East Lothian and throughout Scotland. We offer quality golf for all budgets. For example, Longniddry is £50 per round and North Berwick around £90, refl ect-ing their perceived standing in the rat-ings. In London, you would pay £50 to play on a council course.”

Having so many courses close to each other is “crucial”, adds Gunning. “We pro-mote the fact that we have 22 fantastic courses in a 30-mile stretch in a very ru-ral area but little or no traffi c.”

While not bristling with luxury hotels, the area has accommodation to suit all tastes, says Gunning. “The Macdonald Marine Hotel and Spa in North Berwick is four-star but there are also options at the budget end including bed & breakfast. Many golfers coming to East Lothian are groups of guys who say they are very

East Lothian is set to profi t from this year’s Open championship but the big prize lies in building on that, fi nds Rob Stokes

Championship chance flags up future fortune

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autem si ipsapidi ut laboren

Scotland has history on its side, something other destinations fi nd diffi cult to promote

Bob Gunning highlights ‘crucial’ importance of so many courses in a 30-mile stretch

The 12th and fourth greens at Muirfi ed, with the backdrop

of the Firth of Forth and Edinburgh beyond

Thursday June 20 2013 | the times

Business Insight10

Scotland’s irons in the fire

Scotland, the historic home of golf, offers outstanding value for money and choice to golf tourists. The average green fee is £40 (source: IAGTO) and there are more golf courses per head of population than in any other country. There are more than 550 courses in all.It receives constant worldwide media exposure as five of the nine current Open Championship courses are north of the border: St Andrews, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Royal Troon, and Turnberry.Three of the next four Open Champion-ships are in Scotland – Muirfield 2013, St Andrews 2015, Royal Troon 2016 and the Ryder Cup 2014 is at the Jack Nicklaus designed course at Gleneagles. Applications for the ballot for Ryder Cup

match day tickets began on June 10 on the Ryder Cup Europe website and close at midnight on July 12.European Tour events throwing the spotlight on Scotland this year are: Aberdeen Asset Management Scot-tish Open (Castle Stuart, July 11-14), Open Championship (Muirfield, July 18-21), Johnnie Walker Championship (Gleneagles, August 22-25), Dunhill Links Championship (Old Course, St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie, September 26-29). This tally of four events is more than in any other European country in 2013.Aside from golfeastlothian.com, other important web portals include golf.visitscotland.com.

happy with B&B or a small hotel.”While pressure on accommodation

during the Open is intense, courses have been investing to meet demand. Craigie-law Golf Club built a 25-bedroom lodge and Whitekirk Golf & Country Club has approval for a 100-bedroom hotel. There are three Travelodges within easy travel time of East Lothian’s courses. “And peo-ple will happily stay in Edinburgh and drive here,” says Gunning. “So accommo-dation is not a big issue.”

Being within easy reach of Edinburgh airport is a huge bonus, he adds. When budget airline Ryanair stopped flights to Prestwick and switched to Edinburgh, a Swedish golf tour operator started taking 3,000 visitors a year to Edinburgh and East Lothian instead of Ayrshire. Sweden is a strong market for East Lothian golf tourism, Norway is on the rise, and Hol-land and Germany are significant too, he says.

The golfeastlothian.com website and the unified brand East Lothian: Scotland’s Golf Coast are proving to be valuable marketing tools that support golf tour op-erators in selling the area to clients while also making life easier for visitors who wish to self-book, Gunning says.

“Before we started Scotland’s Golf Coast in 2005, awareness of East Lothian was probably quite low outside the coun-try,” Gunning recalls. “It’s really helping us to change that. The tour operators like to have a range of quality courses in good places and most of us offer a little discount to operators when they bring business to us: it’s an incentive that’s becoming increasingly important.”

If the future looks brighter than the past, IAGTO’s Carugati warns against complacency: “The challenges are to en-sure that golfers do not keep Scotland on a so-called ‘bucket list’ (a place to visit once before dying) and to provide tour operators selling Scotland with all the mechanics to feature it properly. Supplier-wise, service levels of golf courses and ho-tel need to be maintained and even raised so they are ahead of their competitors.”

Meanwhile, other nations are not standing idly by. For example, the pub-lic and private sectors in France are col-laborating to capitalise on the Ryder Cup being staged there for the first time, in 2018. The French Golf Federation is spearheading the effort after a survey commissioned from IAGTO suggested potential to double the country’s golf tourism business.

The best strategy for meeting competi-tion head-on is to send golfers away so happy that they want to come back, says Bob Gunning. “You can spend vast sums on advertising, but the vast majority of people who come, say, to Longniddry, do so because they’ve played here before and wanted to come back, or someone recommended it to them, or they added it to their list when they visited East Lo-thian and played other courses.

“The level of repeat business here is very important and cannot be underes-timated. Having quality courses in good condition is what brings people back.” It is the best guarantee that the effect of hosting the Open in East Lothian will have a longer-term effect on golf tourism not only locally but throughout Scotland.

By Heidi Soholt

There’s more than golf to The Open, for this prestigious event also provides a unique environment in which to relax, entertain and enjoy world-class hospitality.

Sodexo Prestige, part of international services giant Sodexo, is the official caterer and hospitality provider for The Open Championship.

The award-winning organisation prides itself on providing its discerning hospital-ity clients with the ultimate experience in fine dining and comfort.

The Open Hospitality will be located by Muirfield’s 9th hole – a perfect setting from which to spectate while enjoying the mouthwatering dishes created by Sodexo’s talented chefs.

The R&A’s Executive Director Busi-ness Affairs, Mike Tate, comments: “Our official hospitality programme gives our customers the location they want, on course, close to the action, and they have the additional comfort of knowing that their advance purchase is secured by us and tailored to meet the highest standards of customer service.”

Guests can choose from three restau-rants and book in advance – The Gallery, The 1860 Club or The Champions’ Bis-

tro. Also available are luxurious Premier Suites, offering five-star service in a sump-tuous environment. Clients can enjoy breakfast on arrival, three-course lunch and afternoon tea with a complimentary bar throughout the day.

Committed to using local produce and suppliers wherever possible, guests can look forward to some of East Lothian’s finest produce including award-winning Thistly Cross Cider, Luca Ice Cream and seasonal fruit from Belhaven Fruit Farm.

Trevor Garden, Sodexo’s Executive Chef for The Open Championship in Scotland, comments: “Working with Food and Drink East Lothian and East Lothian Council, The Open Hospitality Pro-gramme will source local produce and hire local staff, many from catering colleges in the area who will gain their first experi-ence of major event catering as a result.”

Director of The Open Championship Hospitality Programme, Brett Tonkyn, believes the event provides atmosphere and opportunities few others can rival. “Many people play golf and it has been quoted as the number one hobby among CEOs. At an event like The Open, guests can share their passion with business. Many of our guests will have played the course themselves which adds to their enjoyment – how many people can say they’ve played rugby at Twickenham, or tennis at Wimbledon? I think this is a

The Open Hospitality has its eye on the ball – all you and your guests need do is relax

cOmmercial repOrT: THe Open HOspiTaliTy

unique factor in The Open’s appeal.“The event is for people who want to

enjoy golf in a bit of style, and we have a great mix of clients – from major organi-sations to individuals.

“Another advantage is that the day is 10 hours long, giving guests the time to really enjoy the golf and hospitality.”

At a time when many hospitality firms have struggled, The Open Championship Hospitality Programme has experienced increased sales year on year, with figures for Muirfield higher than what was achieved at Royal Lytham in 2012 – The Cham-pions Bistro sold out on Thursday and Friday months ago. “Even in challenging circumstances that have triggered austere measures, we’re finding that golf is proving to be very apt to the business market.

“Since the credit crunch the hospitality industry has had to adapt to changes in

the market. Corporate clients are being more strategic about how they carry out hospitality – retention for both clients and staff is incredibly important to a company’s strategy and hospitality plays a key role in this. We have always maintained that The Open should be “open for all”, and have retained a price level that’s competi-tive and attractive to businesses of all sizes and golf fans alike. While firms are still spending money, many have become very selective about what events to attend with clients. In response to this we have pro-duced new packages for next year, which will offer clients more choice. Lots of com-panies are now opting for more informal hospitality over the lavish packages.”

While the event is almost sold out, Tonkyn adds that a number of packages are still available. For more information, visit www.TheOpen.com/hospitality

The Open Hospitality village on muirfield’s 9th hole is the perfect setting to spectate and dine

At an event like The Open guests can share their passion with business

The level of repeat business here is very important and cannot be underestimated

Business Insightthe times | Thursday June 20 2013 11

commercial feature: food and drink

With more than a million visitors a year to cater for, the people of East Lothian know a thing or two about

food and drink. From the fine dining served at top restaurants such as Chez Roux at Greywalls, to the freshly caught fish available at its harbour-side cafes, this rural spot between Edinburgh and the North Sea is blessed with natural produce few can rival.

Agriculture has long been a staple in-dustry, founded on the area’s fertile soils, mild climate and gently rolling landscape. Historically, the agricultural industry fed into malting, brewing, soap-making and distilling. Famous drinks brands such as Dunbar’s Belhaven Brewery and Glen-kinchie Distillery, home of Edinburgh Malt, originate in East Lothian.

Although its industries have evolved over the years, East Lothian is still char-acterised by an abundance of small, local businesses. This is what gives the county its distinctive appeal, says East Lothian Council’s business advisor, Fiona Edgar. “The food and drink industries are an important part of our tourism offering,” she says. “East Lothian welcomes around 1.3million tourists per year, and we’re keen to provide the very best produce available. We know that tourists like to get a flavour of where they are.”

She continues: “Aside from people who come to events like the Open, lots of day trippers visit us. Around 900,000 people arrive from Edinburgh each year, to enjoy the coast, play golf, eat and drink.”

The council has demonstrated its com-mitment to small local producers through East Lothian Food & Drink, an initiative which promotes local businesses collec-tively as a brand.

The East Lothian Food and Drink Directory, annual awards dinner and attendance at key events such as the BBC Good Food Show and The Royal Highland Show, are some of the ways that the project provides support.

“Through the initiative, we’re able to promote local producers as a unit,” explains Fiona. “We help businesses com-pete with major retailers and assist with access to large events. For example, we’ve done lots of work with Sodexo Prestige (caterers for the Open), encouraging them to take smaller producers, such as Musselburgh’s Luca’s Ice Cream.”

The area’s abundant natural resources have created a successful venture for one East Lothian couple.

Hugh and Louise Elder’s farm is ablaze with bright yellow rapeseed during spring-

time, and the crop is used in their top selling Black & Gold oil.

The Elders, whose Stevenson Mains Farm is located near Haddington, launched their cold pressed rapeseed oil in 2010. Since then it has become a staple ingredient in many well-known kitchens.

Famed for its taste and naturally occur-ring antioxidants, the oil’s proven health benefits have recently been confirmed by independent researchers from Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University.

Explains Louise: “Our cold pressed rapeseed is distinctive as it has naturally occurring antioxidants rather than any added artificially. We’re promoting the health benefits of using a locally sourced, cold pressed rapeseed oil to consumers and food manufacturers. It has a more favourable Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio than oils such as sunflower.”

Another benefit, she adds, is that its health boosting properties do not dimin-ish when heated, unlike olive oil which begins to break down.

High profile customers including Har-vey Nichols’ Fourth Floor Restaurant and Food Hall, Gullane’s La Potiniere and Edinburgh New Town Cookery School are now fans of Black & Gold’s subtle, nutty flavour.

“We also supply butchers and delica-tessens throughout East Lothian and as far afield as St Ermins in London,” says Louise.

The Elders, who can trace their farming roots back over 150 years, are adding new products to their rapeseed range and have recently launched a lemon and beeswax soap using a cold processed method.

The Chocolate Tree is another exam-ple of a thriving local business. Owners Ali and Friederike Gower have devoted themselves to becoming master chocolat-iers, having originally been inspired by an

From fine dining to clever craft companies making their impact overseas, East Lothian’s flourishing food and drink companies offer a cornucopia of choice, reports Heidi Soholt

“exceptionally good cup of hot chocolate in Barcelona”.

Having started out by selling their handcrafted goodies on the music festival circuit, the Gowers have now achieved their dream of making luxurious, quality chocolate from ethical sources and sold at reasonable prices.

The creative pair take great pride in their business, working in small batches with organic and, as much as possible, lo-cally sourced ingredients.

One of only a few producers worldwide to make chocolate from bean to bar, they also buy cacao directly from farmers.

The hub of the business is their Had-dington kitchen, and they also run a successful boutique/café in Bruntsfield, Edinburgh.

Explains Ali: “We started small – a real cottage industry based in the countryside, the two of us working from our little home. We were driven by a passion for chocolate and food in general. We toured the UK with our solar-powered hand-built geodesic chocolaterie, which was a real thrill, then local farmers markets, farm shops and delicatessens.

“Now we supply all over Scotland, and further, but our view is that bigger is not always better and that ethics are as impor-tant as quality.”

The range also includes organic chocolate bars, continental baking and ice cream. Organic haggis chocolate bars and edible high-heeled shoes are examples of the pair’s originality.

For Ali, East Lothian has provided an ideal base. “This is where I was raised, so I know it very well. The countryside and beaches are beautiful but the capital is very close – here we have the best of both worlds.”

The area even boasts its own cider mak-ing business. Thistly Cross is located on a

farm near Dunbar and is the first business in Scotland to be recognised by the National Association of Cider Makers.

Its popularity has spread around the globe and the firm currently exports to the US, Germany, France, Scandinavia, Esto-nia, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia.

Co-director, Peter Stuart, explains its success: “Thistly exists outside of the UK cider ‘bubble’ and we’ve had to evolve to survive. By that I mean we’ve had to in-novate, adapt and make cider in our own unique way. The Thistly Cross Cider range reflects Scotland, its heritage and culture, and we have developed ciders that are very popular at home and abroad.”

Set up in 2008 by farmer, Ian Rennie, and former artist, Peter, Thistly Cross is set to further expand through its recent listing on Amazon. “People frequently ask where they can buy Thistly. So much so, that we’ve met obsessives who play ‘Hunt the Thistly’ whenever they visit a new city. The Amazon listing is to spoil their fun!” jokes Peter.

Among its many awards, the firm was awarded most innovative new product in the East Lothian Food & Drink Awards, and fourth best cider in the world by US online magazine Paste.

The brand comprises seven hand-picked cider varieties, including one matured with Scottish strawberries. “We started selling locally at farmers’ markets and fairs but now we’re supplying national pub chains and supermarkets, as well as countries worldwide. However, we still ensure that we get to as many of the local markets and festivals as we can,” says Peter.

Plans for the future involve building on this success. “After a busy couple of years, we’re busy consolidating our position in existing and new cider markets including the US, where Thistly Cross Ginger Cider has just been released to great success.”

county is cooking up a storm

peter stuart of thistly cross cider says that the company has had to adapt to develop ciders that are popular at home and abroad

fiona edgar, a business advisor with east lothian council

Thursday June 20 2013 | the times

Business Insight12

commercial report: torness poWer station

The comparison with a great ocean liner is irresistible. It is white, minimally angular, sky-high and honeycombed with long, echoing corridors. It has

muster stations, interlocking interior doors with 15-second safety mechanisms, even a restaurant. And, of course, it has the vast blue North Sea sea rolling around it – highly visible from three sides and especially from the captain’s multi-windowed office.

More importantly, what it also boasts more impressively than any big ship’s en-gine room is a huge, two-reactor nuclear power generating heart with a capacity of 1,190MW. And there the comparison obviously ends, for Torness Power Station is not about to be untied and set loose into the great blue yonder.

Which is still a matter of regret for some people. Having been controversial on two fronts since it opened 25 years ago – flashpoints were the impassioned nuclear debate in general and the plant’s location on the picturesque East Lothian coast 30 miles south-east of Edinburgh – it has not shaken off the opposition of many, despite a safety record with which the captain in question, station director Paul Winkle, is well satisfied.

“Although we’re never complacent; with up to 700 people working here at any time, safety is our priority,” says the one-time mechanical engineer and Glasgow University graduate who took command of Torness four years ago. “We have gone over these years without one industrial accident, which is a fantastic record we’re really proud of. But the day you drop your concentration you can lose a record like that. So every day you need to be at the top of your game.”

Reassuring words for a local community that has, generally speaking, stopped wor-rying and learned to live with what has become an unexpectedly benign presence. Indeed, if some are positively glowing in their praise of it, it’s with the realisation that its loss would have deeply serious consequences for the local economy.

Apart from pumping out enough power for two and a half million homes, the station also pumps close to £50million a year into the local economy and spends £30million a year on the wage bill for 550 full-time staff and 180 contract workers who make it, after the county council, the second biggest employer in East Lothian. That’s not to mention the “very healthy contribution” it makes to owner EDF’s balance sheet.

Sometimes, however, its contribu-tion to the nation’s energy balance sheet seems almost invisible (who is aware that Torness and Hunterston B in North Ay-rshire generate enough power to serve 40 per cent of Scotland’s electricity needs?) though its economic pulling power can be quite conspicuous. “That’s when we have our statutory outage – or MoT – every 18 months, and the area is flooded with

so many engineering, craft and electrical experts that no-one else can get a hotel room in Dunbar, Haddington or even North Berwick.”

Winning the trust of East Lothian’s population is an ongoing exercise for the station that is keenly aware of the need for carefully nurtured public relations. There are many other links and initiatives that keep local lines of communication open. The company has regular contact with councils, social groups and emergency ser-vices, and the director is happily account-able to its LLC – Local Liaison Committee.

Whatever the station is up to or experiencing – such as the incursion of storm-driven seaweed that shut it down for days last month – these contacts are immediately notified by email. Other local activities include staff deliver-ing a range of initiatives to encourage young people to study science including sponsorship of Generation Science, the Edinburgh Science Festival, the Dunbar Science Festival and going into schools throughout the Lothians and the Borders with schemes like Go4Set and STEM ambassadors.

But the newly reopened visitor centre is a special PR case in point. Changes in Security regulations after 9/11 brought the curtain down on it 12 years ago, but its doors were unlocked last month – revealing an excitingly revamped show – and hundreds of visitors have already gone through them, to emerge suitably impressed.

“It’s good to see that some people who were less supportive leave more positively than they arrived,” says Paul Winkle.

“And we hope that the visitor centre will inspire young people’s enthusiasm for science, technology and engineering – which might one day

power to win over people

Torness Power Station is celebrating its 25th birthday, a return of visitors after 9/11 and its economic clout in East Lothian. But what of its future? asks Rick Wilson

develop into a career here at Torness.”But surely fulfilment of such a hope must

be dependent on the life expectancy of the whole project? “Well, no job is for life any more, though our world-class training lasts a lifetime,” he says, before carefully approaching the elephant in the room.

Among those who would most like to see the power station sailing off into the horizon are SNP politicians, led by First Minister Alex Salmond, who are very clear about their opposition to nuclear power and fully committed to wind power although they are “supportive” of the ex-isting plant – with its importance to the local economy – and have an interesting position on its lifespan.

The station is due to be decommis-sioned by 2023 but there is an “aspira-tion” to see it through to 2030, and surprisingly few such political voices have been raised against that. “Of course, the case for another seven years must be pretty secure,” says Mr Winkle, “but as we

get closer we will better understand the things that limit the life of a reactor.”

With the equivalent of a million tonnes of coal in a reactor at any one time, he says Torness Power Station is helping to bridge the energy gap and re-duce our dependence on fossil fuels; so he urges a greater understanding of nuclear power within a diverse low carbon energy mix – which would also include wind. And he is all for operational transparency about that and other issues. “We want to earn and maintain the public’s trust by being open and transparent within a two-way dialogue,” he says, pointing out that the same applies to working relationships.

“We don’t like being secretive. We like to foster an open reporting culture, in which any decisions we make can be challenged. In that way, people can feel they are a big part of running the station.”For visitor centre booking, call 01368 873 909 or contact tornessvisitorcentre @edf-energy.com

torness power station generates enough electricity for two and a half million homes – and also pumps some £50 million a year into the economy of east lothian

Earn-while-you-learn girls advance their careers TWO of Torness Power Station’s current batch of 33 young heads in its Advanced Nuclear Apprentice Scheme are striking a blow for women in what is often assumed to be a man’s world. As relatively local recruits, Leeza Holmes (left) and Danielle Smith are also keeping up the plant’s geographic as well as demographic aims. Leeza, 19, is from Dunbar Grammar School and Danielle, 27, from St Marga-ret’s School, Edinburgh.

Leeza – who had “always been interested in maths and science at school but didn’t fancy university” – found her way into the discipline of controlling instrumentation through word of mouth. “I

heard of the opportunity through a friend and thought it would suit me – which it does.”

Leeza is in her third year of training and Danielle in her fourth. The latter switched her career choice from customer services after searching the internet. “I thought it offered real job security and a valuable trade,” she says, “as well as the important chance to earn while you learn.”

Both girls have spent two years at EDF’s state-of-the-art apprentice training centre at HMS Sultan in Portsmouth – “but unfortunately not together,” they say almost in unison.

leeza Holmes and danielle smith are among apprentices at torness