Discover Thurso Tourism Workshops—Learning Summary Workshop Purpose The rationale behindLocalisation Workshops is to connect the peo- ple who interact with our visitors to the information than can enhance their time here and create a better sense of Thurso. Ever heard someone say Thurso under-sells itself? Discover Thurso workshops aim to empower people to not only sell the town, but to champion Thurso’s tourism offering. Why Localisation No other organisation across Scotland is responsible for or even qualified to specifically promote Thurso; it’s something we have to do ourselves. Many of our visitors may just be passing through on the NC500, or staying 1-night before heading to Orkney, but they’re a captive audience—they’re looking for things like golden sand beaches, 2,000 year old monuments, castles, whisky, Scottish food, the Northern Lights, traditional music and so on. Things we can offer readily. If we localise our knowledge and our conversations with tourists—that is, to focus them on Thurso— we’re spreading a positive message about the town to people who, even if they don’t come back to Scotland one day, will definitely be telling friends about wee places that caught their eye on the way round. What you can do… 1. Engage Tourists—Dornoch scores incredibly well when it asks its visitors whether they’d consider returning to the town, in large part to their hospitality. They asked their visitors what the most positive aspect to their stay in Dornoch was—the answer? Engaging with friendly locals. 2. Know the town, make recommendations—A Thurso bartender recently made a couple’s day when she was able to recommend Wolfburn and Dunnet Bay Distillery tours as activities for a rainy day. Not only that, they also enjoyed the chat so much they returned to the bar the following evening! Slow Experiences Lisa Polsen of Inspired by Caithness spoke at our Localisation Workshops about the elements, the finer details that set Caithness apart from other destinations, and the potential for Slow Tourism to drive tourism development in Thurso. The following information on this subject was inspired by or taken directly from her talk. Slow Tourism in a Nutshell... It’s an alternative to whistle stop, box ticking tourism. Just as when we travel ourselves, many of the people passing through Thurso get caught on a box-ticking exercise– rushing around the NC500, stopping at the most popular locations for Instagram content, beelining to John O’Groats, and then away to catch the ferry. The essence of Slow Tourism is strong collaboration among tourism providers to create more immersive experi- ences for visitors – tourism trends suggest visitors ARE looking for something different, something more experiential organic, and slower– Caithness can offer it in abundance. Slowing Down in Caithness Nature, Food and People are the essence of Slow Tourism – “We have welcoming people living a slow pace of life, we have award-winning food & drink, we have blissful beaches, history to discover, Groatie Buckies to find, a fantastic golf course, world class watersports conditions, and beautiful landscapes.” Slow Tourism can showcase the finer details that distinguish Thurso and Caithness from destinations elsewhere in the country. We have natural, cultural charm and amenities in abundance. On the weather – The elements dictate EVERYTHING around here – they shape our schedules, dictate our moods, they’re pow- erful and we can’t control them so we moan, and the elements even dictate how we greet each other - miserable day eh?! “Don’t see our wild weather, slow pace and quiet town as excuses, see them as opportunities” Insights ‘We manage to peel that front door open against howling wind, push against horizontal rain, and return with cheeks officially rosied by mother nature – we then go inside, cosy up and coorie in, with a new-found apprecia- tion for nature, as its power rattles against out window panes’ ‘The rain of today is the whisky of tomorrow’ ‘It turned out they loved our wild weather. They wanted to feel the power of wind strong enough to blow them off their feet, they wanted to feel invigorated by horizontal rain as it saturated right through to their skin...they wanted to experience wild Scottish weather first-hand, so I guess they came to the right place’ - Lisa Polson on our weather as a tourist attraction in its own right. ‘no such thing as bad weather – only the wrong clothes!’ – Billy Connolly Action you Can Take... 1. All it requires, is for businesses to sit down with each other and collaborate to create seamless local experiences for visitors. See a couple of local examples for inspiration below. 2. Be excited about the little things—Beautiful Caithness stone walls and buildings; our clean, quiet beaches where you can swim, surf, hunt for Groatie Buckies or simply sit peacefully – bliss for those from busier places. 3. Look at our weather differently—our weather is a novelty to those from places like Italy – wild Scottish weather can be a tourist attraction in its own right; it’s a photographer’s dream and it’s not changing any time soon. Also, Shetland, Skye, and Orkney do fantastically with similar or even worse weather conditions! Real-life local example… North Coast Watersports collaborating with the Melvich Hotel and the Store Café… becomes ‘September Swell Weekend’ Other examples… “The Marine Inn B&B greets their guests with a Reids Bakery hamper, and the following day Above & Beyond Tours show them Caithness, including a visit to see the bakery where the produce they enjoyed had been made, and/or a farm from where the ingredients were sourced in addition to some top local sights.” “A behind the scenes experience of the past & present of Thurso fishing, including stories from a local expert and a wee boat trip before returning to shore for Fish & Chips at the Captain’s Galley, followed by a dram of Wolfburn to live Scottish folk music in the Comm.” Benefits of Slow Tourism 1. Collaborative packages encourage visitors to stay longer. 2. Packages built around enjoying the landscape, food, and people give tourists a chance to spend local. 3. Increase in collaboration among business. 4. Increase in higher spending tourists. 5. Increase in employment particular in young people due to lifestyle improvements. 6. Increase in shoulder season activities. Thurso Surf Surfing in Thurso Is unique for three reasons… Thurso Beach, the Sh*t Pipe, and the famous Thurso East. Walk 5 minutes from the Town Centre, and you can look at three different ‘breaks’ that roughly match-up to different skill levels—beginner (Thurso Beach), intermediate (Sh*t Pipe), and expert (Thurso East). What’s more, if there’s no surf in Thurso, places like Torrisdale, Strathy, Melvich, Sandise, Brimms, Dunnet Bay and Sinclair Bay offer convenient alternatives. Surfing is thought to have kicked off in Thurso in the 1960s, and given that the backdrop of Thurso Castle adds allure to the break at Thurso East, it’s fitting that a visitor to the castle is alleged to have been the first person to surf Thurso East! Wetsuit technology as come on leaps and bounds since then, so visitors can withstand frigid north coast water temperatures for hours without feeling the effects! Thurso Surfing Facts • Prime surfing season in Thurso is October to April—conveniently during the off-peak tourism months in the town. For local surfers, getting out into the water during the short daylight hours (9am-3pm in the dead of winter!) makes the long winter months bearable. • The Scottish National Championships take place locally every April, while the UK Pro Surf Tour comes to town every October. • In the past, Thurso has hosted the European Championships, the World Qualifying Series and the O’Neill Coldwater Classic • Both the 2019 Women’s and Men’s Scottish Champions play their surfing trades locally! • Surfing will be an Olympic Sport for the first time at Tokyo 2020 What You Can Do 1. If people want to experience north coast surf during their stay, be able to make a recommendation. At the time of writing, North Coast Watersports are the only organisation offering surf tuition and board/wetsuit hire to tourists—send people their way! 2. Most people would prefer to stay dry, but watching surfing at Thurso Harbour is exhilarating too. Talk-up Thurso’s surfing heritage and recommend they head for the harbour to watch surfers in action at the Pipe and Thurso East—there are almost always surfers in the water during daylight hours in the winter months. Old St Peter’s Kirk What is Old St Peter’s Kirk? As the name suggests, Old St Peter’s Kirk is an old church and churchyard in the heart of Thurso’s Old Town. The plaque by the entrance gate suggest the kirk was first built in the year 1220, but investigations into the Kirk’s stonework suggest a date of around 1150, and a rune inscribed Norse stone cross found buried nearby suggests that this may have been a site of significance much earlier than that! In short, the Kirk is an eye-catching attraction of huge historical significance a very short walk from Thurso Town Centre. Historical Significance • As mentioned above—a Norse stone cross found buried nearby, and other stonework in the Kirk’s structure inscribed with Viking runes suggests activity much earlier than the 1220 date at the entrance. • Old St Peter’s Kirk Is larger and more elaborate in design than what’s normal for a parish of this size, leading historians to speculate that the site must have held greater significance at some point in history.