Nairn's East Beach at lunchtime today (Friday 22/02/13)
For many Trip Advisor is the tourism bible and the Nairn's placing on this list of UK beaches will be very beneficial to the local toursim insdustry. Nairn is the highest ranking Scottish beach and the 11th placed UK beach, details here.
You don't have to tell folk in the Moray Firth area that though, on Sunday the Links car park was full of visitors to the town who were taking advantage of the sunny, calm weather. Hats and coats were the only indication that it wasn't a typical summer's day when the busy scene was observerd from above the bandstand on Marine Road.
The Trip Advisor rating is good news for the town yes, but it inspired one of our regular readers to check on how the town is presented online with the national tourist authority Visit Scotland. If you search for Nairn on the Visit Scotland site the top result you get is this page which shows a sign for the Castle Stuart Golf Links. Our correspondent thinks this is a poor show and is also less than impressed with Visit Scotland's page for Nairn's Central Beach too and told the Gurn:
"Whereas...... there are at least a couple of other tourism promotion/DMO operations that seem to have a rather better idea of how to do it. The Loch Ness one is not too bad. Moray has done a lot on walks including the Coastal Trail (and has the whisky trail/festival stuff too - and there is The Greater Speyside site).
But the website/organisation that is new and - I reckon - pretty impressive is the Banffshire Coast one here. Lots of info, well-organised, good interactive events-listings, great photos, the facility to send e-postcards, and lots more. Funded by.....Aberdeenshire Council, the Scottish Govt, Scottish Enterprise, the European Fisheries Fund, LEADER and others. Makes one wonder why we couldn't get similar funding to enhance an expanded website for Nairn."
Could we do better on the web? The Visit Nairn site is usually in the top 3 in the Google search engine and here we have private enterprise doing a pretty good job in providing information to potential visitors. Compare this to the neglected official offering.
Should any public money used to promote Nairn be diverted to assisting the like of the existing VisitNairn site or, as our reader suggests, to an enhanced and expanded website for Nairn?
16 comments:
Best in Scotland huh, Hmm must have thought all the dug Sh**e on the beach was some sort of Mollusc's!
neil
Down there most days Neil and the jobbies are usually on the prom not much on the beach.
We've covered the turds enough recently lol. Let's concentrate for a wee while on the best way(s) to promote Nairn?
Had a look at that page......
Hmmmm...even in the comments section people are complaining about the dog poo on the pavements!
As for "promoting Nairn"......
Cllr Green is doing that by organising the "Sandstorm" moto-x races on the east beach next year for three days!
Shame that one of the reasons that people like the beach (quietness) will be ruined!!!
Oh well never mind he's doing it to raise money for the common good fund ......so thats ok then!
Tripadvisor is the site I use when I'm travelling. I trust most of the postings as they're written by real people and not by PR stooges as you'll find on many other sites such as the ones you've highlighted. It has yet to let me down so for Nairn to get such a good rating is immense for the town
best in scotland heard this yesterday on MFR RADIO nairn good heads up for our town something to be proud of i think. and at least CLLR GREEN is trying to do something for our town all the best to him, more positive comments rather that negative comments. or perhaps someone else has any better ideas for our town?
The council could pave the roads with diamonds and some Nairnites would complain it wears their shoes out.
The problem with Nairn is the people who live here.
How about a "Beach Games Day/weekend" held during the summer. Beach footy, volleyball, bat n ball etc... Something for everyone. Also bbqs a beer tent etc. get the sailing club involved.
No Idea how it cld be set up or logistically if it cld work.
Our beach is the towns major asset but its not utilised as it should be.
Just a thought.
Oh for goodness sake. Our beaches are popular because they are beautiful empty expanses of sand which people enjoy walking on without distractions that you might find at the showies. Visitors come to Nairn for that experience but it seems as though there are some locals hell bent on changing that. Why can't they also see the attraction of what we have without grandiose such as Michael Green's motor bike racing, I can't think of anything more destructive to both our environment and reputation which may put a few pounds in the pot but will equally drive away many of the visitors we have
"Empty expanses" there you go. Lets fill them one weekend a year. Make an impression. These folk will come back when there's nowt on no doubt and tell their friends.
This is not a case of not wanting visitor`s to come to the town, it`s more that the event planned by Mr Green is in the wrong place and in an area which is totally unsuitable.
Logistically there are huge problems with limited access points; along the path at the tarry dyke, that's only just been done up, through the caravan site (a single track road), bet the holiday makers will love that, over the golf course, or in by Kingsteps (good luck with that one). Then there is the damage done to the dunes and surrounding area from 10000 pairs of feet and all the bikes and support vehicles which will be involved. I'm sorry but the price to pay for this boy's own adventure is just too high.
Time to knock this venture on the head and come up with somewhere or something else.
Typical Nairn folk. Scared of change!
Anonymous 11:51, Not scared of change, but content with what we've had for generations.
What would be really good would be if all the negative merchants got together formed a new "good for Nairn committee" and came up with positive workable ideas for Nairn and then "lord forbid" actually make it/them happen - pigs might fly me thinks!
Sorry forgot, takes minutes to write negative gurns but takes hours and weeks of effort to get things to materialise!
"Not scared of change, but content with what we've had for generations."
Yes fine for those with money - others have to leave for work or education over the generations.
We've just scored advertising that you cannot buy on Trip Advisor, a vote by the travelling public that we have their best beach in Scotland
Never mind the "good for Nairn committee" , how about we ride the wave that this accolade will bring
Why can't some people see that what we have now is what people want, to visit Nairn and to walk on our beaches
Trash the beach if you want for a few £K, but do we really want Nairn to be known for a motorbike weekend or a year round attraction?
We're in the spotlight right now, let's see if we can stay there
"We've just scored advertising that you cannot buy.... what we have now is what people want.... how about we ride the wave...."
Well said. The first trick is to identify what tourists, visitors and local residents want. It's pretty clear from Trip Advisor what that is: a clean, tranquil and attractive beach for walking, swimming, birdwatching, photography, and relaxing - or even "parkour" jumping!
Then the next trick is to keep it that way (no dog sh*t, broken glass, or noisy motorbikes). That's mostly down to local residents showing some decency, common sense and civic pride.
The third trick is to publicise and promote the beach effectively as a tourist attraction - which is what Visit Scotland is failing to do.
Simples.....
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