We held five different ‘tours’ to different parts of the city of Glasgow and visiting three social enterprises, charities and community groups for learning exchanges, and a sixth walking experience considering Pilgrim Ways and communities which joined two of the other tours at Glasgow Cathedral and the Govan Stones, and also visited other sites on the Whithorn Way which runs from Glasgow Cathedral to Paisley Abbey (and then south).
The exchanges had an urban focus and a very valuable aspect was rural players exchanging with them. It was very useful to see the less seasonal aspect of urban operations that can operate all year and also how they tackle local day trippers as well as more mainstream tourists from further afield
The exchanges helped everyone better understand the charity and social enterprise models that had been adopted by each and how they had decided what was the best option for them given their overall purpose and community. There were learnings from organisations that had changed their governance to allow them to do things differently and also approaches to donations vs ticket sales.
A key learning for many of the hosts is recognising the role of tourism in bringing much needed revenue and putting effort into reaching out to them and also working with other tourism facing enterprises in their area
Learning Outcomes
- Better understanding of the governance of community led tourism initiatives.
- Better awareness of the operational challenges and opportunities in running community led tourism initiatives.
- Inspiration of what is possible through community led tourism initiatives in terms of community cohesion and resilience.