The secret of success is in the timing
It happens every four or five years. Researchers with clipboards test the mood of the people. Men and women with grandiose ideas of success pace the pavements. Marketing budgets are rolled out and the media machine starts up. General Election? No, development of another town in Scotland.
In Scotland, development comes in waves. During the 1970s, oil-rich Aberdeen became Boom City. A decade later, Glasgow got all the attention, and now it's the turn of Dundee.
Dundee once had more millionaires per head of population than any other city in Scotland, and it was the first urban area to build a ring road. But historically, there always seemed to be more reason to leave Dundee than to stay. Robert the Bruce moved out in 1327, leaving his spidery King's Confirmation Charter; Oliver Cromwell's men came and went (besieging, sacking and demolishing the town in the process); and Captain Robert Scott indicated a preference for Antarctica and left Dundee aboard the Discovery in 1911, never to return.
Luckily, times have changed. The city has redefined itself, becoming a centre of excellence for teachers, medical researchers and telephone operators ("Directory enquiries, which name please?"). These days, people can't get enough of Dundee, and the population has swelled to 145,000.
What this means, of course, is that out-of-town visitors are now coming to the city in droves. They come to the universities and teaching hospitals and for the burgeoning electronics industry. They come for some of the world's best golf courses, located near by. And soon they will come because of decent conference venues. For hospitality, it's a case of adapting to change and cashing in on the opportunities.
And that's a lesson for the whole country, particularly rural areas. Many businesses have faced difficult times recently. Scotland has suffered yearly declines in traditional tourist numbers, due to the high value of sterling and a series of poor summers. In other parts of the UK, the foot-and-mouth crisis has hit business. In both cases long-established customers have been lost.
The way forward is not always to rebuild former achievements but to look for new markets. It's not easy, but it's worth taking a leaf out of the Dundee hospitality book by grabbing new opportunities when they arise.
Talking of which…
How's the lobbying going? There is just a week to go before the General Election. Canvassers are out on the streets, manifestoes are being delivered, hustings taking place. But is the message that we need a minister of state for tourism (see Caterer, 17 and 24 May) being delivered? If not, why not?
Although the industry is giving the idea plenty of support, there will never be another opportunity like this one - a General Election in the wake of a crisis like foot-and-mouth - to get the message across to Government that tourism and hospitality matter.
Don't let the opportunity slip past. Act now.
Forbes Mutch, Editor, Caterer & Hotelkeeper
