Tomintoul and Glenlivet tourism plans boosted by £160k

Richard Lochhead was a recent visitor to the Trust pledging his support for their efforts.
Richard Lochhead was a recent visitor to the Trust pledging his support for their efforts.

PLANS TO BOOST TOURISM around a Speyside community have received a major boost with the allocation of £160,000 from the Cairngorm Leader fund.

The Tomintoul and Glenlivet Development Trust has made their ambitions clear with a £3.6million funding application to the Heritage Lottery Fund – now the European funding has provided them with a perfect tonic as they await a decision on the lottery application.

Having run the Tomintoul Museum for three years the Trust were delighted to announce that it was now breaking even – and that is a platform they aim to use to begin a widespread improvement programme that will attract more tourists to their communities.

The Trust say they now hope to learn about their Lottery funding application by September – and if successful it will lead to a £500,000 refurbishment for the museum and 15 additional projects throughout the area.

“There will be more interaction with visitors, oral history sound-pods and things for people to handle in an archive centre,” Oliver Giles, the local development officer for the Trust said.

He added: “The £160,000 award is an important step because it is match-funding – we are expecting a positive outcome but this really strengthens our bid.”