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Country Sports Tourism Group
28May2011
The classic week shooting, fishing and stalking in a Highland lodge has traditionally been seen as the preserve of an elite group of people who booked the following year as soon as their holiday had finished. Ordinary mortals could not get a look in at this high octane sporting holiday. But that has been quietly changing over the last few years as the internet has opened up a whole new way of doing things. Not only are there now many more Scottish estates wanting to offer a wide range of sporting holidays for all types and pockets, but their customers have changed too. Agents report that buyers are now looking for shorter cheaper holidays, not necessarily with luxurious accommodation, possibly moving around to different parts of Scotland and demanding a high standard of efficient service. Everybody’s time is at a premium and Scotland now has to compete with high quality sporting holidays across the world.
Until quite recently, Scotland seemed to have a strange love/hate relationship with the unique forms of sport which it could offer and which customers around the world would cheerfully bite off their own arms to take part in. Driven red grouse, a hill stag in the rut and Scottish salmon were revered internationally, but the Scottish tourism industry seemed almost reluctant to publicise them. A mixture of political reticence about elite “bloodsports” and a tendency to antedeluvian customer care in some places, meant that Scotland was rapidly being left behind.
Into this breach stepped the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group. In 2003 public and private sector organisations got together to put Scotland firmly back on the sporting map by making more sport accessible to more people and improving the whole experience to international standards. Seven years on that work is really bearing fruit and the proof can be seen on www.countrysportscotland.com. This easy to use web portal is designed to put customers directly in touch with estates or “providers” such as Bell Ingram who can offer everything from driven grouse to rabbit shooting, from wild salmon to hill loch trout and from red stags to lowland roe deer, with or without accommodation. The choice is immense and the site is free to customers. The website has been going for two years and is steadily growing in its coverage around the world. The most visited page of the site is the “Sporting offers” where providers can post up their special offers or last minute availability. For those who thought that driven grouse shooting on the 12th of August could not be bought for love nor money, the answer is one click away. The greater the availability, the keener the price and at last, the Scottish sporting buyer is in a strong position. Niche initiatives have been set up through SCSTG such as the Assynt Fishing Guide where the owners of remote trout lochs on this beautiful peninsula have got together to open up a whole new market for low budget fishermen, previously the preserve of just a few “in the know”.
www.countrysportscotland.com is not the only website which puts buyers directly in touch with sellers but – and here is the critical difference – SCSTG also helps those who are not familiar with Scottish sporting and might feel nervous of the more obscure traditions and unwritten rules. It has set up The Beginners Experience courses for fishing, shooting and stalking in Tayside which costs only £50 for half a day of tuition and the website also has a special Ladies section. It runs a Welcome Scheme to help customers find field sports friendly accommodation - important if you need to store your guns overnight in a locked cabinet or want somewhere which will be happy with wet clothes and smelly spaniels. SCSTG also runs courses for gamekeepers, ghillies and stalkers or anyone involved with sporting clients so that they can keep improving their standards of customer care. Overseas customer can find their way through the bewildering rules on transport of guns and ammunition
Country sports in Scotland are no longer the preserve of the elite, but the other side of that coin is that they are more open now to opposition from people who simply don’t like killing for whatever reason. If you use www.countrysportscotland.com you will be helping the whole industry to grow and improve its standards, and thereby ensure that you are doing your bit so future generations can also enjoy unparalleled shooting, fishing and stalking. Log on now!
The SCSTG is supported by Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, British Association for Shooting and Conservation, The Scottish Rural Property and Business Association, The Association of Salmon Fisheries Boards, the Association of Deer Management Groups, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association and the Scottish Estates Business Group. A whole industry is determined that you should have a good time. For further information and to sign up to the free e-newsletter you should contact:
Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group
Croft Cottage, Trochry, Dunkeld, Tayside PH8 0DY
Tel: 01350 723 226
Fax: 01350 723 227
Email: sports@cstgscotland.comby Tim Baynes