Keith and Dufftown are among six winners in the Pride and Passion competition.

Both towns will now receive 18 months of ongoing support and advice from tourism industry professionals.

Around 30 communities across Scotland had entered the event, run by leading tourism industry professionals, and Orkney, Pitlochry, Peebles and Balloch were the other winners.

The recently formed Keith Business Association was behind the town's application and regeneration officer, Lorna Watson, expressed her delight at being selected.

"This could have a huge impact on the economy of the area. If we can get more tourists coming into the area that will pump more money into the economy," she said.

The business association has identified tourism as a key growth area for the town.

Ms Watson said being able to tap into some of the best industry experience in the country could prove invaluable.

A Pride and Passion team is set to visit Keith and Dufftown next month to set the ball rolling on the programme.

Local cafe owner Philip Knowles, business association chairman, said: "This is absolutely wonderful. Hopefully this will allow us to move forward."

Mr Knowles, who owns Cafe 105 in Mid Street, added: "At the moment Keith has gone into stagnation slightly and the idea of the business association is regeneration by getting together. By being part of the business association I feel we can achieve something."

He said Keith had the potential for tourism development in a number of areas, including the whisky trail, the railway station, genealogy and local culture and history. The business association is currently in the process of developing a website for the town.

"We have got to look forward to the future and this (Pride and Passion) should add some momentum."

Pictured after winning the Pride and Passion Award are, from left to right, Philip Knowles owner of Cafe 105, Proprietor of Mither Tongue Marguerite Cruickshank and Keith Regeneration Co-ordinator Lorna Watson. NS

The Dufftown 2000 promotion group was behind the town's successful application.

Steve Oliver, a local tourism operator, submitted the bid on behalf of the group.

"Dufftown needs some regeneration and when they came out with the community challenge we decided to go for it. We are pleased that out of 31 communities we have been successful," he said.

"We have a lot of people on the (Dufftown 2000) committee interested in tourism. Dufftown needs a helping hand and this seemed an ideal way of doing it.

"It is very exciting and hopefully it will go beyond Dufftown 2000 and get the rest of the town on board. Tourism is very important to the rural areas and we need to do everything we can to encourage tourists to come and stay in the area," he added.

A spokesperson for Pride and Passion said: "With three new locations in the highlands and three in the lowlands we're going to be out and about from September onwards, running theatre workshops, customer experience tours and generally working closely with community groups to help them realise their full tourism potential.

"The successful community groups will be attending an event at the Scottish Parliament to meet Jim Mather, the Minister with responsibility for Tourism and we'd like to hold similar local events bringing community groups together at various times through the next 12 months.

"We're also working on a Community Challenge tool kit, accessible to everyone online; a compendium of 365 top tips for turning the visitor experience into something spectacular."

c.saunderson@northern-scot.co.uk

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