Tartan Week - New York 2006

Tartan Week - More Bullshit from the Spin Doctors at the Council and The Courier

The Spin Doctors at The Courier (who has got at them lately) report that those that enjoyed a freebie in New York at the expense of the council tax payer have hailed Tartan Week a tourism success.

Really - we would be keen to know what the councils definition of success is.

From 31st March to April 8th in the heart of the city of New York they only managed to attract -  in their words around 500 delegates a day. No doubt the figures have been inflated by those that enjoyed the jolly but even using those numbers that only equates to 4000 visitors. Any good marketeer will tell you that only around 2% will respond to advertising campaigns. So lets see now - that means Perthshire can expect around 80 new visitors as a result of nearly £40K tax payers money blown on this little holiday for the privileged few. Whoop di doo!!!

The party trippers also claim that they handed out 5000 brochures - were these the ones left over from the G8 or new ones secretly commissioned outside the area before the trip?) If that's the case what happened to the other 1000 or did some people take 2?

Claims were also made "the visit resulted in exposure to more than 250,000 people over the eight days'

Now you do the maths - 250000 divided by 4000 means each magazine was read by 62.5 people - we don't think so.

Once again it just doesn't add up does it?

The parting shot in the Courier said 'The importance of transport for American tourists also became obvious, with most not prepared to drive on the left side of the road and the availability of public transport a strong decision factor.'

Public transport in Perthshire - lets see now there are dirty trains that run infrequently and rarely on time, expensive taxis or best of all, big blue buses with short, big fat red faced men painted all over them. No doubt the Americans (if they bother to come) will be suitably impressed.

WHAT A JOKE!!

Bring on the Clowns………The Tartan circus is in town

Taken from an article in the Daily Mail Saturday April 1st – and it was no April fool

Tartan week – a junket costing in excess of £1m of taxpayers money, tarnished by gaffes and in-fighting all wrapped up in kilted kitsch. Why is this event held in the USA and not here in Scotland?

Tartan day, an American creation but is this tartanalia and historical kitsch really the way to promote Scotland in the 21st century?

The article goes on to say that Scotland has been content with the American cliché of Scottishness as tartan, whiskey, hairy caber tossing clansmen, twinkle-toed Highland dancers, Nessie and Brigadoon and ask ‘Is it not time that we showed the world that we have joined the 21st century?’

Well that’s just the problem. Most of Scotland does live in the past with dated ideals, bigoted views and a lack of understanding of modern culture. Which is why tourism is failing, businesses are pulling out of Scotland or don’t bother coming here in the first place and forward thinking, ambitious Scots are leaving the place in droves.

We are sick of hearing the Scots bleating on about famous or successful Scots. What they don’t tell you is that the vast majority of these only achieved fame or success because they got the hell out of the place.

It doesn’t help when Pratt McConnell sets back the cause with his appearance at Tartan week in New York dressed as a pantomime dame in a pin stripe kilt and flouncy shirt.

'the best small country in the world' - run by the worst small man!!

The cost of this jolly junket to New York is being questioned and critics are asking why Pratt McConnell and his cronies don’t spend a little more time at home and learn about what is going on their own backyard.

The Scots should be asking what they are getting for their money especially when no evidence has been produced to demonstrate tangible benefits from this jolly.

The numbers of American tourists visiting Scotland have dropped but even more worrying is that the number of business trips has taken a dramatic fall from 70,000 to 48,600 from 2000 – 2004. Headlines have recently focused on US companies pulling out of Scotland and leaving hundreds jobless.

Sir Sean Connery’s spat with the Executive, labeling Tartan Week ‘a joke’ has done little to promote Scotland’s image abroad.

“It is bad for Scotland’s image confirming the long standing caricature of feuding clansmen who grudge and girn at each other’.

Shaken and Stirred.

Veteran Hollywood actor Sean Connery brands the executives efforts to promote Scotland abroad a joke and says "it's Scotland that needs to change".

It's not just our local councillors who are planning to waste plenty of public money on a jolly for a chosen few to take a trip to New York for Tartan Week 2006. The executive are under fire as the planned costs for what has been branded the "Holy Grail of junkets' has soared to £700,000 - a twenty fold increase since 2003. This planned appalling waste of of public money has fueled concerns that an event which is aimed at building political ties, promoting economic growth and attracting tourists, has failed to deliver the goods.

The number of Americans taking trips to Scotland has slumped prompting the veteran Hollywood actor Sean Connery to make a statement from his home in the Bahamas that the executives efforts to promote Scotland abroad have become laughable and a joke. Mr Connery also warned that problems closer to home need to be addressed. He won't be working with the executive again on future international promotions.

Tory MSP Alex Johnstone said he was 'disgusted by the unbridled extravagance' of Tartan week and Green MSP Chris Ballance said "i am extremely surprised so much extra is being spent on an event like this before we even know whether last year's was successful".

Executive officials claimed that the executive had examined last years event to find out if it provided value for money and that the evaluation report would be ready later this month - just a few days before they all jet off for their next jolly. Funny that!!

Just as an example of how unbelievably bad and laughable the promotion of Scottish tourism is, you need only visit Scotland's worst website - what complete BOLLOX.

Business Perthshire say that any business that associates itself with this crock of shite only demonstrates their lack of understanding of the modern tourist industry. If you know of worse - we would love to here from you and gladly feature on our website

'New attack on councillor's tartan trip'

The Courier reports more discontent from locals in Perthshire over the costs of the controversial trip to New York for councillors to attend Tartan Week.

A whopping £38,000 of taxpayers money will be wasted so that a group of local councillors can enjoy this jolly at a time when money is desperately needed locally to promote the flagging tourism industry.

'The New York issue raised its head earlier this week when cross-party support among councillors crumbled due to a lack of detail on how the money was going to be spent.'

I bet they can't account for how it is going to be spent!

Meanwhile Mr Alan Livingstone is on another jolly to China claiming: “This trade mission represents a real opportunity to secure international trading and business opportunities for Perth and Kinross.”

What about supporting some of your local businesses Mr Livingstone?

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer

Apathy in Perthshire

Apathy is one of the characteristic responses of any living organism when it is subjected to stimuli too intense or too complicated to cope with. The cure for apathy is comprehension. John Dos Passos

Booker T Washington

I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race.