VISITSCOTLAND has launched the search for its next chairman after it confirmed Mike Cantlay is stepping down after five years in the post.
The tourism body is expected to announce Mr Cantlay’s successor in the spring, with the current chairman due to vacate after his fixed term elapses on March 31.
Mr Cantlay, a former convener of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, leaves after steering the organisation through some of the most significant events in Scottish tourism history.
His tenure coincided with Scotland hosting the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup in 2014, with the organisation also having successfully implemented its “winning years” concept.
That has seen the Scottish tourism industry badged under themes ranging from Homecoming in 2009, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns, to the current Year of Food And Drink. A sustained marketing campaign around the Disney film Brave was also implemented.
Such activity looks to have served the industry, which spans more than 24,000 businesses in the visitor economy, well. The most recent official statistics suggest there was a 4.4 per cent increase in trips to Scotland in the first half of the year, which also saw a 17.5 per cent rise in spend per visit.
Mr Cantlay said: “You would look back on 2014 and say, well that was amazing. And it was amazing.
“The proof of the pudding for me, funnily enough, is 2015, because 2015 has actually been a very tough environment for Scottish tourism as exchange rates in particular have moved significantly in certain markets.
“That is always a big issue for tourism – we work in a global market. [But] even this year we have seen good progress.”
He added: “There are undoubtedly some businesses who have found 2015 much tougher than 2014, but we are punching well above our weight compared with the rest of the UK.”
Mr Cantlay signalled that the Scottish tourism industry has done well to maintain the momentum it built up in 2014 this year thanks to sporting events such as the Davis Cup, The Open and the World Gymnastics Championships, as well as major business conferences.
And he flagged the benefit to the industry that will be brought by the £10 billion of capital investment now being made in Scotland, in infrastructure such as transport.
He said: “We have that momentum. The trick is to maintain that momentum and to continue to
position Scotland hard on the international stage.”
Mr Cantlay’s spell as chairman was characterised by major organisational change at VisitScotland.
The former chairman of Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley, whose family owns the tourism business William Glen, became chairman just as the industry was adapting to the integration of the former area tourist board network into VisitScotland.
That upheaval meant Mr Cantlay spent much of his first two years as chairman visiting tourism businesses around the country, informing them about what the changes would be and the role VisitScotland would claim.
When that process settled down, Mr Cantlay said he was freed to get on with the job of promoting Scotland as a tourism destination around the world. And he hopes his successor will be able to continue in that vein.
Asked how he felt to be leaving, Mr Cantlay said: “It’s always with a heavy heart that you leave an organisation that you feel passionately for. But at the same time, it is a fantastic job.
“I would call this the best job in the world.”
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