Tourism businesses across Moray Speyside have voted overwhelmingly in favour of introducing a Tourism Business Improvement District (T-BID)  – securing the future of the region’s tourism industry and ensuring that tourism development and destination marketing will continue.

75% of tourism businesses who voted said yes to a sustainable and financially secure model which will build on the region’s tourism growth of recent years and take the region’s tourism performance to the next level through the delivery of an ambitious five-year business plan.

Last year tourism was worth GBP 130 million (USD 169.20 million) to the Moray economy, with the region welcoming almost 800,000 visitors who supported more than 2,800 local jobs. The new T-BID will invest more than GBP 1 million (USD 1.30) in tourism development over the course of its five-year term.

Welcoming the result, Laurie Piper, operations manager at Moray Speyside Tourism said: “I am delighted that tourism businesses across Moray Speyside have voted in favour of the TBID. This is a game changing decision which marks the start of a new brighter, sustainable future for Moray Speyside’s tourism industry.”