Throughout 2022, we’ve done more to help promote Cupar as a tourism destination – creating, printing and distributing new Town Guide Maps as well as filming and then broadcasting a TV commercial, inviting people to ‘Spend a day in Cupar & Country‘. As we look ahead to 2023, we will be doing more to work with tourism partners and stakeholders, helping to promote Cupar to those visiting our area …

Our TV commercial ran for three months in the summer. We worked with Cupar Development Trust to trigger matched funding from STV. The ad ran from July to September and was seen by over 330,000, all helping to showcase the town’s heritage, 400+ businesses as well as our catchment’s provenance and attractions. STV praised the quality of the ad and, as a result, extended its run – giving an added boost with coverage across Scotland on the STV Player. If you haven’t seen the commercial, you can click on the following to watch on our YouTube channel ….

The year also saw the promotion of a series of online food & drink trails – highlighting close to 300 businesses in the sector across the town’s wider catchment, mirroring Cupar’s ancient medieval ‘liberty’. The seven trails all start and end in Cupar and help to support some 40 food & drink businesses in the town.

We have also worked closely with a forum of community groups that came together at the end of 2020 to focus on the town’s exit from lockdowns. As a result, we helped to promote the town’s Jubilee Picnic in The Park in the summer as well as the Celebration & Commemoration Weekend in September. The main events of the weekend coincided with BBC Scotland being in town, filming an upcoming episode in their series, My Kind of Town … one of the reasons they chose Cupar being CuparNow, Scotland’s only Digital Improvement District.

The Forum has demonstrated how a collaborative approach really works – bringing so many together for the good of the town and our community. The number of organisations involved now tops 40 and most of them met recently to start plans for 2023’s Celebration Weekend. Watch this space!

Partnerships …

We are working with our local tourism association as well as Welcome to Fife, the Visitor Destination website for Fife. All hospitality leisure and tourism business in Fife can sign up to the website where all listings are free of charge and businesses with multiple areas to their business, such as hotels, can add multiple business listings under one login. You have full control over the content on your listing and can load up to 5 images. The site is visited by thousands of people every week and so is a key resource to people planning a visit to Fife. You can find more and register now via this link. If you have any questions regarding the site or your listing, you can contact Linn Wiliamson via this link who will be able to help. Businesses can also create free listings on Visit Fife Golf and The Fife Coast and Countryside Trust websites.

On a business-to-business front, the Fife Tourism Partnership (FTP) is able to offer support, advice, free training, events and opportunities for business across Fife. Their new website has just gone live and they’ve asked all businesses to visit, take a moment to explore … and to sign up to their newsletter. The site also has useful info and toolkits for businesses.

Other FTP & Industry Support …

• Short Term Let Licence Information 
• Travel Trade support through Fife Tourism Partnership and Tay Countries
• Tay5G Challenge Fund

Fam Trip …

In March, we will be inviting local tourism businesses – members of the local tourism association – to visit the town on a familiarisation day. This is being planned and more will be shared in the new year. All is designed to help make more people more aware of all that Cupar has to offer – from the local heritage to our 400+ businesses, from our food & drink offering to Cupar’s amazing community groups, activities and events.

 

Thanks for reading!