INDUSTRY PANEL



Our Industry Panel

The Scottish Thistle Awards Industry Panel is a collective of representatives from across several sectors within Scotland’s diverse tourism industry. Chaired by a VisitScotland Board member, each member of the Panel represents the views of their sector or organisation and provides strategic advice and support to VisitScotland helping to shape the awards programme year on year.  

You can read more about each of the current representatives below.  

Marshall Bain

Steven Walker / Chair

Blazing Griffin

Steven is  Executive Chair at Blazing Griffin, a Scottish digital entertainment company and a Non Executive Director at Visit Scotland. 

He is a former Managing Director of Scotsman Publications, News International Scotland and The Scottish Children’s Lottery.  Most recently he was the Director of Corporate Development at STV Group Plc.

Marshall Bain

Marshall Bain

Scottish Licenced Trade Association

Marshall has worked in the entertainment and hospitality industry in Scotland and Europe for some 40 years. He has been the proprietor of the Queen Charlotte Rooms in Edinburgh for 21 years and has been a stalwart supporter of The Scottish Licensed Trade Association for 15 years. Now as president he is leading The S.L.T.A.’s exciting 3 year “time for change action plan”.

His ambition is to work with the industry to highlight the importance our bars and pubs make to tourism and the Scottish economy.

Elaine Booth

Elaine Booth

Aberdeen City and Shire Tourism Awards

Elaine has been involved in tourism and hospitality for over 40 years. Moving to Aberdeen in the early eighties, Elaine joined Allied Bakeries. She then started working with the Hotel & Catering Training Company, managing their Aberdeen office before joining local training company Hospitality Training.

Joining Scottish Enterprise’s tourism team in the mid 90’s, she has managed a variety of significant tourism projects including Scottish Enterprise’s investment into Royal Deeside and the Cairngorms and the Banffshire Coast Tourism Partnership. She was seconded to the Tourism Partnership Manager, a role that managed the review of DMO’s in the region and the subsequent creation of VisitAberdeenshire. Elaine has run a small tourism business in Aberdeen for over 11 years.

Elaine Booth

Rob Dickson

VisitScotland

Rob Dickson joined VisitScotland in August 2021 and is the Director of Industry and Destination Development.  Rob has over thirty years’ experience in senior public sector and corporate leadership roles and has experience at a National and local level of a wide range of services and projects that involve economic development, tourism and environmental issues.

Prior to joining VisitScotland Rob was at Scottish Borders Council for ten years latterly as Executive Director for Corporate Improvement & Economy. He led the Council’s work on re-opening the Borders Railway and on agreeing two growth deals including the cross-border Borderlands Growth Deal. From 2018 to 2020 Rob was seconded to the Scottish Government and led the group of officials who worked on the South of Scotland Economic Partnership in advance of the Government launching South of Scotland Enterprise in April 2020.

Stephen Gow

Stephen Gow

Aberdeen City and Shire Tourism Awards

Stephen Gow, chairman of Aberdeen City and Shire Tourism Awards, is a highly experienced hotel general manager responsible for The Chester Hotel in Aberdeen and The Chester Residence in Edinburgh.

Keen to support and nurture talent in the workplace and to encourage a new generation into a career in hospitality, Stephen was instrumental in the creation of Hospitality Apprenticeship North East and chairs this industry-led initiative. He was also a founding director of VisitAberdeen and remains a member of Aberdeen City and Shire Hotels’ Association.

Originally from Edinburgh, Stephen’s career has seen him manage hospitality businesses from Perth to Hawaii and Inverness to London.

Megan Griffiths

Megan Griffiths

Sportscotland

Megan has been involved in sport for over 25 years both professionally and as a volunteer. As a Partnership Manager at sportscotland, the national agency for sport, she has responsibility for the strategic relationships and investment with a wide range of Scottish governing bodies of sport, supporting them in their preparations for Olympic and Commonwealth Games.   

As the rights holders for major sporting events in Scotland, governing bodies play a key role in delivering these national and internationally significant events, and the wider benefits they bring to the nation in terms of tourists, international profile and pride. 

Megan Griffiths

David Hope-Jones

South of Scotland Destination Alliance (SSDA)

David started as Chief Executive of the South of Scotland Destination Alliance (SSDA) in January 2023, following 15 years as Chief Executive of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, where he built a diverse and thriving cross-community national network.  Before this he was Services Manager, then Youth and Schools Manager, for the British Red Cross.

He is based near Selkirk and is passionate about helping drive sustainable tourism across the South of Scotland. He was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 90th Birthday Honours list and received commendations from the First Minister amongst others as he began his role with the SSDA.

Marina Hugget

Marina Huggett

Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards

Marina is Director of the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards, Executive Board Director of the Scottish Tourism Alliance and a Trustee of HIT Scotland. She also sits on the Board of Visit Inverness Loch Ness. She is Chairperson of the Achnagairn Estate, an events venue near Inverness which has 60 bedrooms, a ballroom and a restaurant “Table Manors” on the Estate.

In 2010 she was presented with the Highland Business Women’s Club Ambassador Award. Marina has run her own tourism development business since 1996.

Gordon Morrison

Gordon Morrison

Association for Cultural Enterprises

Gordon Morrison is the CEO of the Association for Cultural Enterprises (ACE), the trade body and charity that exists to support sustainable income generation within the cultural sector. The Association provide, tangible, actionable advice, guidance, training and support to almost 2000 cultural venues across the UK & Ireland (and beyond). Prior to working at ACE, Gordon spent 5 years as CEO of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions  (ASVA), where he played a pivotal role in supporting the attractions sector through and out of the pandemic. All in, Gordon has spent almost 20 years working in roles supporting cultural tourism. He is a passionate advocate for the sector and firmly believes that Scotland has an outstanding cultural offering that can proudly stand toe to toe with anywhere else in the world. 

Andrea Nicholas

Andrea Nicholas

Green Tourism

Co-founder of the Green Tourism Certification Programme during the past 22 years Andrea has assisted in development of green networks and certification programmes throughout the UK and in Europe, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada and Africa.  The Green Tourism Programme started in 1997 and has expanded to cover all of the UK & Ireland with over 2500 members.  In the past 2 years Andrea has driven the development of a digital platform for Sustainable Management, GreenCheck, which is being used for Green Tourism and adapted for other industry sectors such as the NHS. 

Andrea is the chair of board of judges for CIS awards and is also a sustainability judge for the Cateys, VisitEngland and the Association of Serviced Apartments.

Calum Ross

Calum Ross

Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards

Calum is proprietor of the award-winning Loch Melfort Hotel in Oban which he bought with his wife Rachel in 2008 and combines the challenges of small business ownership with a thriving business consultancy, mentoring and advising SMEs across the Highlands & Islands, in a variety of industry sectors.

He has recently been appointed to the board of Highlands & Islands Enterprise and was appointed non-executive Chairman of Midton Acrylics in Lochgilphead in March 2018.

Calum maintains several high-profile voluntary board positions, serving as Chair of UK Hospitality Scotland; a director of UK Hospitality UK; a director of the Scottish Tourism Alliance and a member of the national Tourism Leadership Group. Calum is also a director of Argyll & the Isles Tourism Co-operative Ltd, Vice-Chair of the Oban and Lorn Tourism Association and Chair of Arduaine Garden Friends.

To find out about how the awards work click here or view our categories here.


CONTACT US

Scottish Thistle Awards
c/o VisitScotland
Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8BG
0131 472 2228
info@scottishthistleawards.co.uk


 

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