New Petitions

I thank the committee for giving us the opportunity to speak to our petition. Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry lodged what was just the second petition to the Public Petitions Committee in 1999, on completion of the M77 between Malletsheugh and Fenwick. I am delighted that, as a result of that petition, that road recently opened. We hope that our current petition will have similar success and that, in time, the Burns trail will be up and running.Our petition is about the Burns product and its importance for Scotland, Scottish tourism and—ultimately—the Scottish economy. If we consider England and think about Shakespeare and look at Dublin and think about Joyce, we realise how much better marketed and better known they are as international products throughout the world, not just in their native countries.When we began to research the issue, we were fascinated to find the number of Burns heritage trails that exist. If one goes on to the worldwide web, one can find at least a dozen—their number seems to grow day and daily. We are not concerned about their existence because, of course, the fact that they exist is most commendable; the problem is that there seems to be a great lack of joined-up thinking. Recent changes at the Burns national heritage park have brought the whole issue of Burns and the Burns product more to the fore. We, of course, commend and support the previous petition that came before the committee; I understand that the committee will hear responses to that petition later today.We are looking at a bigger, broader and more international picture. We believe that the Burns product should be promoted internationally throughout the world, probably starting with the countries where Burns is best known and supported at the moment, although promotion should grow outwards from that base. We are concerned with the bigger picture, not just with Ayrshire. Of course Burns is an important product for Ayrshire: we endorse and acknowledge that. However, we believe that there are much bigger opportunities throughout Scotland and outwith Scotland to promote Burns.

If there is a positive will to pursue a national Burns heritage trail, there should also be positive discrimination in the Scottish education system to ensure that the indigenous population gains an appreciation of Burns's works, which is sadly lacking at this time. A national trail will also provide an appreciation of Burns's works throughout the calendar year, rather than there being just one dominant day at the end of January with his works forgotten for the other 364 days. A national trail would support both those suggestions; they should be taken into account if such a trail is given the opportunity to exist.

They would be back-of-an-envelope calculations at this stage. As time has gone on, we have become more aware of the opportunity to create a bigger product. The facts show that more than 70 per cent of people who visit Scotland go to Edinburgh; many do not get much further than that. We say that that should not be the case. Although we accept that we will not be the only holiday destination, we have to work to link up with other major holiday destinations. After all, Burns spent time in Edinburgh, so if we get the product all joined up, we could create a globally known product that will attract people to Ayrshire as part of their Scottish holiday.

We have just restructured VisitScotland and now have a new VisitScotland Prestwick, a partnership that we are pleased to be part of. Mr Riddle, the chief executive of VisitScotland has said that tourism is everyone's business; that is very much the case. As a representative organisation that looks after the interests of business in Ayrshire, we are becoming increasingly aware of the need to spread that message and encourage other people to become involved in the product.Recent happenings locally in Alloway have underlined that fact and drawn it to our attention. There have been meetings of the local authorities with VisitScotland and Scottish Natural Heritage. We are keen to promote those meetings, but we must set up a world-class project in Alloway that will attract people from throughout the world. We do not want it to be a visitor centre for people in Ayrshire, but for people outside Ayrshire as well as those of us who are lucky enough to live here. If we look out of the window this morning, we can see the weather that visitors to Ayrshire always enjoy; I hope that it stays like that. However, our VisitScotland product it is not about sun, sea and sand, but much greater things, one of which is certainly Burns.

Absolutely. We are lucky in Ayrshire to have a good transport infrastructure, which is improving all the time. Of course, there will always be room for improvement, and we support Sheena Borthwick and the need in South Ayrshire to improve the condition of the A77. If we look back over the past five, six, seven or eight years, we see that transport infrastructure has improved considerably—something that must be to Ayrshire's advantage. The airport now serves 17 destinations with flights running daily to and from Ayrshire to Europe, something that we used not to have. We now have the new road and those who travel regularly to Edinburgh have slight smiles on their faces for a change because the journey is 10 to 15 minutes quicker than it ever could have been in the past. That is great and it represents another opportunity to broaden the base of tourism in Ayrshire. The new bypass at Ardrossan and Saltcoats is a great improvement in North Ayrshire and we have a reasonable railway infrastructure. I know that we want it to be improved and believe that it should be better, but we have a frequent train service from the city centre in Glasgow to all parts of Ayrshire. Yes, we are lucky and things are getting better. We will always want more, but that is human nature.

An audit is on-going at the moment. I do not know the specifics of the audit, but I understand that Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire, the local authority and other parties that are involved in the Burns product have been looking at the current situation. That progress is good and commendable, and it is the first sign that we have seen that people are beginning to work together as far as the Burns product is concerned. That is an important step. We would like to be more involved in the process but, so far, we have not been invited to do so. It is in the interests of business in general across Ayrshire for that to happen—indeed, it would be useful if all of us were to be involved.

My understanding is that the project was set up only in the past few months. Everything that has happened at the Burns national heritage park has jolted people into being more aware of the need to do something more concrete.

That is all to do with marketing and a commitment to, belief in and understanding of the product. To return to something that John Kerr said, people will not understand the product and Burns will be alien to them if, as school children, they do not get to know about Burns as they are growing up. Alongside a marketing project that creates the trail, puts it together and brings together all the loose ends, an elementary educational job must also be done to inform children and young people about Burns and what an important asset he is to our country and to our economy. If we approach the project properly, the sky is the limit: the potential is massive. If we think of Stratford we think of Shakespeare. That is the kind of product that Burns should become for Scotland.

One difficulty in respect of whether Alloway could be a hub is that that might severely depress Burns enthusiasts in Dumfries. Alloway is certainly a starting point because it is his birthplace. A difficulty that we have with Burns is that he moved around and the properties in the areas that he moved to may be under local authority control, NTS control or private ownership. The diversity of ownership of the properties creates difficulties in ensuring that there is a cohesive strategy.I have no problem—neither does Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry—with Alloway being used as the hub and the starting point. If there is an opportunity to have a central control base, it should be located in the most natural place it can be, but because of the nature of Burns's life and his works there are certainly other areas in Scotland on a potential tourist or heritage trail that would have equal importance to Alloway for different reasons. There is not a problem with having one starting point that is the hub, as long as it gives a view to the rest of the trail—whether it is done in succession or in isolated sections.

No, we have had no such discussions. We have been involved around the fringes of everything that is going on and we are concerned about everything that is going on. As I said to Sandra White in response to a previous question, we would be happy to be much more involved than we have been until now.

The year of homecoming is obviously a unique opportunity in the lifetime of everybody here. If it can be used as a bounce point to increase appreciation of Burns beforehand and to encourage it thereafter, that can only be a good thing. I would bow to the good Professor Lennon in whatever he comes up with in his report and deliberations. From a business and continuing heritage point of view, the year of homecoming will be an opportune time for appreciation of Burns in general. We support whole-heartedly anything that comes about from the homecoming report and that pushes matters forward once 2009 has passed.

That is a very important point for us. The petition is not only about the year of homecoming. The year of homecoming can be the beginning of something very big, but we need to develop a sustainable product that will continue for much longer. That is our objective in lodging the petition.

We are tenants of the airport and had nothing whatever to do with the logo. However, whether people like it or not, the plus side is that it has generated enormous press publicity, which Prestwick would not have received after its revamp if it had not chosen that slogan. There are pluses and minuses to everything. The slogan is "Pure dead brilliant", in case the convener is wondering.

The teaching of Burns is not currently part of secondary education. If a student is lucky enough to develop an appreciation of Robert Burns as a result of his or her English studies, that is normally because their English teacher or head of department appreciates Burns and wants to promote him as a poet who is worthy of review. The primary education programme in the three local authorities in Ayrshire is very good. I think that almost every Ayrshire primary school pupil has the opportunity to learn about Burns and is encouraged to participate in Burns competitions. However, I am aware of no formal structure for Burns study in the Scottish secondary education system. As I said, there should be positive discrimination on the matter. Irrespective of the petition's call for a national heritage trail, it is appalling that our education system pays no more than modest lip service to the work of our national bard. There is certainly much adult appreciation of Burns's work, but unfortunately some of that happens in the haze of Burns night once per annum, when the work is appreciated not for its poetic merit but in relation to something more liquid.