Today [Friday 18 May], chair of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) William Roe, will claim that the Highlands and Islands is one of the most innovative regions in the world. Mr Roe is opening the final day of The Tourism Society's 30th anniversary annual conference in Aviemore. The conference has been organised in conjunction with UHI Millennium Institute.

Addressing more than 100 delegates including tourism operators, academics and policy-makers from Scotland, the UK and overseas, Mr Roe will make the declaration this morning during a 30 minute speech entitled 'Tourism in an innovative region'. He will highlight that tourism represents almost £1billion to the Highlands and Islands' economy, accounts for eight per cent of GDP and generates 24,000 jobs (excluding self-employed) across a wide range of businesses. 

Mr Roe says: "The Highlands and Islands is a region synonymous with outstanding natural beauty, making our surroundings one of our greatest assets. In addition, we have an exceptionally rich heritage juxtaposed with a dynamic culture which embraces music festivals, extreme sports, walking and wildlife. Essentially, what we have is a high-quality, diverse product boasting a world-class reputation."

Examples of the area's innovation include fostering niche markets such as outdoor tourism, and culture and heritage tourism. Mr Roe will describe the £9.3m upgrade of historic Culloden Battlefield as hugely important and highlight Lochaber's success in positioning itself as the outdoor capital of the UK.

Mr Roe will also speak of the Scottish Executive's target to grow tourism revenue by 50 per cent by 2015 - a goal HIE has enthusiastically signed up to.

HIE's chair says: "To do this, the tourism sector needs to continue to innovate and diversify. It needs to create extraordinary experiences and give world-class customer service every day, everywhere. It needs to embrace new technology and partnership working. It needs to respect, protect and enhance the spectacular natural and cultural heritage for which our region is celebrated. We can do all of this by collaborating with partner organisations such as the Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in Boston."

Further themes being explored in Mr Roe's speech include sustainable tourism, developing skills and Scotland's access code.

 "One of the benefits of our extensive and formalised access to the outdoors is that it sends a clear welcome message to visitors. This is so important - to welcome visitors through our open access policies, through our customer service excellence, through our respect for the natural environment and through our commitment to innovation in tourism and indeed innovation in the Highlands and Islands."