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A new guide to help more visitor attractions and events planners showcase the very best of Scotland's mouth-watering larder was unveiled yesterday.

A Taste for Events offers simple and expert advice to anyone organising an event in Scotland. It provides contacts for local food groups, farmers' markets, professional caterers, certification schemes - a comprehensive database of local producers and suppliers.

The guide aims to build on the momentum created by the Scottish Government's national food and drink policy, 'Recipe for Success', and the Homecoming celebrations, which have both helped increase awareness of Scottish produce. Last week Ministers announced that a year focusing on Scotland's food and drink will be launched in 2010, delivering a major boost to the tourism and food sectors and building on the Homecoming legacy.

The publication has been prepared by the industry's Tourism Innovation Group with support from the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Scotland Food & Drink, VisitScotland and EventScotland. It's part of ongoing work with visitor attractions, pubs, hotels and restaurants to capitalise on the £700 million spent on food and drink by visitors to Scotland each year.

Through 'Recipe for Success', a programme of work is underway with leading visitor attractions to increase the standard and volume of fresh, seasonal produce on offer. A food and visitor attractions summit will be held next month. A provenance toolkit will also shortly be rolled out to visitor attractions in partnership with the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions

Speaking at the Scottish Tourism Forum's 'Highland Question' seminar in Inverness today, Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said:

"Each year over 15 million visitors come to Scotland, spending over £4 billion, and almost a fifth of that is spent on food and drink. We know that visitors are willing to pay a premium for food and drink with a local provenance. This presents a major opportunity for Scottish tourism and food businesses.

"This new on-line guide will help events organisers make the most of our wonderful produce. Whether you are planning a major event or something smaller in scale, there is now an abundance of expert advice and list of contacts in the one place to ensure you can source the finest fresh, seasonal and local produce. By working together we can build on Scotland's fantastic food revolution.

"Tourism is vitally important to the Highlands. In 2008 visitors took nearly 2.5 million trips and spent £640 million in the area. Employment in tourism accounts for 14 per cent of the local workforce. Serving even more seasonal produce can help drive up profits, and open up new markets for our producers in the process.

"This guide is not happening in isolation. Later this month I will launch a toolkit which will make it easier for the food service sector to tell consumers about the origin of the food they sell. We have also been working closely with the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions to develop an event focused on the role that food and drink plays as part of the visitor experience. Next month's summit will showcase examples of how visitor attractions are benefiting from the high quality produce available on their doorsteps. And our Homecoming legacy work, including a year focused on Scotland's food and drink, will also keep up momentum."

Paul Bush OBE, Chief Operating Officer at EventScotland, the national events agency, said:

"Events are a powerful driver for both international and domestic tourism, providing thousands of visitors each year with a reason to travel to Scotland, extend their stay or explore areas off the beaten track.

"Each year, EventScotland supports events which celebrate Scotland's warm hospitality, legendary local produce and award winning chefs. From seafood festivals which recognise the heritage and culture of Scotland's fishing communities to whisky festivals which showcase one of the nation's finest contributions to the world.

"'A Taste for Events' will allow even more event owners and organisers to harness the power of Scotland's reputation for gastronomy, utilise local produce and raise the profile of the nation as a destination for food and event tourism."

The Scottish Tourism Forum (STF) is an independent trade body which represents the interests of Scottish tourism businesses. STF has members across all sectors of the industry both small and large operators, associations and area business groups. STF provides the national voice of the industry and is involved in industry advisory groups and grants awards panels and lobbies on behalf of the tourism and hospitality sector.

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