Tourism representatives from Scotland, Wales, The Netherlands and Denmark are to organise the first European conference on cold water island tourism.

Based on the concept that cold water islands, particularly those in the North Atlantic, face common tourism opportunities and challenges, the conference has been set up to tackle strategies for economic growth using these countries’ natural resources.

One of the event’s key themes will be the sustainable growth of these island communities, most of which rely on tourism as a mainstay of their economy.

“Island tourism tends to focus on warm water locations such as the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean,” said Alastair Dobson of Visit Arran - a Scottish island tourism body. “Cold water island tourism is vitally important to the economy for the island communities but, importantly, cold water islands offer tourists a wonderful opportunity to get close to nature and to experience authentic island life….. and for northern European markets these experiences are much closer to home”

The EU’s Blue Growth Strategy highlights the importance of developing all aspects of the marine environment for economic development. The ‘blue economy’ as it is known, represents around 5.4m jobs and generates a gross added value of almost €500bn (US$609bn, £392bn) annually. Coastal tourism is one of the areas in the strategy targeted for further growth.

The three-day event, which will take place on the Isle of Arran in March, is being organised by the Videncentre for Kystturisme in Denmark (the Danish centre for coastal tourism); Visit Arran and the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland; leisure and tourism consultancy Stevens and Associates in Wales; and representatives from NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands.

The event will be aimed at tourism operators, policy makers, planners and politicians.