A #400,000 project to provide new year-round leisure facilities near

Dunoon marks the beginning of Cowal's regeneration as a tourist centre,

and the change in fortunes the local community has been awaiting since

the US Navy quit the Holy Loch last March.

This was the claim made yesterday by the chief executive of Argyll and

the Islands Enterprise, Mr David McIntyre, as he unveiled details of the

Local Enterprise Company's #187,500 grant and loan package to the

project.

This will see the completion next month of the leisure complex

overlooking the Holy Loch which will house a swimming pool, spa bath,

sauna suite, solarium, and mini-gym to serve the self-catering

accommodation provided by owners, Hafton Holiday Lodges.

Hafton House will be open to the public all year round and will

increase existing employment at the centre by nine jobs to 25. Hafton

says it is the first phase of a #5m five-year plan, to develop the

centre as a major holiday complex, offering high quality hotel

accommodation and water-based activities as well as self-catering

lodges, bars, and restaurants.

Managing director Robert Dodds said yesterday: ''Holidaymakers now

expect such leisure facilities as a matter of course, and our advance

bookings at the end of January for the 1993 season are nearly double

what they were for 1991. We are now looking for 11,000 visitors, who

will put more than #4m into the local economy between Easter and the end

of October.''

Mr McIntyre added: ''This project is firm evidence of our commitment

to developing the Cowal economy and follows our recent initiative to

identify opportunities for improving local hotels.

The Cowal Action Plan has identified tourism as a major plank in the

economic regeneration of the area, and this project, to upgrade

facilities for local people and visitors alike, secures the jobs of the

present workforce as well as creating new seasonal and year-round

employment.''