Perth and Kinross Council's leader says Perth Museum has to be the driver of change to make people spend more time - and money - in and around Perth.
Grant Laing and his deputy Eric Drysdale hope the £27.2 million visitor attraction - which is set to be the new home for the Stone of Destiny - is the key to improving the Fair City’s fortunes
The councillors believe the transformation of Perth City Hall will help make Perth "sticky" - encouraging visitors to stay longer.
SNP council leader Grant Laing and deputy Eric Drysdale shared their vision in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Cllr Laing said: "The museum has to be the driver to change things - whether it be a golden bullet, I would think standing on its own it will be.
"But there are already two bar/restaurants which have opened there. These buildings will have footfall but it gives us an opportunity to make Perth more sticky so people will come and see one thing and then they can go and see a show at the theatre or Concert Hall instead of just coming for one thing."
The SNP administration is also examining how much the city benefits from holding regular events. PKC's Events budget was not cut in this year's budget but the councillors want evidence of people attending and boosting the local economy to justify maintaining or even bolstering that budget.
Cllr Drysdale said: "We also have all the events throughout the year that we have been encouraging people to continue to attend because it's important that people want to attend these things - such as the Mela which was so well attended and the Vintage Car Rally as well."
The Perth City Centre councillor added: "There's also the Christmas Lights Switch On and the Winter Festival - which is always popular - but with all of these we need to see evidence that people are attending so we justify their continuation."
Cllr Laing added: "We can't just be 'it's always been' or 'we've always done that' if it's no working. We have to look at everything we do moving forward to be evidence based."
A similar message was shared with the public to use Perth Leisure Pool - saved from closure earlier this year.
The council leader said: "The Leisure Pool is performing much better now. We're up about 25 per cent since the turn of the year."
He added: "Businesses are happy with the events we're putting on because a lot of cities are cutting events to save money. It can be short-termism too to cut an event. The economic benefit and the feel and the buzz of the town on a Saturday when there's something like that on is worthwhile but we have to look at the evidence and the numbers to see if we're going to continue them."
Cllr Drysdale said: "Having said that, there is a UK-wide cost of living crisis. People don't have as much money to spend. Despite that, I think there are early signs there is an up-tick in footfall in Perth City Centre. It's the beginnings but we need to attract more people in and we need to find ways to have people visiting - not just for retail but for leisure events and for leisure facilities."
In terms of attracting more shops, Cllr Laing described the council as "hamstrung".
He said: "You're kind of hamstrung because all the big retail spaces are not owned by PKC. A lot of them are owned by pension companies and other companies that don't even reside in the UK. Debenhams is one like that.
"The way people shop has changed and I don't think it will ever change back. It's all online and you can get delivery.
"That's why Adapt Your Property is one of the success stories - where people are changing their retail offer by having them smaller or changing them back into residences within the city centre.
"The more bespoke shops you have, the more diverse your offer."
City and town centre property owners and tenants can apply for financial assistance from PKC's Adapt Your Property Fund to develop empty buildings to be brought back into use for "economic and socially productive purposes".
And so far - according to Cllr Drysdale -"all the indicators are really positive" the scheme is working.
He said: "The Adapt Your Property fund has been available for three years now and the level of grants issued, the level of further investment created, jobs created, and the amount of floorspace has increased year on year and is growing quite dramatically."
But surely Perth's unique selling point - alongside its beauty - is its central location situated within an hour or two's travel of Scotland's seven other cities?
Cllr Laing agreed: "Perth is easy to get to. It's also easy to get out of. What we need to do is make Perth sticky because if you don't have an offer, bespoke retail offer, events, you don't have anything then people will go to places that have them.
"What we want is to use Perth Museum as a driver to make people want to come."
And Cllr Laing believes Perth and Kinross could work in conjunction with neighbouring local authorities to sell their offer.
He said: "We want to be speaking to Stirling and Dundee, etc.. You can go to Stirling Castle, then you can come to see the Stone of Destiny, visit Scone Palace and then you've got the V&A. We'll work together with other local authorities to improve the whole offer rather than just be a one-off stop.
"We don't people coming just to go to Perth Museum and then go on the next part of the tour. We want them to come and stay. We have got a good restaurant offer and bars of different types which would suit the majority of people."
