The organisation tasked with maximising the benefit of tourism to our national economy, VisitScotland, reports today that it has brought in £310m of benefit for the Scottish economy since in the last year, and claims that its international and domestic campaigns have increased by 14% on the previous year.
Ahead of the country welcoming the world in 2014, Scotland’s national tourism organisation has announced that its two main marketing campaigns have brought nearly £310m additional economic benefit for Scotland since January 2012, a rise of 14% on the same period the year before.
VisitScotland’s international campaigns target Scotland’s main markets across the globe including North America, Germany and France as well as emerging markets, such as India and China. This is done through an array of cross media marketing such as e-zines, multi-lingual websites, competitions, social media as well as partner offers with international transport and tour providers such as US Airways and CIE tours.
The domestic market, which accounts for 84% of Scotland’s annual visitor numbers, has been targeted since 2012 through the organisation’s highly successful Surprise Yourself campaign. The promotion includes a series of Neil Oliver narrated TV advertisements that highlighted the Year of Creative Scotland 2012, and this year’s promotion of the Year of Natural Scotland 2013.
2013 is the Year of Natural Scotland, inspiring Scottish people and visitors to celebrate Scotland’s outstanding natural beauty, landscapes and biodiversity as Scotland prepares to welcome the world in 2014 and beyond.
These figures come as the organisation gears up to for the biggest opportunities for Scotland’s tourism industry in a generation next year; Homecoming 2014, Ryder Cup 2014 at Gleneagles and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Mike Cantlay, Chairman of VisitScotland, said:-“The latest results of our domestic and international campaigns show just how much VisitScotland continues to deliver for Scotland.
As Scotland prepares to welcome the world in 2014, we’re working extremely hard to grasp the magnificent opportunities there are for growth. We believe that the tourism industry affects all walks of life and we would call on everyone to recognise the potential that next year’s unique events can have for the whole of Scotland.”
In recent weeks, the organisation has announced details of activities happening across Scotland as part of the Homecoming celebrations, as well as a multi-million pound marketing campaign to promote the Commonwealth Games across the globe.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
