VisitScotland has today (October 22) launched its latest marketing drive, Only in Scotland, which will shine a spotlight on the unique experiences the country has to offer and help continue the push for more sustainable growth of the industry.
The next chapter of the Scotland is Now campaign will reinforce the country’s position as a warm, welcoming and creative nation and is the result of extensive visitor research. This showed the need for more investment at the start of the visitor’s booking process by providing inspiration and ideas to encourage people to decide on a trip to Scotland. It includes focusing on trends such as wellness and the importance of holidays that give the visitor the option for activities, experiences and getting a sense of the local way of life.
The Only in Scotland activity will showcase the unique experiences and hidden gems you can discover across Scotland throughout the year. Local tour guides from around the country will provide the backbone of the campaign, telling compelling stories which will be shown on visitscotland.com and other media. The Tour Guide Tales will focus on guides based in the Scottish Borders, Fife, Dumfries and Galloway and Aberdeen Art Gallery’s tour guide, Margaret – showcasing the lesser known regions to encourage visitors to try out different parts of the country.
VisitScotland has invested around £2m in the campaign with marketing planned in Germany, France, USA, UK and China. The activity involves partnerships with Matador Network and Expedia in the US, Le Figaro and Amazon in Europe and Stylist magazine in the UK.
In addition to its marketing activity, VisitScotland is also working with the tourism industry to involve them in the campaign with an industry toolkit, video and downloadable images for them to use and showcase their own unique experiences or what’s in the local area.
VisitScotland is committed to spreading tourism to every corner of Scotland and this drive is part of their continuing strategy to build an all year-round sustainable future for the industry.
Vicki Miller, director of marketing at VisitScotland said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for us to continue our work in supporting the sustainable growth in tourism by encouraging further seasonal and regional spread from visitors across Scotland. We’ve worked closely with the tourism industry to ensure we give them the tools to be able to support our Only in Scotland activity and help us showcase the breadth of attractions and experience our beautiful country has to offer.”
Bringing together VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Government and Universities Scotland for the first time with a single, bold narrative for Scotland, the Scotland Is Now initiative was launched in April 2018.
In its first year, the campaign aimed to grow awareness of the nation targeting the key markets of New York, San Francisco and London. Within its first nine months, the campaign delivered in excess of 127m views of its videos, attracted over 1000 uses of the #ScotlandIsNow hashtag every day, reached thousands of businesses worldwide and drove increased referrals to all partner channels.
The Only in Scotland activity will start today, October 22 and run until March 2020.
Links to the Tour Guide Tales can be found here:
Aberdeen Art Gallery