Report from Highland Network Office Highland Tourism Partnership, Tuesday 27 March 2012

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1 Report from Highland Network Office Highland Tourism Partnership, Tuesday 27 March VisitScotland Information Centres (VICs) Visitor numbers for the Highland and Moray VICs. VIC figures 1 January December 2011 (all year) and 4 April October 2011 (seasonal) versus same periods in (Please note - Elgin figures are from 1 January - 30 October when it became an Information Point in Partnership with the Local Authority within the Library). Centre Year Visitors Aviemore (all year) Daviot Wood (seasonal) Drumnadrochit (all year) Dufftown (seasonal) Dunvegan (seasonal) Durness (all year) Elgin (1 Jan - 30 Oct) Fort Augustus (all year) Fort William (all year) Grantown (seasonal) Inverness (all year) Lochinver (seasonal) North Kessock (seasonal) Portree (all year) Strontian (seasonal) Thurso (seasonal) Ullapool (seasonal) Total Dunvegan VIC has now closed and an Information Point in Partnership has been established. Durness has had reduced winter opening hours due to reduction in Service Point services. Lochinver VIC had an electronic people counter installed to the Assynt Visitor Centre which has counted all visitors including those using the public toilets - hence the 60% increase. Drumnadrochit s winter opening hours have been amended due to the Service Point having been withdrawn. It is now open on a Saturday through the winter - to end Feb this has seen a 10% increase in visitors to the VIC. 1 of 7

2 Fort Augustus continues to perform extremely well. Dufftown VIC staff put on an event within the VIC on the 27 August in partnership with the Whisky Shop in Dufftown who offered whisky tasting within the VIC. The staff also arranged for a piper to pipe outside the VIC to promote the event and encourage people to pop in. 2. Marketing Activity Surprise Yourself - spring/summer 2012 VisitScotland's successful marketing campaign - Surprise Yourself recently moved into the spring/summer phase. Last year s spring /summer phase of the Surprise Yourself campaign proved very successful, generating nearly 90 million of additional economic benefit for Scotland - our best ever results for a domestic campaign. The latest Highland and Moray activity includes media and sales promotions and is part of our new Explore Scotland, we ll point you in the right direction campaign. This new regional campaign is a strand of Surprise Yourself which gives a stronger sense of place conveying key strengths of each area. Moray Tourism, with support from Moray Council has been working with VisitScotland on our Explore Scotland campaign. Both the Highlands and Moray will be included in a door drop to over 1 million households. The area will also have a presence in over 400,000 press inserts in the Sunday Times, The Observer, Scotland on Sunday, Scotsman, Sunday Sun and Newcastle Evening Chronicle. Online activity includes promotion of the 2012 Highlands Where to Stay guide. Moray will be included in joint supplement packages in The Herald, the Daily Record, The Sun (Scotland) and The Sunday Post, with a reach of 2.7 million readers in total. And a dedicated Moray advertorial will feature in the Dundee Courier reaching an additional 159,000 readers. Moray Speyside will also feature in a radio campaign with Total Tay Radio for a period of two weeks. The Highland activity is supported by Highland Council and includes a Highland insert within the national direct mail campaign. The insert, promoting a variety of surprising things to see and do in the Highlands, was sent to 130,000 potential visitors earlier this month within the national mail pack. Promotion of the Highlands also includes activity across two radio stations over a 4 week period. The national campaign - Surprise Yourself - provides overarching inspiration to put Scotland top of mind for a holiday. Once Scotland is on the shortlist, the new Explore Scotland strand provides support at the next stage of the customer journey. Local campaigns are 100% funded by Local Authorities and partnerships. Selected areas also benefit from additional ERDF funding Surprise Yourself - winter As part of the the winter Surprise Yourself campaign activity a new concept Surprise Guarantee was developed. The concept guaranteed consumers a surprise and invited them, via a number of partners, to redeem their surprise. 2 of 7

3 Promotional partners included Vango, Kaleidoscope, Daily Mail UK, The Week, Hello!, People s Friend, Psychologies, Red and Elle - reaching a potential 1.4 million people. Some of the visuals (as shown above) included Loch Linnhe and the pap of Glencoe and Black Grouse in the Cairngorms National Park (left) and Nevis Range (right). A number of offers from local businesses also supported this campaign. Only the Brave VisitScotland and The Walt Disney Company Europe, Middle East & Africa recently announced a unique global marketing campaign to promote Scottish tourism around the much-anticipated Disney Pixar film Brave, which features some of Scotland s biggest stars and is largely based in the Highlands. This marks the very first time that Disney has teamed up on this scale with a country s tourism organisation around the launch of one of its films. VisitScotland and Disney are working together to create a global marketing campaign around the new animated adventure, which is 3 of 7

4 released in more than 70 countries across the world this summer. This will include activities such as joint TV and cinema advertising across the UK, North America and Europe, PR opportunities, digital marketing and events including premieres and screenings that will continue through the film s home entertainment release. Consumer PR - UK & Ireland A snapshot of coverage this quarter includes a six page walking feature in Trail Magazine on Creag Meagaidh (circulation 40,674); a ski and winter activities travel focusing on Aviemore and the Cairngorms features in the Irish Daily Star (circ. 87,121) and the Irish News (circ. 44,222); a four page fashion spread in Glen Affric with GQ Magazine (circ. 120,087) and the inclusion of the self catering property Brochs of Coigach in Achiltibuie in a Best of British roundup in Red magazine (circ. 231,160). Consumer PR - International Highlights this quarter included a 12 page spread on the Highlands in French magazine A/R Voyageur (circ ) including a front-page feature and Swedish Magazine Aventyr s 8-page feature on Loch Ness (circ. 22,000). 4 of 7

5 Drive it Home The Highlands will be showcased to a global audience through VisitScotland s latest golf marketing campaign, Drive it Home. Castle Stuart golf course will partner VisitScotland by offering a money can t buy prize by giving golf fans the chance to test their skills on the home of the Scottish Open before competing in a Ryder Cup style competition on the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles. The promotion will target key golfing markets including the UK, Sweden, Germany and North America. Growth Fund A couple of local groups have recently received support from VisitScotland s Growth Fund. The Cairngorm Attractions Group were awarded 15,000 for a project which aims to attract more families from the W2 Younger Domestic Explorer segmentation on short breaks from mainstream Scottish cities in the central belt, and to raise the profile of the Cairngorms Attractions Group attractions as a source of great family entertainment in the Highlands for those visiting the area. Celtic Fringe was awarded 8,369 to create a tie up between Celtic Fringe Wester Ross Tourism Association and the Gairloch Business Association to promote the area under the Wild About Gairloch theme for 2012/13. The Business Association is putting together a series of events and activities throughout the year which will be matched with accommodation offers on a dedicated Wild About Gairloch on the main Visit Wester Ross website and promoted through advertising and PR. 3. Industry Engagement The Quality and Tourism Partnership team north are in the process of planning face to face visits with partners for 2013 accommodation and visitor guides. Grading visits for this scheme year are being prioritised and benchmarking assessments have been carried out to ensure consistency across the sectors. There has been an increase in prospect enquiries again this year particularly from self catering. The renewals campaign is progressing well and should begin during April alongside face to face visits. Highlands & Islands Tourism Awards The annual Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards (HITA) has joined in a new partnership with VisitScotland s Scottish Thistle Awards (STA). The HITA directors have added an extra dimension, in this the seventh year of the awards, by partnering with VisitScotland in a union that will see all HITA 2012 winners automatically being put forward as finalists in the national STA final in Edinburgh in November. The format of HITA will not change. The awards will still be free to enter and will retain a strong Highlands and Islands identity with applications made through the HITA website. The only difference will be that HITA will align some awards to fit with the Scottish Thistle Awards so that HITA winners will have the opportunity to become national finalists. All categories are free to enter and submissions should be made online at The closing date for entries is 27 April of 7

6 4. Insights VisitScotland recently revealed the most in-depth visitor research ever carried out by the organisation. Taking account of the views of nearly 2000 visitors, The Scotland Visitor Survey asked holiday makers what they thought of Scotland and what particular aspects appealed. This national survey was also broken down into specific regions including the Highlands and Cairngorms. More information on the first phase of the Scotland Visitor Survey, including the national and regional summary documents, can be found on the VisitScotland.org website here: The research was carried out for VisitScotland by TNS Research International over the main July to October season, and includes a wide ranging dissection of our country s visitor experiences looking at everything from travelling habits, activities to social media usage. A second phase of the Scotland Visitor Survey will take place this summer, with visitors being interviewed between July and October Business Tourism Unit A summary of recent and forthcoming activity by the North office of the BTU. January: Organisation and hosting of Scotland in Manchester on January 26 a networking dinner attended by 22 conference organisers based in the North of England. Attendance of the Events event in Aberdeen. March Hosting of the VisitScotland stand at the UK s leading trade exhibition for the conference market, International Confex, 6-8 March Organisation and hosting of a site visit to Inverness for the committee to support a bid to host a medical conference in Local demo days to promote BTU s Ambassador programme. April May June Exhibiting at the Conference and Hospitality Show on 26 April in Leeds. Staffing of Business Tourism Unit s information stand at Expo in Edinburgh. Organisation and hosting of Sense of Scotland networking dinner for Scottish based event organisers in Edinburgh. Hosting of a familiarisation visit to the Highlands for London based conference organisers. Organisation of Scotland on Tour sales calls to event organisers in the Midlands area. Ongoing: Attendance of monthly Inverness Association meetings. Business tourism web-site - local partners all receive a free listing but can now opt for a new enhanced listing at a cost of 150 per annum. Following the launch of a new on-line bid builder which easily and quickly produces a professional bid documents, the BTU team are promoting the resource to local Ambassadors to stimulate interest in bidding for events. 6 of 7

7 6. The 2011 Season Accommodation Occupancy (research by TNS Travel and Tourism) The tables below show occupancy figures for Sept - Dec 2011 versus September Scotland Highland Scotland Highland Scotland Highland October Scotland Highland Scotland Highland Scotland Highland November Scotland Highland Scotland Highland Scotland Highland December Scotland Highland Scotland Highland Scotland Highland of 7