Selling Scotland to India

VisitScotland's Indian Sales Mission got off to an excellent start with a jam-packed schedule of successful meetings, events and appointments.

Vineet Lal (Senior Marketing Manager), Sara Gonzales (Trade Marketing Executive) and Sarah Drummond (International PR Executive) arrived in Delhi on Monday 26 January and got underway with preparations for their upcoming VIP dinner ahead of South Asia’s leading travel trade show, SATTE.

Tuesday 27 January marked the arrival of Year of Food and Drink ambassadors for the mission, Chef Tom Lewis and his wife Lisa Lewis of Perthshire’s Monachyle MHOR Hotel. Meanwhile Vineet and Sara attended key meetings with Scottish Development International and Qatar Airways, while Sarah had media appointments with a wide range of publications throughout the day.

Wednesday 28 January brought more meetings during the day. Sarah continued her busy media schedule with appointments with India Today and Harper’s Bazaar among others.

Wednesday evening was the team’s pre-SATTE VIP dinner attended by three major travel trade associations (OTOAI, TAAI, TAFI) along with VisitBritain and co-hosts Qatar Airways. The evening was, aptly, Year of Food and Drink themed and the team even managed to convince the restaurant to whip up an ‘Indianised’ Scotch Broth, which they did with aplomb!

Thursday 29 January was the first day of SATTE, with Vineet and Sara taking their place at the VisitBritain stand to represent Scotland. The day brought a constant flow of trade-enquiries, and VisitScotland's Bollywood film map and toolkit proved popular and made for a fantastic talking point. 

Friday night saw the team host Scotland Night, alongside Qatar Airways, in the Taj Mahal Hotel Ballroom. The room was branded with a Year of Food and Drink theme, with a stunning backdrop of Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill to add a touch of the spectacular. 

India’s growing potential number of high-spending, luxury-seeking consumers, who are drawn to Scotland’s castles, landscapes and whisky, represent a strong emerging market with Scotland currently welcoming around 34,000 visitors a year.

In order to help encourage these visitors, VisitScotland has researched and created a special online map, Bollywood Scotland, which highlights dozens of Scottish locations that provide stunning backdrops for some of Bollywood's best-loved stars and most iconic musical sequences.

The map, along with a marketing toolkit, will be made available to the Indian travel trade, while consumers can also access it directly via visitscotland.com/bollywood. 

More statistics on visitors to Scotland from India can be found here.