Press release -
Expo-sing Orkney's past
The history, heritage and archaeology of Orkney is all part of a themed trip organised for a group of international tour operators from as far afield as Australia and Brazil as part of the country’s biggest travel trade show - VisitScotland expo 2016.
During the four-day familiarisation (fam) trip, from 16th to 19th April, the eight pan-market delegates will visit some of Orkney’s most well-known and celebrated visitor attractions, including the Italian Chapel, built by Italian prisoners of war during World War Two; and the neolithic Ring of Brodgar, dating from between 2500 and 2000 BC, during their trip, organised by VisitScotland.
They will also take in St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. Known as the ‘Light in the North’, it was founded in 1137 by the Viking, Earl Rognvald, in honour of his uncle, St Magnus. Located near the spectacular cathedral are Bishop’s and Earl’s Palace, which are regarded as two of the finest examples of architecture in Scotland, a fitting boast during Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016.
During their trip, the tour operators from Australia, the Netherlands, Brazil, America, France and Austria, will enjoy hospitality at a number of locations, including the Kirkwall Hotel, Julia’s Café in Stromness, the Standing Stones Hotel at Stenness; the Smithfield Hotel, Dounby, The Orkney Hotel in Kirkwall and The Lynnfield Hotel.
Other attractions during the four days include Scapa Flow, Unstan Tomb, Skara Brae, Skaill House, Broch of Gurness, Maeshowe and Highland Park Distillery in Kirkwall. They will also make a photo stop at Birsay Bay.
VisitScotland expo, whose official sponsor this year is Marketing Edinburgh, takes place on 20th and 21st April in Scotland’s capital. More than 420 tourism operators from across the globe, including some of the world’s fastest-growing airlines, will attend. To make the most of the hundreds of national and international buyers in attendance, the national tourism organisation has organised a series of fam trips in order to inspire tour operators from around the world to create new or expand existing Scottish holiday packages.
As tour operators, their aim is to impress their customers with their range of products and destination knowledge. As such, personal experiences and contacts are vital. The show and fam trip are designed for them to enhance their Scottish knowledge and allow them to develop new Scottish product.
Barbara Foulkes, Orkney Islands Manager, said:
“It’s absolutely essential that we fuel the imagination of our overseas tour operators each year, giving them lots of inspiration for how they can package Scotland for their customers and we look forward to welcoming this group the strength of our tourism offering in Orkney.
“This year’s expo, being held in Edinburgh, will welcome almost 570 international and UK based buyers, and as we continue to take Scotland to the world, we hope that our wide range of familiarisation trips will encourage even more people to visit our beautiful country and boost the visitor economy.”
More than £24million worth of business is expected to be conducted over the two days of VisitScotland expo, which takes place at the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston, Edinburgh. Scotland will be promoted by over 275 businesses from across the country with a Scottish tourism product to highlight. Of the 275, at least 35 businesses from across Scotland will be exhibiting for the very first time, including Nocturnal Wildlife Tours Ltd from Dumfries & Galloway, Borders Railway, Etihad Airways and Discover Dunblane.
Last year’s event in Aberdeen saw over 6,000 appointments and a study conducted in 2012 revealed that hosting expo could be worth around £1.7 million for the local economy. It is hoped that hosting this year’s expo in Edinburgh will provide the same economic boost.
Buyer registration for VisitScotland expo 2016 is open until the show commences and buyers can register here: http://www.visitscotlandexpo.com/login
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP.
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016 - 2016 will shine a spotlight on Scotland’s achievements in innovation, architecture and design through a wide-ranging, variety of new and existing activity.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design begins on 1 January 2016 and ends on 31 December 2016 and will build on the momentum generated by the current 2015 Year of Food and Drink as well as previous years including Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- Through a series of exciting events and activity, the year will showcase Scotland’s position as an “innovation nation”, its outstanding built heritage, and its thriving, internationally acclaimed creative industries sector.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, Architecture + Design Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- Join the conversation at #IAD2016
- Events can join the 2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design Partner Programme throughout the year by visiting http://www.eventscotland.org/YIAD_partner_programme
