Press release -
Holland looking north to Sail Scotland
Sail Scotland was given a warm welcome at the BOOT Holland Boat Show last week, promoting the best of Scottish sailing and marine tourism at the show for the first time.
BOOT Holland is an annual event attracting more than 30,000 visitors from across The Netherlands.
Sail Scotland was able to attend thanks to support from the VisitScotland Growth Fund and additional funding from Scottish Development International.
The Sail Scotland stand was positioned prominently to promote Scottish canals, sailing schools, holidays, yacht charters, marinas and boatyards to Dutch consumers for the very first time.
There were many highlights from visitors to the stand, from those who had have sailed around Scotland numerous times, to others planning their first trip for 2017.
Jelmer Fokkema and his wife Jacqueline were delighted to find the Sail Scotland stand at the show for the first time and said: “It is great to see Sail Scotland encouraging more Dutch visitors. It is 35 years since we have been to Scotland, but we are now returning with our two dogs on board, to cruise from the Clyde through the Crinan Canal to Rum, Skye, The Hebrides and Orkney. We cannot wait to return this summer.”
One visitor to the stand had visited Orkney and Shetland nine times, and is sailing north again this year on his 1848 Pilot Cutter Moonflower to visit again. Whilst another, who had previously visited the Clyde as a submariner, was looking forward to a trip through the Caledonian Canal this summer.
Gavin McDonagh, Chair of Sail Scotland, said:“It was great to see our Scotland stand at BOOT Holland Boat Show for the first time. The Netherlands is a key market for us, and one we have not targeted before, so it was a great opportunity to engage and attract new visitors to our waters - benefiting our members’ businesses and all of Scotland over the coming months and beyond.”
Sail Scotland Chief Executive, Daniel Steel, added: "The Sail Scotland presence at BOOT Holland was a great success, and another important step in positioning Scotland as a marine tourism destination of first choice. It is clear from the reaction that there is demand from the Dutch market to explore our coasts and canals, with great interest both in charters and in bringing their own boats north to our explore our world-class sailing offer.”
The Sail Scotland stand presence was supported by funding from Scottish Development International (SDI), and the VisitScotland Growth Fund.
It has been a busy first quarter for Sail Scotland, delivering activity at London International Boat Show and BOOT Holland since January. Following quickly on from this success, they will turn their attention to the Stockholm International Boat Show in March 2017, with another strong stand presence planned to showcase Scotland and further strengthen its position as a key destination for sailing and marine tourism.
Topics
- Tourism
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
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- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
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- 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
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- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
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- 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
- 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017
