Press release -
Mr Smith goes to VisitScotland
VisitScotland has appointed Charlie Smith as Director of Marketing to take forward the promotion of Scotland domestically and internationally following a hugely successful 2014.
Mr Smith comes to the national tourism organisation following 15 successful years working across marketing, sales and product management for large businesses such as BT, Orange, Vodafone, the Royal Bank of Scotland and most recently OVO Energy.
Charlie, who is from Edinburgh originally also takes a keen interest in Social Enterprises and is a Non-Executive Director of SportInspired, an organisation that aims to boost activity levels, confidence and life skills of young people across the UK and Ireland, through sport.
Charlie will take over the position of Marketing Director from Chief Executive, Malcolm Roughead who has performed a dual role since 2010.
Mr Roughead will remain as Chief Executive of VisitScotland with an increased focus on delivering overarching new policies and tactics for the organisation including: a new events strategy through to 2025; a new international engagement strategy building on success of 2014; and an increased push on aviation and business tourism.
It is anticipated that Charlie’s extensive communications and digital experience, fresh insights and fresh approach will benefit not only VisitScotland, but the tourism industry as a whole as the organisation looks to develop on the success of 2014 in its core areas of leisure and business marketing.
Charlie Smith, Director of Marketing at VisitScotland said:
“There are few opportunities that give you the chance to work in your home city and market your homeland - not many brands or products can top that for me!
“Scotland, it’s people, land and history offer a unique blend of experiences to travellers from all over the world and I hope that I can help build on the work that the team at VisitScotland has already done, to make travel and tourism such a dynamic and valuable part of the Scottish economy.”
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive at VisitScotland said:
“2014 is a pivotal year for tourism and a catalyst for future growth. This has been a mammoth year for Scotland with successful hosting of incredible world class events such as the Commonwealth Games, Ryder Cup and of course the fantastic high profile programme of Homecoming events. Our country has been catapulted into the global spotlight like never before and we must now grasp every single opportunity to make the most of this significant moment in our markets at home and abroad.
“While my focus turns to the strategic future of VisitScotland, I have every confidence in Charlie to drive the marketing arm of the organisation forward and create and develop great things.”
For further information contact:
Kate Turnbull, Corporate Press ManagerTel: 0131 472 2324 / Kate.turnbull@visitscotland.com
Out of hours media enquiries: 07699 766986
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- marketing
- scotland
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 has three key roles:
- To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
- To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
- To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
- 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.
- 2014 is the year Scotland welcomes the world, when it hosts the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and more than 800 Homecoming events throughout the country.For more information on Homecoming Scotland 2014, go to www.visitscotland.com
- The VisitScotland Information Centre network is a unique face-to-face channel engaging with around five million visitors and locals each year. Everyone who uses a VisitScotland Information Centre goes on to spend an additional £5.35, generating over £24 million for Scotland’s economy.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, tourism employs 270,000 people in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the industry contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- 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 tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
- For more information on VisitScotland’s annual review please go to www.visitscotland.org/about_us/our_focus/annual_report.aspx
