Press release -
Opening up tourism potential
Stunning footage of The Lothians, Highlands and Fife will be beamed out to millions of households throughout the USA as Scotland gears up for this year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Gullane Golf Club.
VisitScotland, which has invested £1.25 million into this weekend’s prestigious competition at Gullane, will be capitalising on the popularity of The European Tour event with a television advert highlighting Scotland’s global status as the Home of Golf.
In it, people can be seen playing golf in a series of dramatic locations, including Edinburgh Castle, at the base of Glenfinnan Viaduct and at Pittenweem Harbour.
Nearly 5.5 million American viewers tuned in to last year’s Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club via NBC and the Golf Channel, while the tournament is also being screened by Sky Sports in the UK.
VisitScotland is also giving people the chance to win a week’s holiday in Scotland, which includes playing in next year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open pro-am at Castle Stuart Golf Links near Inverness.
In addition to the significant marketing benefits of the global TV and media coverage of this year’s event, the Scottish Open is set to give a £5 million boost to the local economy in East Lothian.
More than 60,000 spectators are expected to flock to the Scottish Open, which is this week being held at Gullane Golf Club for the first time, to see star players such as Phil Mickelson and last year’s champion, Justin Rose, in action.
Overall, golf tourism is worth £220 million to the Scottish economy and supports 4,400 jobs.
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “The Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open is a key date in this country’s spectacular summer of golf, which sees a total of nine professional golf events taking place throughout Scotland over the coming months. Already this summer, we have enjoyed the SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge in Aviemore, the inaugural Scottish Open Qualifier in North Berwick and, just a few days after the Scottish Open, we can look forward to The Open Championship returning to St Andrews.
“Before July is out, we will also have the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open and the Ricoh Women’s British Open in Ayrshire and the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play Championship in Aberdeenshire.
“Our television advert, which was shot all over the country, will be seen by millions of American golf fans during the Scottish Open and will inspire even more people to come and enjoy a round in Scotland – the undisputed Home of Golf.”
Peter Adams, Championship Director of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, said: “This is a pivotal month for world-class professional golf in Scotland, and we are delighted to set the ball rolling at Gullane Golf Club with the 2015 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.
“The field assembled this year is one of the strongest in the history of the tournament and the combination of the world’s greatest players competing over a course affording spectacular views of Gullane sands and the Firth of Forth will undoubtedly enhance the reputation of East Lothian – and Scotland – globally.”
To view the adverts, go to:
https://youtu.be/P3TFITDm7Bg
https://youtu.be/TQvvnSMkL1w
https://youtu.be/Da7tDKtT7y4
To find out more about Scotland’s spectacular summer of golf, go to www.visitscotland.com/golf
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- sportstourism
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.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy 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.
- 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 Food and Drink 2015- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/tastescotland
