Press release -
Successful year for tourism in Dumfries & Galloway
THE Kelpies visit to Kirkcudbright, the successful Wigtown Book Festival and the Tour of Britain coming to the region are some of the highlights of a busy season for tourism in Dumfries & Galloway.
As 2016 draws to a close, the man in charge of tourism in the South of Scotland looks back on a memorable year for tourism in the region.
VisitScotland Regional Director Doug Wilson said these events helped draw people to the region in 2016.
He said: “When I speak to businesses across Dumfries & Galloway, they tell me that they have experienced a successful summer season. It is great to see the continued success of long-established events like the Wigtown Book Festival which has a worldwide reputation. Major sporting events like the Tour of Britain, which travelled to Castle Douglas this year, helped shine the spotlight on the region, beaming our breathtaking scenery to millions of viewers globally and provided a boost to businesses and accommodation providers.
2016 also saw the launch of VisitScotland’s first ever global campaign – the Spirit of Scotland – which aims to create a social movement to help promote the country to the world. Attractions and scenery in Dumfries & Galloway have been catapulted into the global spotlight as a result of the campaign with images of Loch Ken and the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park attracting massive amounts of engagement on our social media channels in the summer. Posts about Dumfries & Galloway attracted more than 164,000 likes, shares, retweets and comments across all VisitScotland media channels.
Doug added: “The way that visitors access information about Scotland has changed dramatically over the past five years and our ambition is to reach more people than ever before with inspirational and exciting information about Scotland. We are delighted that almost 60 businesses in Dumfries & Galloway are now part of the Visitor Information Partner (VIP) programme, part of the Spirit of Scotland campaign, harnessing the local knowledge and enthusiasm, of staff at attractions to help visitors make the most of their trip to the region. “
“We hope that many more people will continue to share their own treasured stories and images of Dumfries & Galloway with us through our social media channels and through the iKnow community to ensure that we continue to let people know about the hidden gems to be discovered in the region.
“There is a lot to look forward to in the coming year. There have been major developments in Stranraer with the re-development of Agnew Park which achieved a 3 Star Visitor Attraction in VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance Award Scheme. Next year gets off to a great start with the Big Burns Supper and looking ahead we have exciting developments planned across the region including the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust and further development at Laggan Outdoor.
“As we approach the New Year, I would like to take the opportunity to remind people that 2017 is the Year of History, Heritage and Archeology. We have a region rich in historic attractions, unique abbeys and stunning big houses, not to mention some amazing events and festivals, and I am excited about the many opportunities that the year ahead will bring. “
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- dumfries and galloway
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
2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design - 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 started on 1 January 2016 and will end on 31 December 2016.It will build on the momentum generated by the 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 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 is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- Join the conversation at #IAD2016
