Press release -
Call of the mild
“Mild camping” – for lovers of the great outdoors who don’t like to stray too far from the comforts of home – has been identified by VisitScotland as a new trend for 2017.
The national tourism organisation is encouraging landowners and holiday parks to consider providing ‘mild camping’ experiences, something that offers visitors the adventure and thrill of wild camping, but in a secure environment.
Mild camping forms part of the VisitScotland Insight department’s Trends 2017 paper, which is published on www.visitscotland.org today. Another trend identified is “Noveleisure” which, on the back of globally successful books such as Outlander, encourages businesses to highlight local literary connections.
“Cultural Noir”, meanwhile, is all about dark tourism, emphasising the importance of storytelling and local knowledge to satisfy customers’ appetites for details about Scotland’s dark side. Another trend is “Fluid Itinerary Travel”, which encourages businesses to take advantage of the increasing popularity of road trips along routes such as the North Coast 500.
The 2017 trends represent elements of consumer and industry behaviour expected to develop over the next 18 to 24 months.
Designed to stimulate thought among Scottish tourism businesses, the paper also identifies a number of trends:
• Just in Time Inspiration – Taking advantage of “digital amnesia”, businesses can create innovative, attention-grabbing promotional marketing which could be utilised in location service software.
• Silence is Tartan/The Deafening Silence of Wellbeing – A recent European report highlighted Scotland as one of the quietest places in the continent, while it also boasts some of the darkest skies. Businesses can promote the health benefits of Scotland by highlighting its peace and tranquility.
• Hunt for Sustainability – With consumers increasingly interested in origin and practices when choosing brands, tourism businesses should look to showcase their green credentials.
• Cultural Noir: Celebrating our Dark Side – From Bannockburn to Culloden, Scotland’s dark history is of huge interest to international visitors. The Scottish ‘dour’ and dark side, meanwhile, has been explored by the likes of Ian Rankin and Irvine Welsh. Businesses can emphasise the importance of storytelling and local knowledge to satisfy their customers’ appetite for details about the country’s dark side.
• Noveleisure: Reading Tourism’s Potential – Building on Scotland’s rich literary heritage and tying in with the Year of History, Heritage & Archaeology, businesses should look to highlight famous works of literature in their region and construct walking tours to existing tourism trails.
• Tourism Capital Investment – Consumer curiosity in the development of products has created a unique opportunity for businesses with little or no connection to tourism. Fishing trawlers, for example, are only at sea during certain times of the year. Could members of the crew offer tours?
To view VisitScotland Trends 2017, click
http://www.visitscotland.org/research_and_statistics/trends_and_insights.aspx
.
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
otes to Editors
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- 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.
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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
