Press release -
Digital focus for Highland Tourism Conference
A travel blogger from the Netherlands and a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament are amongst speakers addressing delegates at this year’s Highland Tourism Conference, due to take place in Inverness next week.
There are still spaces at the annual event, which has an overarching digital theme and is being held at the Kingsmills Hotel 9.30am to 3.30pm on Tuesday 28th November. VisitScotland is working in partnership with The Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Highland Tourism Partnership, to deliver this year’s conference.
It aims to provide presentations, workshops and exhibitions from a range of organisations and experienced industry professionals offering insights and practical solutions to help tourism businesses take advantage of and embrace some of the exciting new digital technologies and trends. This, in turn, can help increase visitor numbers and enhance the visitor experience across the Highlands.
Keynote speaker Keith Jenkins founded iambassador in 2011, drawing on a global network of elite travel influencers to showcase destinations, products, and services. Keith has built an excellent track record executing successful campaigns for tourism boards and brands that have reached millions of people around the world.
Bonnie Dubois, from The Netherlands, is an experienced marketing manager and media strategist and also blogs on a number of subjects – including travel stories - in her free time. She is also a visual storyteller, produces travel vlogs for Holland's biggest magazine Libelle and is specialised in making short videos for Instagram. At the conference, she will demonstrate how rich and beautiful video content can easily be created, using just a smartphone.
Ethine Barnes, from the Scottish Youth Parliament, will also give ‘The Young Person’s Perspective’, delivering the voice of the younger generation on the current tourism industry and its opportunities as we head into 2018 - Scotland’s Year of Young People.
Over 120 delegates have already signed up and will also have the opportunity to hear from Rebecca Brooks, from Abbey Tours, about ‘The Trade’s Perspective’.
Workshops with Gordon Black, Digital Marketing Consultant at Digital Tourism Scotland, will be held on ‘Click your way to the Highlands’ and with Jenni Steele, Marketing Manager for Film, Culture and Heritage at VisitScotland, on ‘Screen tourism – online, communities and fandom’. There will also be business stalls and networking opportunities, where businesses can come together and learn from each other as well as hearing from inspiring speakers.
Chris Taylor, Regional Partnerships Director at VisitScotland, said: “I would encourage anyone in the tourism industry to sign up to this year’s Highland Tourism Conference and get themselves along to The Kingsmills Hotel next week.
“A great and very interesting range of topics are being covered at the conference with a line-up of motivational and passionate speakers, keen to share their knowledge.
“It has been very encouraging to see that so many individuals and businesses have already signed up to attend and get involved in this year’s conference, all keen to work together and learn how they can attract even more visitors to this unique part of Scotland.”
Graeme Ambrose, Chair of the Highland Tourism Partnership, said: “This is shaping up to be a fantastic Highland Tourism Conference this year, with speakers from home and abroad delivering on a range of topics which I am sure will be of interest to all. If you have not already signed up to attend, I would encourage you to do so now as there are only a limited number of places left available.”
For more information and to buy tickets for the conference, which cost £25, visit www.highlandtourismconference.co.uk
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- film tourism
- corporate communications
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
- To ensure everyone can safely enjoy Scotland’s amazing countryside and landscapes, VisitScotland encourages all visitors to fully respect their surroundings by behaving in a responsible and appropriate way.
- 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) 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
