Press release -
One for the books
WIGTOWN Book Festival, which gets underway in Scotland’s National Book Town next week, has become the 100th business in Dumfries & Galloway to sign up to VisitScotland’s Information Partner (VIP) programme.
The festival, which now has permanent all-year-round premises on Wigtown Main Street, has joined an exclusive network of VisitScotland Information Partners (VIPs) by committing to actively promote the local area and services offered by local businesses.
Launched in May 2016, the VIP programme ties in with VisitScotland’s global Spirit of Scotland campaign and harnesses the local knowledge, warmth and enthusiasm of partners across the country to help visitors receive the warmest of welcomes and make the most of their trip to Scotland.
Wigtown Book Festival opens on September 22 with more than 200 events and activities taking place across the ten days of literary celebration. Supported by a group of more than 150 volunteers, the festival welcomes over 200 authors every year. This year’s programme includes Judy Murray, Mary Contini and the recent winner and first woman winner of The McIlvanney Prize, Denise Mina.
The festival is the 100th partner to join the VIP programme in Dumfries & Galloway. From campsites, B&Bs and self-catering apartments to five-star visitor attractions such as the Devil’s Porridge Museum and The Belted Galloway Visitor Centre, and social enterprises such as the Dalbeattie Visitor Information Point, the programme includes partners in every part of the region, from Langholm to Stranraer, Sanquhar to Kirkcudbright and covers all types of tourism business.
VisitScotland Regional Director Paula Ward said: “We are delighted to welcome the Wigtown Book Festival to our VIP programme and proud to reach this important milestone in Dumfries & Galloway.
“VisitScotland’sVIP programme aims to ensure that all tourism providers can be local ambassadors and help provide information, assistance and advice on all there is to see and do here.This follows a growing trend among consumers to use online resources to plan their trips and we now have partners throughout the country providing high quality information and advice to visitors with whom they interact. This month, Wigtown Book Festival will welcome visitors from far and wide to enjoy its acclaimed programme. We look forward to working with Wigtown Book Festival and our partners across the region to ensure that visitors receive the best local information from a variety of providers.”
Anne Barclay from Wigtown Book Festival said:“Our volunteers have a wealth of local knowledge and we realise how important it is to share this with our visitors to enhance their experience and help showcase the tourism offer in the area. Wigtown and the wider region have a host of things to see and do for visitors and we have a real sense of pride in being part of this exciting scheme.”
The VIP programme forms part of VisitScotland’s focus on information which also includes a global online community to allow Scots and those who love Scotland to bring alive the streets, characters and landscapes of our country.
It ties in with VisitScotland’s global Spirit of Scotland campaign, harnessing the local knowledge, warmth and enthusiasm of staff at the attractions helping visitors make the most of their trip to Scotland.
The VisitScotland Information Partner programme is open to all Quality Assured businesses, as well as community groups, local authority-operated library services and social enterprises. VisitScotland provides the partner sites with official signage and collateral, promotional material and information resources to make sure visitors receive first-class information about the local region and about Scotland as a whole. For more information, visitwww.visitscotland.org
For more information on Wigtown Book Festival, visit http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- spirit of scotland
- information
- dumfries & galloway
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes 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
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- 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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- 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
