Press release -
Women’s drive towards Scotland the Home of Golf
A new and engaging golf campaign, aimed specifically at encouraging more women to travel to Scotland to play golf, has been launched today by VisitScotland.
In what is a world first by a national tourism organisation, the campaign features four women who, as friends, are filmed enjoying a golf break which also involves other fun activities off the course. The result is fun, engaging and inspirational content which will be aimed at VisitScotland’s key golf markets in the UK, Germany, North America, Scandinavia and The Netherlands.
The video content campaign, which has adopted the #HerScotland hashtag, will start organically from today [7 February 2019] with the main 60 second video displayed on VisitScotland’s YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/KfMNvtRfw9Q
In addition there will be paid in-market campaigns coinciding with key events in the golfing calendar. The bespoke landing page, www.visitscotland.com/womensgolf/ , holds information about the featured cast, the filming locations and example itineraries aimed at female golfers.
VisitScotland want more womento come and experience golf on its many stunning, accessible and friendly courses as well as exploring the many other exciting activities on offer away from the golf course. Currently just 12% of golf visitors to Scotland are female, which represents a huge potential for growth considering that female golf participation in some European countries in particular is in excess of 35%.*
Golf tourism is already a key part of Scotland’s visitor economy, worth more than £286 million on an annual basis with a target to grow that to £325 million by 2020. Research shows that golf tourists spend around 3.5 times that of a “regular” tourist and with half of all female golfers visitors to Scotland describing themselves as either “luxury” or “holiday” golfers, this indicates a willingness for a high-spend and to undertake a variety of other activities during a golf trip, visiting multiple regions. VisitScotland hope the campaign will support this growth potential by dispelling myths that golf in Scotland is male dominated and only accessible to highly skilled and competent golfers.
The campaign will also be used to help support raise awareness of The 2019 Solheim Cup, the most prestigious event in women’s golf, which is being held from the 9th – 15th September over the PGA Centenary Course, Gleneagles. The event aims to attract 100,000 attendees, providing an economic boost for Perthshire and Scotland as well as showcasing the country as an inspiring and welcoming golf tourism destination.
As well as boosting Scotland’s reputation as the Home of Golf on the global stage, the tournament hopes to inspire a new generation of children and, in particular, girls to take up the game invented in their home country.
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “VisitScotland is proud to be doing something that no other tourism body has done before by investing in a female focused golf destination marketing campaign. We pride ourselves on being a forward thinking and innovative organisation and I believe this campaign will help to put the focus on Scotland as a female friendly golf destination.
“Scotland’s commitment to women’s golf is unquestionable with an investment in excess of £23 million since 2007 through our staging of both the Women’s British Open and The Aberdeen Standard Invesments Ladies Scottish Open cementing our reputation as the Home of Golf.
“It is a huge year for women’s golf in Scotland as we are set to host The 2019 Solheim Cup at Gleneagles in September. The event offers us a significant opportunity to increase the number of female golfing visitors to Scotland. Add in a TV broadcast audience with the potential to reach more than 600 million households it means a lot of eyes will be firmly fixed on Scotland.”
To watch the new Women’s Golf Campaign go to https://youtu.be/KfMNvtRfw9Q
For further information visit www.visitscotland.com/womensgolf/ #HerScotland
For more information on the 2019 Solheim Cup go to www.solheimcup2019.com
*Source: Scotland Golf Visitor Survey 2016 - https://www.visitscotland.org/research-insights/about-our-visitors/interests-activities/golf
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- solheim cup
- scotland
- tourism
- golf
- 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 five overarching strategies: Marketing, Events, Quality and Sustainability, Inclusive Tourism, International Engagement.
- 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
- 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 tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Scotland’s Themed Years
- Following an industry consultation, the Themed Years will now take place every second year to enable more time for planning and opportunities for collaboration.
- 2020 has been designated as a year in which Scotland’s Coasts and Waters will be showcased and celebrated with a programme of activity designed to support the nation’s tourism and events sectors.
- The year, led by VisitScotland will sustain and build upon the momentum of Scotland’s preceding Themed Years to spotlight, celebrate and promote opportunities to experience and enjoy Scotland’s unrivalled Coasts and Waters, encouraging responsible engagement and participation from the people of Scotland and our visitors.
- A year-long programme of events, activities and ideas will shine a spotlight on the impact our waters have had on Scotland, from the formation of beautiful natural features to the creation of our national drink – whisky.
- Join the conversation using #YCW2020
- 2022 will be the Year of Scotland’s Stories - a celebration of our rich literature, film, oral traditions and myths and legends.
