Press release -
Castles hit the road
Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle are hitting the road today (Tuesday 27 June) when some of Scotland’s top MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) venues go on tour in the Midlands.
Organised by VisitScotland Business Events, Scotland on Tour will see representatives from eight venues around the country meet with event organisers from Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Chesterfield, Derby and Birmingham.
Hosted on a luxury coach, the national tourism organisation’s two-day event gives partners an excellent opportunity to hold face-to-face meetings with key contacts in what has become a popular format among both venues and event organisers.
The north of England and the Midlands is a growing market for VisitScotland Business Events, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of total UK enquiries in 2016/17.
Theresa Ring, Market Manager – The Midlands & North England at VisitScotland Business Events, said: “We have been running Scotland on Tour for over ten years. It is very popular with both partners and buyers as it provides agents with an easy way to learn more about Scotland directly from Scottish experts – all they need to do is step out of their office and on to our coach. It’s a really effective use of their time, as they can meet several Scottish suppliers in one go and hear about all the latest developments and offerings from Scotland.”
Joyce Arbuckle, Area Director of Sales, The Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness, said: “We are seeing a substantial increase in conference business to the Highlands. The increased connectivity, excellent facilities and of course the warmth of our welcome have put it firmly on the radar of event organisers. I am very much looking forward to spreading the word with our industry partners in the Midlands during Scotland on Tour with VisitScotland Business Events this week.”
VisitScotland Business Events’ Scotland on Tour partners:
• Principal Hotels, Edinburgh
• Edinburgh & Stirling Castles
• The Balmoral, Edinburgh
• Contini Restaurants & Events, Edinburgh
• Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness
• Meetings Perthshire
• Crieff Hydro, Perthshire
• Trump Turnberry, Ayrshire
Midlands agencies:
• Conference solutions
• Ashfield Meetings and Events
• Cloud 9 Event Management
• Absolute Corporate Events
• Conference Care
• ArrangeMy
• DRP
A similar event, Scotland on Tour – London, will be held in the UK capital next month.
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- business events
- 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
