Press release -
Coo Van on the mooooove in Shetland
A number of Shetland’s visitor attractions – including Sumburgh Lighthouse, Unst Heritage Centre and Scalloway Museum - are to be visited by one of VisitScotland’s Coo Vans next week.
‘Heather’ – one of the national tourism organisation’s small herd of Coo Vans offering mobile information provision – will be in Shetland from Monday 2nd July until Thursday 5th July.
Heather will be joined by members of VisitScotland’s team of specially-trained Coo-visors, who are responsible for steering the coos around the country over the summer.
Northlink is working with VisitScotland on this visit by transporting Heather and the Coo-visors to and from Shetland via a Northlink ferry. The Coo-visors will be on hand to offer visitors advice on what to see and do in Shetland.
Coo van itinerary:*
Monday, 2nd July: 9am – Lerwick iCentre, Market Cross; 11am – Braewick Café; 1pm – Eshaness Lighthouse; 3pm – Tangwick Ha Museum
Tuesday, 3rd July: 10am – Old Haa Museum (until 11.10am); 12.20pm – Victoria’s Tea-rooms, Haroldswick; 1.45pm – Hermaness Nature Reserve car park; 2.45pm – Unst Heritage Centre; 4pm – The Viking Unst Project
Wednesday, 4th July: 10am – Sumburgh Lighthouse; 12.30pm – Quendale Mill; 2.30pm – Hoswick Café/Visitor Centre
Thursday, 5th July: 9am – Lerwick Cruise Ships (based at Victoria Pier); 11.30am – Scalloway Museum; 1.30pm – Burland Croft Trail, Trondra; 3.30pm – Shetland Jewellery.
*Itinerary timings may be subject to alteration due to extenuating circumstances, including inclement weather
The vans – Hamish, Archie, Morag and Heather – hit the road at the end of March and have already attended a number of events, including the Cairngorms Nature Big Weekend, Angus Agricultural Show, Rock of Ages at Dumbarton Castle, Lanark Lanimer Day and Thirlestane Castle Vintage Rally.
They will also attend a number of planned events through the summer, including the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, Anstruther Harbour Festival, European Pipe Band Championships, Foodies Festival in Edinburgh, Stonehaven Highland Games and the Lonach Gathering.
On top of these, they will also visit many different visitor attractions, partner sites and tourism hotspots on a day-to-day basis and will appear at many more before finishing up for the year at the end of October.
The Coo Vans are part of VisitScotland’s strategy to provide inspiration to visitors in new and innovative ways and in doing so extend a ‘personal touch’ to outreach marketing activity, passing on distinctive information about things to see and do throughout the country.
Steve Mathieson, VisitScotland Island Manager, said: “I know from talking to our Coo-visors that they are very much looking forward to their trip to Shetland, to meet and offer information to visitors which we hope will then inspire them to visit again in the future.
“We have been mobilising our workforce to deliver the best information to every corner of Scotland through face-to-face and digital channels, including our online community platform, a fleet of coo vans and other outreach activity.
“The Coo Vans, in particular, have become a real talking point among visitors to events across Scotland, and they will be a popular addition to the many events and locations they attend over the coming months.
“The Coo Vans have a great following on social media and are particularly popular with children in Scotland. Having them here is a great way of showcasing our islands to potential visitors from all over the world - but is not trying to portray Shetland as the home of the Highland Coo!”
For more information on VisitScotland’s outreach programme, visit: http://www.visitscotland.org/what_we_do/visitor_information/information_provision.aspx
For more information on Northlink Ferries, visit http://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- 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
2018 Year of Young People
- The Year of Young People (YoYP 2018) will inspire Scotland through its young people aged 8 to 26, celebrating their achievements, valuing their contributions to communities and creating new opportunities for them to shine locally, nationally and globally
- Central to YoYP 2018 will be a celebratory events programme that puts young people at the heart of its development and delivery, creating new and valuable experiences for young Scots and the wider public, with links to the inaugural 2018 European Championships.
- Over 200 young people throughout Scotland are currently being recruited to become YoYP 2018 Ambassadors. Ambassadors will ensure that people and organisations in their communities know about what’s happening and will lead on projects and activities to create events and opportunities to celebrate young people.
- The Year of Young People will have six themes which were developed in co-production with young people themselves:
- Participation – looking at how young people can influence public services and decisions which affect their lives
- Education – creating a stronger role for young people in shaping their learning
- Health and Wellbeing – supporting young people to lead healthier, active lives and have opportunities to learn about and improve their mental health and resilience
- Equality and Discrimination – broadcasting the value of young Scots, challenging negative perceptions of young people, and supporting young people to take leading roles in challenging discrimination in all its forms.
- Enterprise and regeneration – celebrating young people’s role in innovation, entrepreneurship and the Scottish economy as well as making Scotland a greener and more pleasant place to live
- Culture – celebrating young people’s talent and contribution to Scottish culture and arts.
- Further information on what’s happening and how people can get involved can be found on the new website www.yoyp2018.scot or @YOYP2018 on Twitter.
