Press release -
Routing for tourism
VisitScotland last year helped to secure new air routes worth over £46 million to the Scottish economy, it was revealed today.
As part of the Team Scotland* approach to route development, the national tourism organisation worked through 2016 with airlines including Delta, British Airways, Air Canada Rouge and KLM to introduce 12 new routes from both short-haul and long-haul destinations, including Paris, New York and, for the first time, Seoul.
These routes brought an estimated total of 122,000 visitors inbound to Scotland over a 12-month period, with an estimated associated net direct economic impact of £46.3m**.
The new services included links to major global air hubs including New York JFK to Edinburgh, operated by Delta, and Paris Charles de Gaulle to Glasgow, operated by Air France. Routes also included services opening up wider Scottish regions such as the Highlands via connectivity with major hubs, with both KLM from Amsterdam Schiphol and British Airways from London Heathrow direct into Inverness.
The announcement comes ahead of VisitScotland Expo 2017, where airlines are further demonstrating their support for Scottish tourism growth and VisitScotland will be working with the biggest number of airline partners in the event’s 38-year history.
Held on 26 and 27 April, the organisation’s flagship travel trade show will see 276 tourism businesses – including hotels, visitor attractions and activity providers – from all over Scotland exhibiting at the Scottish Events Campus (SEC) in Glasgow.
VisitScotland has partnered with eight airlines – including Qatar, Etihad and Finnair – on Expo, which will see more than 600 tour operators from all over the world flying in to Glasgow to meet face-to-face with Scottish tourism businesses.
Working with the airlines to encourage new routes and grow capacity on existing services from key markets, VisitScotland will facilitate meetings between the top sales agents for the airlines and tourism businesses from around Scotland. Members of the national tourism organisation’s marketing team will additionally be attending the Routes Europe 2017 Aviation Conference in Belfast, which also takes place next week.
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “VisitScotland is playing a major role in helping to bring new airlines to Scotland through innovative marketing partnerships on key routes, meaning that as a destination we are now better connected than ever. Our work in growing Scotland’s air route network is not only important for growing inbound leisure tourism, but also supports growth across all sectors of the economy.
“The fact that alone these 12 new routes have contributed £46.3 million to the economy shows the value of working closely with airlines, helping to build the case for and support the marketing of new and expanding routes into Scotland. VisitScotland Expo 2017 is another fantastic opportunity to showcase everything this country has to offer in front of a global audience.”
Transport Minister Humza Yousaf said: “Expanding Scotland’s global connectivity is one of the Scottish Government’s prime objectives. These figures show that the 12 new air routes are already having a positive impact on the country’s economy, supporting business connectivity and opening up our tourism sector to new international markets.
“The success of these routes also underlines the value of the ‘Team Scotland’ approach, which sees the Scottish Government and its agencies work with our airports to attract airlines to fly to and from Scotland. I look forward to more new routes being won through this collaborative approach in the years to come.
“VisitScotland Expo 2017 is another excellent opportunity to put our partnership working into practice and I wish everyone involved with the event every success.”
To find out more about VisitScotland Expo 2017, go to www.visitscotlandexpo.com
VisitScotland-supported new air routes to Scotland in 2016:
• Air Transat: Montreal to Glasgow
• Air Canada Rouge: Toronto to Glasgow
• Air Iceland/Icelandair: Keflavik to Aberdeen
• WOW Air: Keflavik to Edinburgh
• Hanjin Travel: Seoul to Glasgow
• KLM: Amsterdam Schiphol to Inverness
• Finnair: Helsinki to Edinburgh
• British Airways: London Heathrow to Inverness
• Transavia: Paris Orly to Edinburgh
• Air France: Paris Charles de Gaulle to Glasgow
• Eurowings: Dusseldorf to Edinburgh
Airline partners at VisitScotland Expo 2017:
• Etihad Airways
• Turkish Airlines
• Finnair
• Jet2.com
• Delta Air Lines
• Air Canada
• British Airways
** Within one year of launch, the 12 routes supported in 2016 were associated with £89m of gross economic activity, resulting in £46.3m net direct economic impact across Scotland’s economy, with £28.6 million GVA and 748 FTE jobs supported.
Topics
- Tourism
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
- 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)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
- 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
