Press release -
Steering visitors in the right direction
Europe’s largest independently owned, family-run car company will be handing visitors the keys to unlock the ultimate Scottish holiday experience.
Arnold Clark, four times winner of the Automotive Manager Retailer of the year award, has become part of an impressive network of VisitScotland Information Partners (VIPs) committed to providing local information to visitors.
A total of eight Car and Van Rental sites in Scotland, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Prestwick and Inverness Airports, as well as central locations in Aberdeen and Dundee, have received iKnow accreditation from the national tourism organisation.
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.
Established in 1954, Arnold Clark has expanded from a single car showroom in Glasgow to a UK-wide organisation employing and training over 11,000 members of staff. With over 200 dealerships across the UK, the company is a true Scottish success story.
The business has always been people-oriented and takes pride in having customer-focused staff across the country who are always willing to impart their local knowledge on to visitors. It therefore made perfect sense to join VisitScotland in this exciting approach to information provision.
This is another example of the strong partnership VisitScotland and Arnold Clark have developed over the years. The firm has been stand partners at VisitScotland Expo for the past 25 years and has developed strong working relationships with the national tourism organisation’s travel trade and the Scottish events community.
They also provide the iconic Coo Vans which, like the VIP programme, are another new and innovative way that VisitScotland is passing on distinctive information about things to see and do throughout the country.
Jeff Clark, General Manager of Arnold Clark Car & Van Rental, said: “We’re delighted to join the VisitScotland Information Partner programme. Arnold Clark Car & Van Rental pride themselves on their knowledge and are always happy to inform our customers about the best local sights and attractions. With this official recognition we’ll continue to provide a wonderful service to visitors from around the world to ensure they experience the best that Scotland has to offer.”
Manuela Calchini, Head of Information at VisitScotland, said: “Arnold Clark are a fantastic addition to our network of VIPs. They are a wonderful business we have worked with for a long time so I am delighted to see them get involved in the programme. Visitors using the firm can expect a high standard of customer service and sound local knowledge.
“The VIP programme celebrates and supports tourism businesses as they act as 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.”
The 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.
The scheme is open to a wide variety of 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 an excellent standard of information about the area and the rest of Scotland. For more information, visit www.visitscotland.org.
For more information about Arnold Clark go to www.arnoldclark.com
For more details about the VisitScotland Information Partner programme go to www.visitscotland.org
ENDS
List of Arnold Clark Car & Van Rental sites signed up to the VIP programme
Aberdeen
Dundee
Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Seafield.
Glasgow Airport
Glasgow South Street
Inverness Airport
Prestwick Airport
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- 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
