Press release -
Tourism director reveals her 'Brilliant Moments' of 2014
As the New Year gets underway, Liz Buchanan, Regional Partnerships Director of national tourism organisation VisitScotland, has been taking time to reflect on the highlights of 2014 - a year of unprecedented importance for Scottish tourism.
2014 was the year Scotland welcomed the world to major international events including the Commonwealth Games, The Ryder Cup and MTV EMAs – all of which were hugely successful and attracted global audiences. The Homecoming Scotland 2014 programme was also an outstanding hit, achieving a record-breaking 2 million attendances to more than 1,000 diverse events - many of which were sell-outs – across the country.
Throughout the year, VisitScotland ran extensive marketing campaigns to ensure the world’s spotlight shone on Scotland, with ‘Meet The Scots’ and ‘Brilliant Moments’ promotions targeting the international and home markets respectively.
Before revealing her personal ‘brilliant moments’ for tourism in Glasgow and favourite memories of the year, Liz Buchanan said:
“2014 was a great year for tourism in Glasgow, with the city and Scotland playing host to major events on an international stage and VisitScotland’s Brilliant Moments campaign helping to attract more visitors from the UK to this fantastic part of Scotland.
“There’s also much for us to look forward to this year when we will work in partnership with stakeholders and local businesses to capitalise on the opportunities of Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink by building on the momentum gained in 2014 and harnessing the growing global interest in Scotland and in visiting our country.”
Liz summarised her highlights of 2014 as:
- Introduction of Taste our Best in Glasgow – there was a great response from Glasgow’s tourism industry for VisitScotland’s newest Quality Assurance scheme which champions using local food and drink.
- BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Glasgow in May brought a great pre-Commonwealth Games atmosphere to the city.
- The Commonwealth Games – unforgettable day after day of brilliant weather, sporting and cultural events. A city full of people having a great time was so exciting and unforgettable!
- At Hampden - watching Usain Bolt bringing the Commonwealth Games athletics to a conclusion. I was so proud of Glasgow and Scotland.
- Europe winning The Ryder Cup and Scotland getting fantastic coverage.
- Presenting an award at the Scottish Baking Awards in Glasgow. Fantastic range of bakers and artisans from tearooms, cafés and restaurants around Scotland.
- Attending BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award at the SSE Hydro – a brilliant event and great to see volunteers from The Commonwealth Games, The Ryder Cup and others being recognised by many speakers.
-ENDS-
For more information contact:
Mon - Thurs
Ellen Drummond Ferroni
VisitScotland Regional Corporate Press Officer
Tel: 0141 566 4019; Mob:07801 820757
Email: ellen.drummondferroni@visitscotland.com
Out of hours media enquiries: 07699 766986
Thurs & Fri
Sharon Makepeace
VisitScotland Regional Corporate Press Officer
Tel: 01387 245 564/07771 981 236
Email: sharon.makepeace@visitscotland.com
Out of hours media enquiries: 07699 766986
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- glasgow 2014 commonwealth games
- year of food and drink
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 has three key roles:
- To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
- To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
- To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
- 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.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- 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
Year of Food and Drink 2015
- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/foodanddrink
