WIREDGOV

A European-first collaboration between VisitScotland and TripAdvisor will see Scotland’s world-class tourism offering promoted to almost 70 million new potential visitors, generating a potential additional spend of £150 million.

The multi-year deal between VisitScotland and TripAdvisor - the world’s largest travel website with 390 million average unique monthly visitors - follows a successful pilot programme last year that highlighted the wonders of Scotland to the TripAdvisor travel community.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the collaboration in New York at Carnegie Hall on the final day of her visit to the US where she is promoting Scotland as a place to do business.

Following the successful launch of VisitScotland’s first global brand campaign – the Spirit of Scotland - and investment in new technologies, TripAdvisor and VisitScotland will also collaborate on a joint marketing campaign in the UK.

In addition, Scotland has also been named the preferred “test partner” for new destination marketing products in Europe, allowing TripAdvisor and VisitScotland to work together to understand how the latest technology can be used to allow more people to discover Scotland.

Finally, VisitScotland is discussing with TripAdvisor, among others, how they might help grow their social tourism programme, enabling disadvantaged families across the country to take a much needed break, ensuring that the economic benefits of tourism sustain and reach all parts of Scotland.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, said:

“Our tourism industry has always been strong- spending by North American visitors leapt by almost 28% to £633 million in the last year alone - however it’s crucial that we ensure Scotland’s appeal reaches as wide an audience as possible.

“This collaboration will ensure that millions more people will understand Scotland’s appeal, and boost Scotland’s tourism industry for years to come.

“The fact TripAdvisor has chosen Scotland as its first European partner shows just how resilient they believe Scotland’s economy to be – and the fact we were voted the second best country in the world to visit by the Rough Guide means site visitors are guaranteed a good holiday!”

Charlie Smith, Director of Marketing and Digital at VisitScotland, said:

“TripAdvisor is the biggest tourism website in the world based on tourist real experiences. This partnership will give us the chance to learn from those at the forefront of innovation while inspiring millions of potential new visitors. This collaboration will help us put Scotland’s regions, cities and unique experiences on the world stage and to grow our tourism industry for future generations.”

Robin Ingle, Senior Vice President of Sales, said:

“Digitally VisitScotland is at the forefront of DMOs around the world. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in their desire to use our data as a measure of how many more people are actually visiting Scotland as a result of their marketing activity, as opposed to more traditional methods such as visits to their website or email sign-ups. We are looking forward to utilizing TripAdvisor’s data, scale and access to millions of travelers to work with Scotland and highlight all the country has to offer.”