VisitScotland today revealed a dynamic strategy to address the diverse transformation in the way visitors access information on what to see and do while in the country.
With a 58% drop in footfall to VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland in the past 12 years and two out of three visitors now accessing information online, a radical approach is being introduced to ensure customer demands are met.
The two–year strategy will see a significant increase in the number of channels providing content on places to visit and stay, with a mix of industry partners, Coo Vans* and digital products sitting alongside 26 key VisitScotland iCentres in high impact locations.
In Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, the high footfall Aberdeen and Ballater VisitScotland iCentres will be part of the 26 iconic new travel hubs, welcoming over 53,000 visitors a year.
The two iconic centres will be supported by just over 100 VisitScotland Information Partners (VIPs)** in the region including Duff House, Braemar Castle Ltd, the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses and Huntly Castle, providing inspirational local knowledge to the people that visit Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire every year.
Ballater iCentre is currently being rebuilt within the Old Royal Station following a fire in 2015 and expects to reopen to welcome visitors in 2018.
VisitScotland iCentres at Banff, Huntly, Stonehaven and Fraserburgh will all cease trading at the end of October 2017 and Braemar by the end of March 2019. Information provision will continue in all locations through partnership arrangements with local visitor attractions, car hire firms, businesses, tourism groups and local tourism experts.
The new approach allows the national tourism organisation to deliver information in the right way at the right time to the 15 million visitors Scotland welcomes every year.
Around £10m is being invested by VisitScotland each year in digital activity and enhanced information services for visitors including investment in the 26 high impact regional travel hubs.
The remaining high impact 26 travel hubs will operate in locations of greatest visitor demand, providing a cutting edge experience and information about attractions and accommodation to not only the immediate locale, but the wider region as a whole.
In addition, VisitScotland has recruited over 1,500 VisitScotland Information Partners nationally to ensure there is an information touchpoint in every single corner of the country. From distilleries to Bed and Breakfasts, social enterprises to bakeries, local businesses will be working with the tourism organisation to guarantee that visitors are equipped with the best local knowledge about things to experience in every region.
The national tourism organisation has also set up innovative partnerships with organisations such as Scottish Canals, Arnold Clark, Forestry Commission, Historic Environment Scotland and local Destination Organisations to ensure there is information available at every stage of the visitor journey.
With so many relying on smartphones and tablets for information, a big focus of the strategy will be digital communications. Annually, visitscotland.com generates 20 million sessions from over 13 million users and includes online booking availability, interactive community pages, blogs and a trip planner tool.
In the last 12 months, the redesigned visitscotland.com has delivered 2.7 million referrals worth a potential £560m to businesses (+45% year on year 2016/17). The VisitScotland online iKnow community currently has over 5000 users and over 7000 trips have been created using the website’s trip planner tool. Other digital outreach includes innovative partnerships with TripAdvisor, Booking.com and Digital Tourism Scotland.
VisitScotland staff have also been significantly mobilised over the past 18 months enabling knowledgeable advisors to deliver face to face information to every corner of Scotland at events and attractions. A fleet of Coo Vans hit the road last summer on a mission to inform the masses and in addition VisitScotland delivers outreach at major events with pop up information hubs.
Jo Robinson, regional director at VisitScotland, said:
“The way visitors access information has changed significantly over the past five years. It’s time to switch our focus and investment into new and diverse initiatives to ensure we are reaching as many visitors to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire as possible with the information they want, in the way they want it, when they want it.
“With three in four adults now owning a smartphone, a key focus is ensuring our digital communications provide succinct inspirational and informational advice to visitors at every stage of their journey. However, we know that speaking to locals is also important to our visitors and with our high footfall iCentres in Aberdeen and Ballater, over 100 VisitScotland Information Partners locally and our team of outreach staff travelling around the country, it means that there is always advice on what to see and do and where to go wherever people are.
“The information revolution is upon us and we look forward to telling more and more visitors all about Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire across all our different channels for many years to come.”
For more information on the Information Strategy for VisitScotland visit www.visitscotland.org/visitorinformation.aspx