More than 7,000 meetings took place between Scottish tourism businesses and travel intermediaries at this year’s VisitScotland Connect – the national tourism organisation’s flagship travel trade event.
More than 7,000 meetings took place between Scottish tourism businesses and travel intermediaries – including tour operators, travel advisors and Destination Management Companies representing Scotland’s most important visitor markets – at an event held in Aberdeen.
The national tourism organisation’s flagship travel trade event, VisitScotland Connect 2024, is designed to grow the country’s share of global travel in a sustainable way and was recently held at the P&J Live in Aberdeen.
The number of meetings held was up by 1,000 on 2023 and this year’s event was attended by 222 trade-ready Scottish tourism businesses, including accommodations, visitor experiences and attractions – a 27% increase on 2023.
During the course of these meetings, they connected with almost 260 travel intermediaries – who plan Scotland trips for their clients – representing 23 countries, including those in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the UK domestic market.
Their discussions will ensure that Scotland continues to feature in the portfolios of global tour operators and that the holiday offering continues to evolve and fit the demands of the modern traveller.
Global travel continues to grow post-pandemic, and the return of international markets to Scotland has been very much in evidence. Scottish tourism businesses are keen to take advantage of higher-spending long-haul visitors in particular, and increasingly recognise that working with the travel trade is a way to access that opportunity.
As many as 64% of international visitors to Britain use travel intermediaries to plan and book their package. Among long-haul travellers this rises to 73%, so working with travel intermediaries can be a very targeted and lucrative way to get Scottish tourism into our core markets and for businesses to secure future bookings.
In addition to the travel trade event in Aberdeen, a specially curated programme of familiarisation trips (fam trips) showcased the best of Scotland’s tourism offering.
These took place in the days immediately preceding and following VisitScotland Connect and staff representatives hosted attendees on trips to different parts of Scotland. In total, 129 buyers attended 13 pre and post-event fam trips showcasing 200 businesses and covering 20 regions – from the Scottish Borders to Orkney, and Fife to the Highlands.
The bespoke itineraries were created to introduce the international and UK tour operators to locations and experiences which would meet their demand for more responsible tourism options – including less
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