I recently returned from a week’s tourism learning journey to North Iceland, otherwise known as North Iceland Culinary Experience: Innovate, Develop, Taste! (NICE). Like the rest of my group I’m buzzing with ideas about how to share what I’ve learned with others in my industry and beyond and look forward to working on this in the coming weeks and months. Read more
The May 2015 Travel Massive Edinburgh event kicked off in style on Thursday 28th, at the offices of sponsors 80 Days, An Occupancy Marketing Company.
Travel Massive Edinburgh! (Photo: Katalin Som)
Guests from the Edinburgh travel community enjoyed drinks and stunning views from our venue across to Edinburgh Castle – even a rainbow appeared, enhancing the postcard-perfect backdrop.
Edinburgh Castle views! (Photo: Natalie Allera)
After a warm welcome to guests from Edinburgh Chapter Leader Katy Duncan, our 10 minute talks kicked off with Mark Forrester, Managing Director of 80 Days, An Occupancy Marketing Company, and our venue sponsor for the evening, on the state of luxury travel in the UK.
80 Days/Occupancy Marketing MD Mark Forrester kicking off the talks. (Photo: 80 Days, An Occupancy Marketing Company)
Guests learned that a typical online purchase journey in travel takes 24 days and 21.6 visits to 9.4 sites (from Google via Occupancy) and that search queries in the luxury travel category (UK) grew by 8% in the first quarter.
We were fortunate to have Edinburgh School of Food and Wine sponsor some beautiful canapés for our guests to enjoy during the evening – guests enjoyed Marinated Bocconcini watermelon, smoked salmon with pickled cucumber, quail egg with celery stick, and roast cinnamon pear en croute – all stunning.
Delicious canapes from Edinburgh School of Food and Wine. (Photo: Kim Kjaerside).
The school’s founder, Ian Pirrie, gave an interesting talk about the school, its development and activities and how it works with others in the industry.
Ian Pirrie from Edinburgh School of Food and Wine.
As for the delicious canapés, the only sharing that was involved seemed to be in photo and in Tweet form – they certainly made an impact on our guests – thank you again, Ian and ESFW!
Our final speaker, Natalie Allera, Marketing Manager for The Bonham Hotel Edinburgh and Starwood Capital/Hayley Principal Hotels, updated the travel community on recent developments for the hotel group in Edinburgh and Glasgow, meaning that a new group of hotels has been formed, comprising The Bonham, The George Hotel and The Roxburghe Hotel in Edinburgh, together with Blythswood Square and The Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow.
Marketing Manager Natalie Allera of The Bonham Hotel with prize winner Eva Sturm of TravelResponsibly
Natalie kindly sponsored a tasty prize of dinner for two at The Bonham Hotel Edinburgh and she was delighted to congratulate the prize winner, Eva Sturm (@trvlresponsibly) of New Edinburgh Tours (@neweditours) who won the prize in our Twitter contest, using the hashtag #bonhamlux.
Thanks again from Katy, Julie and Lesley at Travel Massive Edinburgh to all of our very generous sponsors, 80 Days, An Occupancy Marketing Company, for offering us a brilliant venue, great atmosphere, drinks and more, to the Edinburgh School of Food and Wine for memorable canapés and to The Bonham Hotel Edinburgh for a great prize – our guests agreed that they all made our May event special.
Enjoying Travel Massive Edinburgh May 2015 at the lovely Occupancy offices.
Thank you also to the Travel Massive community in Edinburgh who have been incredibly supportive, attending our events, offering suggestions and ideas for future events and coming up with great offers of sponsorship. We are really enjoying building on this as well as seeing people connect and network, and it’s encouraging to see new faces at each event.
Edinburgh festivals & events banter at Travel Massive Edinburgh
We look forward to engaging with the Edinburgh travel community at more #TravelMassive #Edinburgh events planned for this summer – the next event is scheduled for August.
Find out more about Travel Massive at www.travelmassive.com
Register in the Travel Massive Edinburgh chapter
Tweet the chapter leaders: @katyonthego @lesleyjudge @zurika – or email editravelmassive@gmail.com
This month’s Scottish tourism and travel chat #scotlandhour celebrates Events and Festivals on Wednesday 25th February, from 9-10pm.
The questions for the February 2015 chat are:
Q1: If you were to recommend one festival to visitors, what would it be & why #ScotlandHour
Q2: What three things are essential for any trip to a festival in Scotland #ScotlandHour
Q3: Which is your favourite small festival & why #ScotlandHour
Q4: What makes Scotland’s festivals the best in the world #ScotlandHour
Q5: What festival have you enjoyed whilst abroad, and what can Scottish festivals learn from it #ScotlandHour
Q6: Share your best Scottish festivals photos #ScotlandHour
As 2015 is the Year of Food & Drink, ideas for food festivals and events or which festival serves the best types of food and drink are welcome.
The #scotlandhour team looks forward to tweeting with you on Wednesday 25th February, from 9-10pm.
Remember to add A1, A2 etc before your answers when you tweet and don’t forget the hashtag!
Find more information at www.scotlandhour.com or tweet @scotlandhour
Tourism Intelligence Scotland has recently published a free downloadable guide, “Food and Drink Experience in Scotland“, offering simple tips and advice on how to grow your business. Read more
We came across St. Mary’s Market in Edinburgh, (directly outside St. Mary’s Cathedral next to John Lewis and across from the Omni Centre) a couple of months ago although it’s been running weekly since the Spring. It’s a community market place, a traditional market with a community focus. Read more
Edinburgh’s 5 Star, award-winning Visitor Attraction The Scotch Whisky Experience is to become an Edinburgh Festival Fringe venue for the first time this year. Read more
We got a real taste of innovation plus plenty of warm and friendly hospitality on Tuesday evening at the launch of the new £1 million shop at Edinburgh’s Scotch Whisky Experience. Read more
In this month’s Smart Talking we are delighted to chat to Caroline Millar, Owner of the Hideaway Experience, Angus, Scotland. Read more
In this week’s Smart Talking we chat to Maureen McKenna, Business Development Manager, Taste of Arran. Read more
This week Smart Talking chats to Chris Kennedy, Restaurant Supervisor, Ee-Usk Seafood Restaurant, Oban. Read more
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