Travel Massive Edinburgh Celebrates Second Birthday
Is it really two years since Katy Duncan of Haggis Adventures had the idea to start a Travel Massive Edinburgh chapter and Travel Massive founder Ian C (as we call him) luckily said yes? Read more
Driving Change for Women in Tourism
Access to a dedicated app, a 60-minute mentoring session, an industry-wide skill swap and discounted tickets for events are the introductory benefits of joining newly formed Women In Tourism. Read more
Travel Massive Edinburgh is Local at Heart
The Travel Massive Edinburgh community enjoyed a fantastic networking evening on the roof of the Forth View Suite at The George Hotel Edinburgh on Thursday 14 July 2016. Read more
Discover Monthly Scottish Twitter Travel Chat Scotlandhour
The Scottish Twitter travel and tourism chat Scotlandhour was founded in early 2011 by tweeter, avid traveller and proud Glaswegian Dougie Baird.
As well as spawning multiple “hour” chats on Twitter across the world, our monthly #scotlandhour chat has also had some interesting developments of its own including:
- Being the subject of a motion and debate by MSP’s and the Tourism Minister in the Scottish Parliament
- Being showcased at Social Media Week Glasgow and to tourism audiences in San Francisco and Iceland
- Teaming up with #Blogmanay to celebrate Hogmanay in Scotland
- Joining Twitter forces with the Scottish Government to celebrate St. Andrew’s Day and Robert Burns Day
The Scotlandhour core team has also experienced some changes, with new additions Glen Moyer, and Vivian Maeda joining Dougie Baird, Aileen Lamb, Lesley Judge, Mark Calpin, Fiona Drane and Sam Weston.
How does Scotlandhour work and what is it for? It’s a Twitter travel chat, dedicated exclusively to all things Scottish, and it takes place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 9-10pm GMT/BST. Each month there is a travel theme, and we crowd-source the questions which people can offer via our Twitter feed or Facebook page.
We also invite volunteer co-hosts to help us with the chat on a monthly basis, so for example if our chat is about heritage or food and drink, we’ll look for relevant organisations or those with links to those subjects.
The 6 chat questions are published on the Scotlandhour website one week before the end of the month chat, to let people prepare their answers, images and more.
To take part, prepare your answers, join in the chat, and make sure you tag your answers with #scotlandhour.
Check out the tab of themes and guest co-hosting tips if you’re interested in helping us out.
Follow us on Twitter, check out the Scotlandhour website and join us the last Wednesday of each month at 9pm.
Women in Tourism at Scottish Tourism Week 2016
Together with my industry colleagues, we were proud to take part in the very first Women In Tourism (WIT) event at Edinburgh’s EICC in partnership with Tourism Society Scotland on Thursday 17 March 2016. Read more
Love Loch Lomond in Unique Collaboration to Attract New Visitors
A new tourism collaboration designed to boost the number of short breaks taken in Glasgow and Loch Lomond has been awarded £34,000 by VisitScotland.
Destination marketing organisations Love Loch Lomond and Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) have joined forces with ScotRail for a £68,000 marketing campaign, match-funded via the national tourism organisation’s Growth Fund.
Aimed primarily at potential visitors from Edinburgh and Aberdeen, the campaign plans to highlight the close proximity between the urban experiences of Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow, and the beautiful scenery of Loch Lomond.
A key message is the fact that ScotRail operates a regular train service between Glasgow Queen Street and a number of train stations in the Loch Lomond area, including Balloch which has a maximum journey time of 50 minutes.
Marketing activity will also include the creation of a website landing pages and a short film as well as radio, online and press advertisements.
The money will also be used to host press trips and to allow the partners group to attend Travmedia International Media Marketplace in London – a showpiece media event for the travel trade.
Karen Donnelly, Manager at Love Loch Lomond, added: “Love Loch Lomond is delighted to be working in partnership with GCMB and ScotRail on this exciting new Growth Fund project linking the outdoor and urban tourism product. Our focus will be to offer visitors an even greater experience by providing a wider range of activities to participate in by linking the city with the beauty and tranquillity of Loch Lomond, The Trossachs and the Clyde Sea Lochs.”
Elaine Dickie, Senior Marketing Manager at GCMB, said: “GCMB’s role is to create customers for Glasgow and having been named by travel industry bible National Geographic Traveler as one of the 20 best destinations in the world for 2016 we know that awareness of the city, at home and overseas, is strong. Our focus now is to capitalise on that awareness. VisitScotland’s Growth Fund award will allow us to strengthen our existing partnerships with Love Loch Lomond and ScotRail and work more strategically to implement joint marketing activity that will drive increased visitor volume from our target markets over the next 12 months.”
Liz Buchanan, Regional Partnerships Director at VisitScotland, said: “Many people may not realise just how easy it is to get from the urban excitement of Glasgow to the great outdoors of Loch Lomond. The VisitScotland Growth Fund is all about encouraging Scottish tourism businesses to work together and it is great to see GCMB, Love Loch Lomond and ScotRail join forces to promote these two fabulous destinations, both of which offer unique experiences for visitors.”
Alasdair Smart, ScotRail Tourism Manager, said: “We are involved in much more than simply moving people from A to B. This initiative offers a joined-up approach to encouraging visitors to explore what Loch Lomond has to offer, and makes the train part and parcel of the entire experience.”
Find out more about the #packmorein campaign here.
A Tourism Journey of Discovery in North Iceland
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
Travel Massive Edinburgh Welcomes The World
Travel Massive Edinburgh welcomed the world on Thursday 27 August, with event sponsors Festivals Edinburgh at the G&V Royal Mile Hotel and a strong turn-out from the local travel community.
With six international festivals in full swing in the city, including the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, bringing participation from 70 countries, and since Travel Massive connects thousands of people within the travel industry around the world, the theme of welcoming the world seemed appropriate.
The Travel Massive Edinburgh August event welcomed over 50 travel professionals including guests from Qatar Airways, Edinburgh Airport, VisitScotland, Skyscanner, Booking.com, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotch Broth Events, ETAG, Haggis Adventures, Yelp Edinburgh, Mercat Tours, new tour company Glasgow Music City Tours; travel bloggers, accommodation providers and more.
Edinburgh Chapter leaders Lesley Judge of Smart Tourism and Katy Duncan of Haggis Adventures welcomed guests and set the scene for the evening’s event, handing over to Festivals Edinburgh Marketing Manager Susan Russell.
Susan Russell, Lesley Judge and Katy Duncan
Susan took guests through an entertaining whistle-stop tour of the Edinburgh festivals’ history – they started in 1947 – and only the World Cup and the Olympics have a bigger audience. 70 countries take part and the impact on the city is impressive and far-reaching, drawing in 4.2m attendees and generating £261m of revenue, offering diverse business opportunities for all travel and tourism businesses.
Susan Russell of Festivals Edinburgh
We learned that the Edinburgh festivals don’t just take place in August –there are 12 of them, and Edinburgh is a festival city pretty much all year round, with a diverse range of events. Susan ended her talk with a great video of some of the amazing performers and authors who have enriched the Edinburgh Festivals over the years.
Travel Massive Edinburgh August 2015
General Manager Dale Simpson of the G&V Royal Mile Hotel gave everyone a warm welcome, updating guests on the latest news regarding the transformation of the hotel rooms and spaces. A special thank you to Dale and his team and to hotel staff members Melanie and Riccardo who were incredibly helpful and friendly, and who looked after everyone brilliantly, keeping them fed and watered.
GM Dale Simpson from G&V Royal Mile Hotel
Festival tickets up for grabs in our Twitter contest included shows from Adam Hills and Jason Byrne, as well as tickets for the Festival Fireworks concert and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party. The lucky winners were Anna Morris of The Edinburgh Address, Christopher Davidson of Haggis Hostels, Carol Howley of Skyscanner, Pippa Ratky of VisitScotland and Mags McNeil of ETAG.
Susan Russell of Festivals Edinburgh and winner Carol Howley from Skyscanner
The Festivals Edinburgh social wall kept everyone entertained with the latest Twitter and Instagram feeds from the evening, and there was plenty of information on Edinburgh Festivals on a touch screen and in print for guests.
Everyone enjoyed plenty of excellent networking, festival chat and lots of laughs. The feedback from guests was positive as usual, with many new guests already looking forward to repeating the experience. Some guests had to nip off early to festival shows and after some post-event dinner, several headed off to shows which ran on into the wee small hours.
Travel Massive Edinburgh would like to thank the growing travel community for attending, Festivals Edinburgh for sponsoring our event and the team at G&V Royal Mile Hotel Edinburgh for helping to make it a success.
With festivals still firmly on our minds, many look forward to the start of the Edinburgh Mela this weekend and to squeezing the very last drop out of Edinburgh’s festival city this August.
Check out tweets from the event via #travelmassive #edinburgh.
Sign up to Travel Massive Edinburgh and connect with others in the local community and across the globe.
If you’re interested in sponsoring an event or you have an idea for a future event, please get in touch.
Flying Scotsmen Welcome £1m Tourism Investment for Loch Ness
New vessel ‘The Rebel’ swaps French Riviera for Scotland’s Highland Haven to help more visitors hunt for Nessie
Leading UK cruise operator Loch Ness by Jacobite unveiled a new vessel on Thursday 20 August to take even more tourists along Scotland’s largest loch.
Launched by ‘flying Scotsmen’ in kilts, the new boat is one of the company’s largest investments to date, increasing its fleet to four and allowing Loch Ness’ only five-star cruise company to host an additional 800 visitors per day on one of Scotland’s most iconic vistas.
Aptly named ‘The Rebel’, this latest addition is part of a £1 million investment which will allow Loch Ness by Jacobite to further support economic growth in the local area and Scotland.
Reaching top speeds of up to 12 knots, the boat was originally designed and built in France, where it sailed between Cannes, Nice and St Tropez before traveling to the Scottish Highlands.
After recently moving its head office to new visitor-friendly premises at Dochgarroch on the Caledonian Canal, The Rebel’s arrival also comes in the same year the firm launched a new brand after almost four decades in business.
The new ‘Loch Ness by Jacobite’ brand is already becoming a familiar sight around the loch for both locals and visitors, and can be found on the company’s fleet as well as at its new headquarters.
Freda Newton, managing director, Loch Ness by Jacobite, said: “The introduction of The Rebel along with our new headquarters and rebrand provides us with the perfect opportunity to strengthen our international appeal, building on Scotland’s natural strengths.
“The Loch Ness Monster is a hugely popular global attraction and we wanted to make sure that we could accommodate the ever-growing interest in exploring the area by water.
“It is great to be able to give our new vessel such a splashing Scottish welcome as we prepare to carry more people on a journey of discovery around Loch Ness.”
The company’s growth marks the 40-year-old attraction’s strategy to attract more international visitors to the world renowned site and position Loch Ness by Jacobite as the best way to experience the magic of the water.
Unlike the loch’s legendary occupant – the Loch Ness Monster – the colourful fleet already attracts over 100,000 tourists a year from every corner of the globe. And now armed with a new name and additional boat there will be no mistaking its authority on the loch.
This latest investment has been supported with funding by Highlands and Island Enterprise and the Bank of Scotland.
Barrie Aird, SME banking relationship manager at Bank of Scotland, said: “Loch Ness by Jacobite reflects the vibrant tourism industry that Scotland is renowned for. This is a very exciting venture to be part of as we’re committed to supporting the growth of local businesses and economies.
“Jacobite is going from strength to strength and this latest investment in The Rebel highlights the demand for its services which cater for the growing number of tourists visiting the area. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the business and seeing what the future holds.”
Nicola Douglas, head of business growth at HIE for the Inner Moray Firth team, said: “We have worked with Loch Ness by Jacobite for a number of years and we are delighted to support their latest venture. Loch Ness is a destination that attracts visitors from across the world and the new vessel The Rebel adds to the high quality experience offered by the company. We wish Loch Ness by Jacobite all the best and look forward to working with them in the future.”
Established in 1975 by Inverness quarry master the late Dan MacWilliam, Jacobite has continued to evolve through the decades to provide a five-star range of cruising and touring experiences on the stunning Loch Ness.
Originally a popular attraction for those in the Highlands, Loch Ness by Jacobite has grown its international audience since its inception and now boasts visitors from all over the world, including the USA, Malaysia and Australia.
Based in Inverness, Loch Ness by Jacobite now operates a fleet of four luxury vessels, the Jacobite Queen, the Jacobite Princess, the Jacobite Warrior, and now the Jacobite Rebel, offering daily trips on the world famous Loch.
To find out more about Loch Ness by Jacobite visit: www.jacobite.co.uk or follow @Jacobitecruises
To hear what Nessie has to say, follow @RealNessie
Glasgow Music City Tours Launching July 2015
These boots are made for walking….
Glasgow Music City Tours is a new tour company which offers guided walks of the city’s music venues, past and present.
Launching to the public in July 2015, the company’s tour schedule begins with four bespoke tours of the Merchant City. Part of the Merchant City Festival, all four events will culminate with a unique show from a different musical artist in Mono Café Bar.
The company is owned and run by Fiona Shepherd, Alison Stroak and Jonathan Trew. All three have extensive experience of music journalism or publishing in Scotland and see the tours as a unique opportunity to promote Glasgow’s vibrant music scene and its fascinating heritage as a music city.
The company’s knowledgeable tour guides are musicians, DJs and writers who are well placed to bring alive the stories of the legendary performers who have stayed, played and made music in the UK’s only UNESCO City of Music.
From August, the company will run two weekly tours, each lasting approximately 1.5-2 hours:
Glasgow’s Music Mile tells the tale of city centre venues from the Concert Hall to King Tut’s, via the former site of the Apollo. The tour ends at King Tut’s where guests will have the opportunity to take selfies on the stage. Takes place on Saturday afternoons.
Merchant City Music: Past and Present explores the iconic venues of the Merchant City and East End from Britannia Panopticon Music Hall to Barrowland Ballroom. Takes place on Friday afternoons.
Glasgow Music City Tours will be running press trips for both tours in July. See below for dates.
‘Glasgow is a music city through and through,’ said Jonathan Trew, director of Glasgow Music City Tours. ‘The city hosts an average of 130 different music events every week and Glasgow’s audiences and venues are famous for their passion and atmosphere.
‘Whether you remember seeing David Bowie at The Apollo, Paolo Nutini at King Tut’s or are looking forward to Texas at The Hydro, Glasgow Music City Tours offers an entertaining exploration of the places, people and performances, which have shaped the city’s musical landscape.’
Information:
Glasgow’s Music Mile press tour is on Saturday 18th July, starting at noon.
The Merchant City Music tour is on Tuesday 21st July at 2pm. Contact the team if you would like to come along.
Merchant City Festival tours: Sunday 26th, Thursday 30th, Friday 31st July and Sunday 2nd August.
Twitter: @GlasMusicTour
For more info or interviews: Jonathan Trew M: 07803 204 563
jonathan@glasgowmusiccitytours.com
Contact
- Smart Tourism
- +44 (0)7557 144090
- info@smart-tourism.co.uk
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