The village of Shieldaig in Wester Ross
EDINBURGH, Scotland, 2017-Mar-21 — /Travel PR News/ — Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, has welcomed the announcement by Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop today (Wednesday 15 March) that Scotland’s programme of Themed Years is to continue beyond 2018, as part of her address to the tourism industry during Scottish Tourism Week 2017.
The Year of Scotland’s Coast and Waters will be celebrated in 2020 while the focus in 2022 will be the Year of Scotland’s Stories, both led by VisitScotland.
Scotland’s Themed Years have been running since 2009, providing a strong collaborative platform across industry to promote Scotland and its people, and encouraging the events and festivals sector to develop new and exciting programmes to appeal to both visitors and locals.
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “We welcome the news from the Cabinet Secretary that the Themed Years will continue beyond 2018, and the fantastic opportunities that Scotland’s Coast and Waters and Scotland’s Stories will present in 2020 and 2022.
“Themed Years encourage industry to think in new ways and take more innovative approaches. They tap into new audiences and inspire visitors to see Scotland in a different way.
“In 2016, more than a million people attended events during the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design, while this year a 12-month programme will spotlight some of our greatest assets and icons, as well as our hidden gems, as we celebrate the 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.
“We look forward to embracing these new Themed Years, which reflect the diverse and rich offering Scotland has as a must-visit destination.”
For more on the announcement by the Cabinet Secretary, go to http://news.gov.scot/news/scotlands-special-themed-years-unveiled
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Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP.
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
- 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017
SOURCE: VisitScotland
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