Legends will spotlight Scotland’s innovation, such as the Forth Bridge and Queensferry Crossing.
EDINBURGH, Scotland, 2017-Nov-07 — /Travel PR News/ — VisitScotland is encouraging global brands, charities and organisations from Life Sciences to Robotics to use Scotland as a place to make dynamic new discoveries and inventions in an ambitious digital campaign.
The national tourism organisation has brought together the country’s big four convention bureaux in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee for the launch of the global campaign – the first of its kind – which aims to grow Scotland’s multi-million pound Business Events sector.
Legends will play on Scotland’s reputation as a nation of innovators and a land where ideas have become legendary, referencing some of the country’s greatest discoveries from Penicillin to Dolly the Sheep; television to Grand Theft Auto.
The campaign, launched today (Monday, 6 November) will, for the first time, create a unified voice for the Business Events industry across Scotland to build on the work of the country’s convention bureaux which secured more than £295m worth of events in 2016.
The two-year campaign, using the hashtag #ideasbecomelegend, will target the associations and wider Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) market by focusing on a specific theme every two months, sharing original content, including blogs and video podcasts from leaders in their field.
The first theme, Technology, will be launched today (Monday, 6 November) with blogs and video podcasts by tech leaders ScotlandIS, the Scottish Association for Marine Science and pureLiFi to be released throughout the week.
The remaining themes are: Education; Creative, Energy; Life Science; Engineering; Marine; Surgery and Medicine; Digital; Space; Health; Food and Drink.
Legends will give every city, region and business an opportunity to engage and spread the message of Scotland’s strengths to the world. Scotland’s city convention bureaux and regions will contribute each week to promote their own unique messaging around the specified theme.
Scotland has recognised for a long time that as well as delivering economic benefit, hosting association conferences, conventions and congresses provides a platform for new ideas and innovative thinking, paving the way for collaborations, research and new discoveries.
Life Sciences, Energy, Creative Industries and Food & Drink have all been identified by the Scottish Government as ‘growth sectors’. According to the latest national figures, Life Sciences currently turns over £4.3 billion a year, with Energy £45.7 billion, Creative Industries £7.1 billion and Food & Drink £13.5 billion.
Rory Archibald, Business Development Manager for VisitScotland Business Events said:
“Scotland has a legacy of invention, research and innovation. It continues to this day and business events play their part in securing this legacy for the future. The premise is simple – events create ideas and ideas create change globally. We know that Scotland is the perfect stage for these events and as history shows, the place where ideas really do become legends.
“Working with partners under one campaign will provide a strong platform for the industry and demonstrate the importance of business events to innovation, research and Scottish tourism.”
Stephen Taylor, CEO of Technology Scotland, the representative body for Emerging & Enabling Technology organisations in Scotland, said:
“Scotland has always been one of the most innovative countries in the world and we are still world-leaders in many areas of technology including renewable energy, life sciences, photonics and the digital economy.
“It’s important that Scotland retains its international profile and by being able to attract large international conventions to Scotland, we encourage inward investment; creating jobs, prosperity and economic growth for Scotland. It’s critical for Scotland’s future that it continues to be an inventor and producer of innovations that shape the world.”
For more on Legends, go to http://www.scotland.org/legends
ENDS
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
- To ensure everyone can safely enjoy Scotland’s amazing countryside and landscapes, VisitScotland encourages all visitors to fully respect their surroundings by behaving in a responsible and appropriate way.
- 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)
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
Hamish Hutchinson
Corporate Press Officer – National
Business Events/Tourism, Scottish Thistle Awards
hamish.hutchinson@visitscotland.com
0131 472 2283
Out of hours – 0131 472 2324