VisitScotland's Marketing Campaigns Add £310m to Scottish Economy

VisitScotland's two major marketing campaigns have brought nearly £310m ($482.5m, €360.4m) of additional benefit for the Scottish economy since January, 2012. The national tourism agency which aims at attracting both domestic as well as international tourists earned 14% more compared to the same time a year ago.

The organisation said that the growth occurred because VisitScotland targeted both established and emerging markets across the globe through cross-media marketing.

VisitScotland's Surprise Yourself campaign was been aimed at the domestic market which has accounted for 84% of annual visitors to Scotland since last year.

The international campaigns targeted global markets including North America, Germany, and France along with emerging markets such as India and China.

The campaign was via multilingual websites, partnerships with international tour operators and airlines like US airways and CIE tours. Social media also played an important part in attracting more tourists.

Other promotions included advertisements fronted by Neil Oliver, a Scottish television anchor and author, promoting the Year of Creativity Scotland 2012 and Year of Natural Scotland 2013.

Scotland's tourism gained momentum at the time when the country's leisure industry prepares itself for a series of events taking place over the next year; Homecoming 2014, Ryder Cup 2014 at Gleneagles and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

"The latest results of our domestic and international campaigns show just how much VisitScotland continues to deliver for Scotland. As Scotland prepares to welcome the world in 2014, we're working extremely hard to grasp the magnificent opportunities there are for growth," VisitScotland's Chairman Mike Cantlay said.

"We believe that the tourism industry affects all walks of life and we would call on everyone to recognise the potential that next year's unique events can have for the whole of Scotland," he added.