of d our future...of our industrythe future hands a strategy for leadership and growth inour 0 m d...

OF OUR INDUSTRYTH

E FUTUREHANDS

A STRATEGY FOR LEADERSHIP AND GROWTH

OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND

Our collective ambition is be a destination of first choice for a high quality,

value for money and memorable customer experience, delivered by skilled and passionate people

The future of our industry is in our hands!

We need to focus on growth despite the tough economic times; and we need to improve the quality of the overall

visit to Scotland… we cannot just do what we have always done. We all need to up our game individually as

businesses and collectively at the destination level in order to make the difference.

And that means YOU as a leader in your business or local area delivering the essential building blocks:

• Do you thoroughly understand your markets and visitors… both existing and potential – which markets

are going to bring you growth and what are they looking for? Are you able to meet their needs?

➢• Do you recognise and understand the assets in your area and build experiences around them that meet

the needs of these markets. What ways can you bring these distinctive strengths to life, how can you

adapt existing and develop new products around them, what more can you do to be the highlight of a trip

to Scotland that visitors will remember and go home talking about…?

• Do you deliver consistent, quality and authentic experiences with the whole customer journey front

of mind - from before they arrive to departure – do you and your staff understand what they will encounter

through the whole of their visit and how it can be enhanced? What more can you do to become obsessive

about delivering an even better customer service and going the extra mile!

• Do you collaborate with others to actively manage the whole customer experience and deliver quality across

the board - can you better identify operators you can trust … why not only recommend quality experiences

that will deliver, and then work together to cross-sell and effectively package with complementary experiences

to improve the overall offer and eliminate the weak links in the chain!

Only we the industry can deliver the quality of experience that our visitors expect; only then will we grow our

revenues and our bottom lines; and deliver the collective £1billion growth ambition set out in the strategy.

The Scottish Tourism Alliance can facilitate, co-ordinate and provide the support you need to meet the

challenges set out in our strategy. We have the full backing and commitment of the public sector agencies,

and will work with them to drive improvements, in areas such as infrastructure, transport, broadband and skills.

How can you up your game...?

OF OUR INDUSTRY

THE FUTURE

HANDS


OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND

OF OUR INDUSTRY

THE FUTURE

HANDS


OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND

A SHORT SUMMARY OF THE NEW TOURISM STRATEGY FOR SCOTLAND, PREPARED BY THE TOURISM LEADERSHIP GROUP

2020

TOURISM SCOTLANDOF OUR INDUSTRY

THE FUTURE

HANDSOURINOUR VISION

Our vision, for 2020 and beyond, is to make Scotland a destination of first choice for a high quality, value for money and memorable customer experience, delivered by skilled and passionate people.

OUR MISSIONOur mission for the industry as a whole is to break from the status quo and achieve an overnight visitor spend of between

£5.5bn and £6.5bn by 2020, generating an additional £1bn or more (at 2011 prices). Sustainable economic growth that we will deliver by meeting and exceeding visitor expectations for quality, authentic experiences.

OUR STRATEGYTargeting those markets that offer us the greatest growth potential, we will collaborate within and across Scotland’s tourism

assets to develop the authentic experiences today’s visitors seek, delivered to the consistently high quality they expect.

Targeting our growth markets• Home turf: £3,127m in 2011, potential

£3,586m-4,238m in 2020• Near neighbours: £731m in 2011,

potential £875m-1,035m in 2020• Distant cousins: £414m in 2011,

potential £505m-598m in 2020• Emerging markets: £33m in 2011,

potential £70m-83m in 2020

Providing authentic experiences• Nature, heritage and activities• Destination towns and cities• Events and festivals• Business tourism

Improving the customer journey• Food and drink• Transport• Accommodation• Digital connectivity

OUR CAPABILITIESWith ‘assets into experiences’ as the priority, we will build our capabilities in:

LEADERSHIP AND COLLABORATIONAchieving our growth ambitions will rely on the industry working together to deliver one common goal,

with strong leadership at business, local and national level.

Quality and skillsGaining and enhancing the relevant skills, knowledge and customer-focused attitude required to deliver consistently high quality visitor experiences

MarketingUtilising market intelligence to align our tourism offer with visitors’ interests, presenting Scotland’s assets as authentic experiences

Sustainable tourismMaximising our operational efficiency, minimising our impact on the local environment and delivering real benefits to our communities

THE FUTURE OF OUR INDUSTRY IN OUR HANDS

*Revised by the Scottish Tourism Alliance, March 2013


2020


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OF OUR INDUSTRY

THE FUTURE

HANDS


OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND

OF OUR INDUSTRY

THE FUTURE

HANDS


OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND

STRATEGY FOR LEADERSHIP AND GROWTHA SHORT SUMMARY OF THE NEW TOURISM STRATEGY FOR SCOTLAND, PREPARED BY THE TOURISM LEADERSHIP GROUP

2020


THE FUTURE




















DESTINATIONS, TOWNS & CITIES

Tourism is all about people and destinations are where it happens… so to have a successful industry we must create a seamless experience for our visitors:

• Every business should get involved with their local destination group if they aren’t already - get together with other like-minded businesses and agree how you could work better together for the benefit of the customer.

• Development of a ‘framework for action’ for each and every destination. The framework will also seek to provide groups with a common platform from which area or cross area initiatives that align with our national growth strategy can be developed.

• Re-launch the ‘Destination Development’ toolkit, a fantastic resource which will be dusted down and made available to each and every destination group as a self-help tool.

• Joining up - destinations can pair up or cluster around themes, such as whisky or golf and bring new products to the market place which revolve around the ultimate experience for the customer and not being parochial.

Also ‘the customer journey checker’ measuring success, a new deal for effective delivery and the Scottish Destination Conference!

NATURE, HERITAGE & ACTIVITIES

The ‘Year of Natural Scotland’ in 2013 provides the ideal catalyst to stimulate a series of actions across those sectors which have been identified as having the greatest growth potential, namely:

Golf - exploiting the ‘Home of Golf’ proposition drawing the full golf experience together under a single global brand aimed at capitalising on the existing and potential demand to play golf in Scotland.

Adventure Tourism - worth 34% of all tourism spend. We need to boost our marketing capabilities – particularly in international markets -alongside further investments in product development, skills and training.

Marine Tourism - significant steps are being taken to help this sector grow through enhanced leadership and collaboration and a focus on product development and actively targeting the valuable European market.

Cycling - working with Wild Scotland, Cycle Tourism Scotland and Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, we will be supporting the delivery of the newly created cycle tourism strategy which seeks to position Scotland as a significant cycling destination.

Country Sports - focused on growing participation

through international market development and cross-

sector collaboration. In particular with the golf and

adventure tourism sectors.

We will be pursuing the House of Tourism Concept

an approach based upon economies of scale and scope,

cost savings and effiencies as well as synergies between

like minded tourism groups who are driven by a small band

of committed and passionate professionals.

Heritage - Scotland is home to some fascinating built

and cultural heritage features.

With 48% of tourists to Scotland visiting historic houses

and castles, heritage is a key asset for Scotland’s visitor

experience. Historic Scotland is currently taking the lead

in discussion with other heritage tourism organisations to

develop an action oriented heritage tourism plan to align

with the National Strategy; Tourism Scotland 2020.

Of course discovering your ancestors has huge appeal

to many and we will shortly be launching the new TIS

Ancestral Tourism guide. There are staggering figures

relating to this market with over 50 million people

worldwide having Scottish ancestry - the question is

what can we do to encourage more to make the journey

to Scotland? See the new guide!

EVENTS & FESTIVALS

Events and festivals are a massive draw for visitors to

Scotland - the key actions for growth are:

• Open a communications channel - develop a simple

‘shared area’ that draws on existing databases which

we can then grow over time. Once the database is

sound then it can be adapted to be visitor-facing.

• Develop core capabilities - our Action Plan is formed

around 10 ‘lines of development’, each corresponding

to a programme of improvements in capability.

Each capability represents one of the essential

building blocks for any successful and sustainable

events business.

• Establish an easy-to-access diary - we need to

develop a flexible, visitor-facing digital calendar for

all events and festivals in Scotland.

• Establish a simple mechanism for measurement

& monitoring.

Key actions for growth

OF OUR INDUSTRY

THE FUTURE

HANDS


OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND

OF OUR INDUSTRY

THE FUTURE

HANDS


OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND

THE FUTURE OF OUR INDUSTRY IN OUR HANDSA SHORT SUMMARY OF THE NEW TOURISM STRATEGY FOR SCOTLAND, PREPARED BY THE TOURISM LEADERSHIP GROUP

2020


THE FUTURE




















FOOD & DRINK

Food and drink accounts for 20% of visitor spend, so

getting this right can make a significant impact on our

£1bn+ visitor spend target. Our natural larder is one of

Scotland’s distinctive assets providing a range of high

quality products such as whisky, salmon, shortbread,

jams, Scotch beef and seafood which can all add to our

visitor offer.

But our eating out experience needs to meet our visitors’

expectations, whether its fine dining, family meals at

visitor attractions or ‘food on the go’ for mountain-bikers,

our research shows that we need to do much more to

consistently reflect the quality and authenticity of our

food and drink experience within tourism.

We will be running six ‘demonstrator’ projects, working with

destination groups to build an enhanced food and drink

experience which fits with the rest of their visitor offer.

BUSINESS TOURISM

Our ambition by 2020 is for sector to be recognised

throughout Scotland as a confident, innovative

and articulate sector, which influences and delivers

competitive and ambitious programmes and products and

acts as a catalyst for economic growth, investment and

international influencers across Scotland’s growth sectors

such as bio-sciences and energy. It is also our ambition

that the sector will be recognised as the UK leader in

Business Tourism with an influential voice with the global

conference and meetings Industry.

Key actions:

• Communications and Engagement with the Scottish

Business Tourism Industry – setting out our stall.

• National Bid Fund - helping to maximise the national

usage and benefits within Scotland.

• Corporate Champions initiative – working with

Scotland’s corporate leaders to attract international

conferences around Scotland’s key sectors.

Maximising the opportunity the UKEIS ( UK Economic

Impact Study) gives us to underpin growth in this sector.

SKILLS

The consultations with tourism employers, stakeholders

and partners have identified our strategic skills priorities

for the tourism sector to support the growth ambitions

set out in ‘Tourism Scotland 2020’:

• Improving management, leadership and enterprise in

the sector.

• Ensuring staff have the skills to deliver a high quality

visitor experience.

• Raising the attractiveness of the sector to new

entrants.

• Ensuring appropriate and high quality training is

available to the sector.

DIGITAL

Better exploitation of technology can lead to greater

business efficiency, improved productivity, access to

new markets and an increase in revenues. It is an

‘ever-present’ component of the customer journey from

using internet for research and booking to; using mobile

apps during a trip; or writing reviews and sharing photos

upon returning home.

The Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise,

the Scottish Government and VisitScotland are working

on a ‘Digital Tourism’ initiative to help raise awareness

of the digital opportunities for Scottish tourism and

establish a programme of support to help industry make

the most of these opportunities.

Watch out for further digital developments soon…

SUSTAINABILITY

Sector as a whole to should try to :

• Recognise the value in the things we buy. Make the

most of them – reduce, reuse, recycle in that order.

• Recognise that waste production is a very costly

business, economically and environmentally.

• Work together to reduce waste and maximise

profit for the sector.

For guidance and support please contact Zero Waste

Scotland - zerowastescotland.org.uk

OF OUR INDUSTRY

THE FUTURE

HANDS


OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND

OF OUR INDUSTRY

THE FUTURE

HANDS


OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND


2020


THE FUTURE




















THE FUTURE OF OUR INDUSTRY IN OUR HANDS

15

PROVIDING AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCES

NATURE, HERITAGE & ACTIvITIES

DESTINATION TOwNS & CITIES

EvENTS & FESTIvALS

BUSINESSTOURISM

IMPROVING THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY

FOOD & DRINK TRANSPORT ACCOMMODATION DIGITALCONNECTIvITy

BUILDING OUR CAPABILITIES

LEADERSHIP & COLLABORATION

QUALITy & SKILLS MARKETING SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

OUR GROwTH MARkETS

NEAR NEIGHBOURS£875 – £1,035M

HOME TURF£3.6 – £4.2BN

DISTANT COUSINS

£505 – £598M

EMERGING MARKETS

£70 – £83M

BY 2020, SCOTLAND IS

A DESTINATION OF FIRST CHOICE...

VISION

GROwING VISITOR SPEND THROUGH qUALITY TO £5.5–£6.5 BILLION MISSION

STRATEGY

CAPABILITY

OF OUR INDUSTRYTH

E FUTUREHANDS


OURIN2020

TOURISM SCOTLAND


2020


THE FUTURE




















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