VisitAberdeenshire News - 5 June 2024

Welcome to our June newsletter that focusses on recent activity and upcoming highlights in the North-east tourism sector.

May seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, but the stand-out headline came from the analysis of tourism business in 2023 which showed significant growth year-on-year with an economic impact figure for the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire economy of over £1.1 billion. Even taking inflation into account, tourism is generating far more for the region now than before the pandemic.

Competition is rife, and business continues to be challenging so there is no time to rest on laurels. During May our Convention Bureau has been successfully bidding, running site inspections, and drumming up a pipeline of new business at IMEX, Europe’s leading trade event in the meetings industry.

In the here and now the cruise season is now well underway, with our uniformed volunteers providing a warm welcome on the quayside to disembarking passengers.

Looking ahead, plans are getting underway for the autumn so watch this space for news on our winter promotions, and plans for the North-east tourism conference on 19 November (save the date!)

Chris

Food & drink learning journey to East Devon

In preparation for this autumn’s Provenance Festival VisitAberdeenshire recently delivered a learning journey for seven Aberdeenshire food & drink producers and businesses, to Devon. The aim of the learning journey was to learn from the experience of an event like our own Provenance Festival and apply those learnings to this year’s event. Participants met a range of businesses from the Taste East Devon Festival, inspiring new ideas and inspiration for this year’s Provenance Festival.

You can find out more about the learning journey here and details on the Provenance Festival below.

Take part in the Provenance Festival 2024

The Provenance Festival returns for its fourth year in September. The nine-day festival celebrates local food and drink from in and around Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

Registration to take part in this year’s festival is open, you can sign up here or contact Leah Hodder, Project Manager on festival@visitabdn.com for more information.

To help businesses prepare for the Provenance Festival, we are hosting an information session on Thursday 11 July at Marshall’s Farm Shop. If you would like to find out more about taking part, sign up to the information event here. 

New marketing campaign – Destination Delicious

Our summer campaign launched on 22 May, partnering with Loganair and Mackie’s of Scotland. Iconic locations throughout the region have been paired with a delicious Mackie’s ice cream flavour to invite audiences to ‘Discover Aberdeenshire’s sweet spots’.

Targeted advertisements across Meta platforms are driving traffic to the landing page, and gathering leads via a fun questionnaire that serves up your ideal sweet spot pairing based on the answers provided. There will also be large digital poster sites outside Manchester and Birmingham airports. You can find out more about the campaign here.

Content partnership - Cyclist magazine

This week we launched new promotional activity in partnership with Cyclist magazine. As part of the campaign, Cyclist has produced content across its digital channels, including a destination-focused advertorial highlighting the Aberdeenshire Ascents.

The campaign will generate leads via a competition, which will grow VisitAberdeenshire’s email database, allowing for further promotion. Cyclist will also produce sponsored posts on its social media channels and three newsletters featuring the destination’s cycling hotspots.  Read the advertorial here.

Look out for further information regarding future campaigns in our next newsletter.

Is your team ready to welcome the summer crowd? Make sure they feel prepared with our fun and informative 'Know Your Destination' training modules!

These five easy-to-follow modules cover what’s great about our region—from delicious local food and drink to exciting outdoor activities and adventure spots.

The goal of the modules is to empower your staff with the knowledge they need to provide exceptional service and create memorable experiences for every visitor. With these insights, your team will be equipped to answer questions, offer recommendations, and enhance each guest's experience.

Sign up for the training modules for free by clicking here.

National Great Outdoors month

June is ‘National Great Outdoors’ month, and we have no shortage of wonderful outdoor experiences to enjoy in the North-east making this a great theme to tie social media posts into. In addition to inspiring adventure tourism content on visitabdn.com, VisitAberdeenshire has a ‘sustainable tourism’ section on our Industry Website and VisitScotland have some helpful tips on messaging here, including ‘leave no trace’.

NEWS FROM OTHER ORGANISATIONS

Union Street is ‘Open for Business’

As part of the City Centre and Beach Masterplan, major improvement works are being carried out on Union Street Central to improve pavements and cycle lanes. During the works, access will continue to all shops and businesses for pedestrians. Local traders have helped launch an ‘Open for Business’ campaign to reassure visitors that they can still access the area. Find out more about the campaign here.

Scotland launches refreshed National Events Strategy

‘Scotland the Perfect Stage 2024-2035’ is the refreshed National Events Strategy. The strategy provides focus for anyone involved in the planning, securing and delivery of events across Scotland. It aims to build on the event industry’s achievements to date, respond to ongoing challenges faced and focus on national priorities and success factors for the industry over the next ten years. Click here to find out more.

Business Gateway – Digital Support

Business Gateway continue to offer a variety of support throughout June, including webinars on digital marketing topics such as LinkedIn, creating engaging content, photography for digital marketing and more. To find out more about these opportunities, click here.