VisitAberdeenshire News - October 2025

Northern Nights are Drawing Closer!

Our winter campaign, Northern Nights, will launch in a few weeks’ time, designed to extend the season by attracting more visits both in the run up to, and especially after the festive period.

If you have an event to promote, whether it’s a Burns’ Night supper, a stargazing hike, a concert, or something in between please ensure that you submit your event listing here and tick the ‘Northern nights’ box to feature on the Northern Nights landing page. To enhance the profile of your listing please see the article below on advertising opportunities.

Festive Advertising Opportunities

Put your business in front of thousands of visitors actively planning their Christmas getaways, holiday celebrations, and New Year experiences. Our tailored advertising packages place your brand where it matters most across high performing digital channels with an engaged local and visitor audience. Whether you're promoting:

• Festive gifts
• Seasonal menus
• Party nights
• Winter experiences & offers

We’ll help your business shine this festive season. Spaces are limited, secure your campaign today!

Contact Gemma Laing, Advertising Sales Executive to find out more.

Looking beyond Christmas? Please speak to Gemma about Northern Nights packages.

Advertising Opportunity Survey – Last Chance to Comment. Closes 9 October.

What do you think about the advertising opportunities that we offer?  As a reminder, VisitAberdeenshire will be launching a new visitor website for the region this autumn. This will continue to provide local businesses with a free listing service, as well as improved advertising opportunities alongside our other channels.

To ensure that these opportunities are fine-tuned to meet your needs as local businesses, we have created a short survey to better understand how our platforms can help you secure more business. Click here to complete the survey. It will take no more than 5 minutes to complete.

Survey Close: Thursday 9 October at 5pm

Travel Trade – Updates

September was a packed month for Alanna, our Travel Trade Executive, as she promoted Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to key international markets. Alanna began the month at UKInbound Inspire 2025, held in London, where she had the opportunity to meet with buyers and suppliers each offering products to aid the promotion of inbound tourism to the UK. By attending, Alanna was able to secure meetings with 13 individual buyers and noted key requests for activities in winter travel, restaurant recommendations, and ways to learn more about Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire’s culture.

The following week, Alanna teamed up with Marlene Mitchell from Port of Aberdeen as CruiseAberdeenshire at Seatrade Europe in Hamburg. Together, they held 11 meetings with shore excursion companies and cruise lines. Key discussions centred on summer events during cruise calls and ideas to make popular attractions more immersive and exclusive for visitors. A highlight from Seatrade Europe was CruiseBritain being named Destination of the Year, a testament to the UK’s growing reputation for being welcoming and innovative in the cruise sector.

Reminder! Temporary Business Listing Freeze

As we prepare for the launch of our new visitabdn.com website, a temporary freeze on updates to business listings was implemented on Wednesday, 24 September. This freeze will continue for approximately four weeks, so account holders are currently unable to manage, update or submit their business listings.

Event listings remain available as normal.

When the new website goes live, you’ll need to create a new account. Don’t worry, it’s quick and easy, we’ll link your new account to your existing business listing so nothing is lost. We’ll provide clear instructions and support to make this process seamless.

If you have any questions or need support during this time, please contact submissions@visitabdn.com.

Upcoming VisitAberdeenshire Events

NEWS FROM OTHER ORGANISATIONS

Women in Tourism – North East Scotland. 10 November

Women in Tourism is hosting a special event in Aberdeen on Monday 10 November at Aberdeen Douglas Hotel. Whether you’re in attractions, hospitality, events or destination management, this event is a great opportunity to:
- Connect with like-minded tourism professionals
- Gain practical advice and fresh perspectives
- Be inspired by leaders who are making a difference in Scotland’s tourism sector

During the event, you will hear from Claire Bruce, Glen Tanar Estate, and Raeanne Verlegh, National Trust for Scotland. Claire and Raeanne will share their career journeys, reflections on challenges, what drives them, and the value of networks like Women in Tourism.

To find out more and to register, click here.  

EventScotland: National Events Programme – Funding Now Open!

The latest round of the National Events Programme (Round 55) is now open, offering funding opportunities for events taking place between 1 April – 31 December 2026. This funding is aimed at supporting the strategic development of live, public-facing sporting and cultural events outside of the Edinburgh and Glasgow areas. Event organisers can apply for funding between £5,000 and £25,000 to support the delivery of new, innovative projects or to enhance the strategic development of existing events. This is a fantastic opportunity for event organisers outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow to secure funding to help bring their events to life.

Applications Close: Wednesday, 22 October 2025 at 2pm – For events taking place 1 April – 30 September 2026

Wednesday, 14 January 2026 at 2pm – For events taking place 1 September – 31 December 2026

If your event is taking place in September 2026, you can choose to apply to either deadline, but not both.

Aberdeen Rapid Transit

A public engagement seeking views of the next stage of the proposed Aberdeen Rapid Transit (ART) has just been launched.  Over the next six weeks in person events will take place in both Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire. An online event will take place on Tuesday 28^th October from 6pm-7pm. You can find out more and take part here: https://aberdeenrapidtransit.commonplace.is/

Scottish Golf Tourism Awards 2026 – Entries Now Open!

Entries are now open for the Scottish Golf Tourism Awards 2026, celebrating excellence across Scotland’s golf tourism sector. From courses and hotels to unique experiences, these awards recognise the very best.

Don’t miss your chance to be recognised!

Register Here