VisitAberdeenshire update 2 March 2023
2 March 2023
As the days get lighter (if not warmer) we are getting ready to launch our spring campaign to attract visitors over the Easter period and beyond. Once again, we’re targeting best-prospect visitors from elsewhere in Scotland and Northern England with plentiful reasons to enjoy a short or longer break from mountain to city to sea. At the same time, we are highlighting our abundant adventure tourism experiences through a separate promotion with Active Traveller magazine.
March is also a very busy time for our industry development programme with workshops and webinars on topics from travel trade to the value of inclusive tourism. We hope to see you in person, or on a screen, in the coming weeks.
Chris Foy
VisitAberdeenshire Industry Development Programme – upcoming workshops & webinars
We are delighted to share details of our March in-person workshops and virtual webinars, delivered exclusively for tourism and hospitality businesses in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
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Workshop: Working with the Golf Travel Trade
Businesses operating in the golf sector in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are invited to join us on the morning of 8 March at a workshop designed to help you understand how to develop and sell your products through the golf travel trade.
The workshop will focus on working with the golf travel trade as a route to market and you will hear about how the golf travel trade works and what they need from you. It's also an opportunity for you to hear about what VisitAberdeenshire is doing to promote golf tourism to the media and travel trade.
The meeting is relevant for tourism businesses active in the golf market, including golf courses, golf resorts, hotels, transport providers and visitor experiences.
Date: Wednesday 8 March 2023
Time: Registration 10.00am; Meeting 10.30am - 12.30pm, followed by a light lunch and the opportunity to network
Location: The Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen, AB15 9YA
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Webinar: Working with online travel agents (OTAs)
It’s increasingly important for tourism businesses to be visible and bookable online and online travel agents (OTAs) can play an important role in helping your tourism product reach potential customers. Many travellers use OTAs, not just as a booking platform, but also during the inspiration and planning stages. OTAs are a means of getting your product in front of a customer in their own language with familiar payment methods that give them the reassurance to book.
This webinar is designed to help you understand how to promote and sell your product through OTAs. We will be joined by Rosie Boosey, Senior Account Manager at Viator, who will talk about the benefits of working with OTAs and how you can maximise your presence on an OTA platform.
During the webinar you will hear about:
- The latest trends in customer behaviour
- How an OTA operates and why you should consider them as a route to market
- The benefits of working with OTAs
- How you can work with OTAs
The webinar is open to visitor attractions, experiences and activity providers based in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire who would like to find out more about using OTAs as a route to market.
Date: Tuesday 14 March
Time: 10am - 11.15am
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Webinar: Introduction to carbon and calculating your business’s carbon footprint
Managing your carbon footprint more effectively can be better not just for the planet, but also for your bottom line.
In this webinar we will be joined by sustainable tourism accreditation provider, Green Tourism, who will provide an insight into everything you’ve wanted to know (but perhaps have been too afraid to ask!) about net zero, greenhouse gases and managing your business’s carbon footprint. You will learn what your emissions are and where they arise in your business, how to calculate your carbon footprint and where and how you can reduce your emissions.
During the webinar you will hear about:
- Climate change and greenhouse gases (GHGs)
- Understanding net zero
- Monitoring GHG emissions
- Managing and reducing GHG emissions
- Adapting to climate change
Date: Thursday 16 March
Time: 2pm – 3pm
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Workshop: Inclusive Tourism – Market Value and Opportunities
Join us for this workshop of discovery to identify the market opportunity for your business and how you can develop inclusive experiences and promote your accessibility.
Estimated to be worth £15.3bn expenditure per annum in the UK visitor economy, the ‘purple pound’ is identified in the Destination Tourism Strategy, The Framework for Growth, as a significant market opportunity for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
Being accessible to a wide range of people with disabilities, visible or non-visible, is not only a legislative requirement, it can also help you to respond to an ageing population and develop and improve your visitor experience to attract new audiences. This doesn’t necessarily mean investment in infrastructure and facilities as there are many actions you can implement at little or no cost to broaden your appeal to this market segment, known for its high level of customer loyalty.
Our inspirational keynote speaker is Mike Adams, OBE, Chief Executive of Purple. You will also hear market insights from Deirdre O’Donnell, VisitAberdeenshire Insights & Evaluation Manager and Marina DiDuca, Inclusive Tourism Manager at VisitScotland will outline VisitScotland activity and opportunities.
Date: Wednesday 29 March 2023
Registration opens: 9:30am for tea and coffee and a chance to network
Time: 10am – 12.00pm followed by a light lunch
Venue: To be announced (Aberdeen area)
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Workshop: Inclusive Tourism - Welcoming All Customers
Did you know that 1 in 5 people in the UK have some form of impairment? Or that 72% of disabled customers are more likely to visit new places if they feel welcomed by staff? This training day, delivered by Welcome to Excellence, will help you to unlock the business benefits of an inclusive welcome.
Participants will learn about:
- How to adopt a positive attitude to all customers and anticipate accessibility requirements
- Legal obligations and types of discrimination
- The business benefits of accessibility and inclusivity
- Successful communication styles to identify customer needs
- The wide spectrum and range of accessibility requirements
This course is designed to boost confidence in interacting with disabled customers and looks at how small changes can make all the difference. Suitable for anyone who interacts with customers, participants will receive a handbook full of practical tips and reminders about how to make facilities and services accessible and inclusive.
Spaces are limited so register now for this 1-day course filled with practical tips on providing a warm welcome for all customers.
Date: Friday 31 March 2023
Registration opens: 9:00am for tea and coffee and a chance to network
Time: 9:30am – 4.30pm including lunch and refreshments
Venue: Leonardo Hotel and Conference Venue Aberdeen Airport
Our latest marketing activity
Above and Beyond – Spring campaign
Our “Above and Beyond” spring campaign launches next week on Monday 6 March. Running for a period of around 6 weeks, the campaign will target audiences in the rest of Scotland, Northern England with paid adverts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as digital display adverts, designed to drive people to a bespoke Above and Beyond landing page on our website and to participate in a prize draw to win a stay in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. The campaign will also be promoted through Pinterest to catch people during the ‘inspiration’ phase of travel planning.
“Adventures await you in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire”
Our latest campaign promoting adventure tourism in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire launched earlier this week and will run for a period of 6 weeks.
The multi-platform campaign is a content partnership with Active Traveller magazine and will comprise three online articles, newsletters to Active Traveller’s subscribers and digital and video adverts. It includes an exciting competition, partnering with major retailer Ellis Brigham and Osprey Europe who will also promote the competition and the region on their social media and in their newsletters.
Visit the campaign landing page
There’s still time to share your thoughts on our industry website
We use several channels of communication to keep you updated on our activity, latest news and opportunities. A key channel for this is our industry website.
Following the launch our refreshed industry website in November 2021, we'd love to hear your thoughts on how you have used and benefitted from the website during 2022 to help us understand the value of the website and to learn about further changes you'd like to see.
The survey will close on Friday 3 March 2023 and should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.
Cruise update meeting
The expanded Port of Aberdeen will welcome a wide range of new cruise vessels to the city in 2023.
More than 25 cruise calls are currently scheduled from April to September, and details can be seen on a new page on the Port of Aberdeen website: Port of Aberdeen Cruise Calls
On Tuesday 7 March, Cruise Aberdeenshire partners will be providing an overview of the 2023 cruise calls and the plans to support activity in and around the port and the wider destination.
The event will be held at the Aberdeen Harbour Expansion Project Visitor Centre on Tuesday 7 March, 2pm – 4pm.
Register for the cruise update meeting
Doors Open Days 2023 – call for new venues
Aberdeenshire’s annual Doors Open Days, coordinated at a national level by the Scottish Civic Trust, and locally by Aberdeenshire Council, will be hosting a blended event in 2023 giving visitors both physical and online access to buildings across Aberdeenshire over the weekend of Saturday 16 andSunday 17 September. Doors Open Days is Scotland’s largest free festival celebrating the built environment, with the aim of increasing public appreciation and enjoyment of Scotland’s built heritage and promoting inclusion in Scotland’s civic spaces and activities. This year, the Scottish Civic Trust is supporting the European Heritage theme for 2023, ‘Living Heritage’, which refers to the practices, knowledge and skills that have been passed from one generation to the next that are still in use today.
If you are part of, or know of, an organisation or community that would wish to participate in this year’s event, Claire Tierney, Doors Open Days Coordinator for Aberdeenshire, would be delighted to hear from you. Suggestions for new venues, activities, demonstrations and guided tours for 2023 are welcomed.
If you require further information regarding the event, or wish to suggest a venue or business, please contact doorsopen@aberdeenshire.gov.uk. Further information on hosting the event can be found here.
Latest Scottish Tourism Index results
56 Degree Insight has published the findings from the Q1 2023 wave of its Scottish Tourism Index survey. The survey, conducted in late January, focused on what might lie ahead for Scottish tourism. Findings suggest that 2023 could be a more challenging year for domestic tourism in Scotland, with the cost-of-living crisis impacting holiday plans or creating uncertainty about taking holidays. Read the full results here.
National Events Programme – round 48 now open
The latest round of the National Events Programme is now open and accepting applications for events taking place between 1 July – 31 December 2023. The programme is designed to support new, innovative projects and activity at events which meet the programme criteria. Awards of £5,000 - £25,000 are available to events which can demonstrate alignment with key impact areas identified in the national events strategy, Scotland the Perfect Stage. Read more
Cycling tourism industry guide
VisitScotland has published a new guide to help tourism businesses make the most of the cycling tourism market and help Scotland to establish itself as a world-class cycling destination. The guide provides practical advice on how to attract cycling visits and provide a quality cycling tourism experience. Read the cycling tourism industry guide.
RGU shares tips on business growth in new podcast series
Are you a leader of an SME with ambitions to grow your business, improve resilience or even boost productivity? Robert Gordon University has released a new mini podcast series called ‘Leading your way to business growth’. The five-part series includes top tips and expert advice around the topic of business growth and introduces the UK Government-backed, Help to Grow: Management Course. You can listen to the podcast series here.
The 12-week Help to Grow: Management Course delivered by RGU is aimed at leaders of SMEs and covers strategies for growth and innovation, leading high-performance teams, digital adoption, as well as financial management and responsible business practices. Participants will hear from inspirational business leaders, learn alongside local peers and will benefit from peer-to-peer networking. The next Cohort begins on 31 March 2023 and there are limited spaces available (eligibility criteria applies). Find out more at www.rgu.ac.uk/HelpToGrow.
UK Conference and Meeting Survey 2023
Venues that can host meetings, incentives, conferences and events are invited to complete the 2023 UK Conference and Meeting Survey (UKCAMS). UKCAMS is the only national survey that provides a year-on-year estimate on the size and value of the sector and aims to demonstrate the scale and value of the conference industry to the UK economy. Complete the survey here
All information is correct at the time of publishing, we recommend that you check opening times and information for individual places before visiting.