VisitScotland eUpdate - September 2008
Welcome to the ninth eUpdate of 2008 which features a wide range of articles which we hope you will find of interest.
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Aberdeen & Grampian
Nominations for this year’s Northern Lights Tourism Awards are now open, and with only three and a half weeks to go until the closing date, businesses in the Aberdeen City and Shire area are being urged to submit their entries.
More...Aberdeen & Grampian
Aberdeen City and Shire’s Sound Festival takes place this autumn. Sound is an annual festival of new music, with concerts and events organised in Aberdeen and throughout Aberdeenshire.
More...Aberdeen & Grampian | Highlands
The 2008 Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival attracted a record numbers of visitors. Around 17,000 people - 6% more than last year - flocked to Moray for the five-day event and over £650,000 was generated for the local economy.
More...Angus & Dundee
A look ahead to DACB's new and key marketing activities over the next two years.
More...Angus & Dundee
Two music festivals are set to take place in various venues across Dundee over the next couple of months.
More...Angus & Dundee | Perthshire
This summer saw the confirmation of financial support from the European Regional Development Fund for a project which aims to unlock the economic potential of the rural areas of Perthshire and Angus.
More...Argyll, Loch Lomond & Forth Valley
The Whisky Coast, Scotland’s west coast whisky trail has announced a spectacular weekend event on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 May 2009 at Inveraray Castle as part of the Homecoming Scotland celebrations.
More...Argyll, Loch Lomond & Forth Valley
Is yours a tourism business that’s active in the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park? If so, then here’s your FREE chance to take a close look at some of the companies who have been working on collaborative projects with Glasgow Caledonian University and KIT-OUT the Park over the past year.
More...Argyll, Loch Lomond & Forth Valley
Duart Castle tearoom, one of the outstanding venues in VisitScotland’s Café Days campaign, is taking part in this year’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning, a national charity event that aims to raise £800,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support in Scotland.
More...Borders
VisitScotland’s Adventure Pass is a new campaign which includes dozens of special discount offers on everything from adventure pursuits to accommodation, shopping, pubs and restaurants.
More...Borders
Highlights from events, developments and general news from around the region over the past couple of months.
More...Borders
The web site for the Our Scottish Borders identity (www.ourscottishborders.com) has recently been revamped to make it more user-friendly and interactive.
More...Borders
The latest addition to the Hawick
Tourism Information Centre (TIC) is pubic internet access which is great for the public but also provides a second PC for staff which is very useful for Coordinators.
More...Borders | Dumfries & Galloway
This offer is now closed.
More...Edinburgh & Lothians
Edinburgh is being positioned as the ideal get away destination in a month of television advertising across the UK and a major poster campaign in London.
More...Edinburgh & Lothians
Matches at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield are expected to be worth more than £100 million to the Scottish economy in the 2008-09 season according to an economic impact study conducted by Napier University.
More...Edinburgh & Lothians
Edinburgh was named as the second most popular city in the UK by readers of a top travel magazine earlier this month.
More...Edinburgh & Lothians
The 'Big Food Weekend' at North Berwick, one of the major highlights of this year's East Lothian Food Festival, takes place on 27-28 September.
More...Edinburgh & Lothians
The Scottish Family Business Association, in association with the Small Business Club, are hosting a series of regional interactive workshops across central Scotland.
More...Edinburgh & Lothians
Promising to be another earth-shattering occasion, the Hospitality Industry (HIT) lunch will be held on Monday 3 November at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa in Edinburgh.
More...Edinburgh & Lothians
The National Museum of Flight in East Lothian is holding a Magnificent Machines showcase on the 27-28 September.
More...Fife
A 12-page marketing publication for Fife has been sent to 25,000 contacts to promote the region to potential visitors this autumn.
More...Fife
One of Dunfermline’s landmark venues has been named as a “favourite gig” by one of Scotland’s international music stars.
More...Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley
VisitScotland’s Adventure Pass is a new campaign which includes dozens of special discount offers on everything from adventure pursuits to eating out. The Pass will provide offers from 50 operators, including World of Wings in Cumbernauld and ScotKart at Cambuslang.
More...Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley
David Adams McGilp has taken up the post of Regional Director for Glasgow and West Central Scotland.
More...Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley
Glasgow’s award of City of Music status last month makes Scotland the only country in the world with two UNESCO ‘Creative Cities’.
More...Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley
Here’s your chance to put your best foot forward with your networking skills as Glasgow Chamber of Commerce holds its latest networking evening at the national stadium on Wednesday 24 September.
More...Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley
The Scottish Family Business Association, in association with the Small Business Club, are hosting a series of regional interactive workshops across central Scotland.
More...Highlands
Around 9 million Japanese viewers were given a unique glimpse of Skye in early September, by means of a live satellite broadcast from near Loch Coruisk.
More...Highlands
Government Minister for Parliamentary Business, Bruce Crawford, MSP, was talking tourism in Skye last month when he visited the island as part of the Government’s summer tour, days after the Perfect Day campaign's latest phase was launched.
More...Highlands
The Torridon Inn in Wester Ross has been named Pub of the Year, Scotland, at the AA Centenary Awards 2008 held at London's Grosvenor House Hotel. The Inn’s sister Torridon Hotel has been awarded four AA Red Stars for its exceptional standard of hospitality, including quality, comfort, cleanliness and customer care.
More...Highlands
Liz McColgan very nearly led her team to a surprise victory at the First Monster Challenge last week.
More...Highlands
Loch Ness’ Urquhart Castle has claimed top spot in a national poll to find the ‘Seven Wonders of Britain’. The remote wonder beat off more familiar sights including Windsor Castle and was a staggering 41% above seventh place Houses of Parliament.
More...Highlands
The Highlands will be showcased to over 94 million American households as part of a national trekking programme.
More...Orkney
Three visitor attractions in Orkney are enjoying their new star status following a Quality Assurance Scheme grading from VisitScotland.
More...Aberdeen & Grampian | Highlands | Orkney | Outer Hebrides | Shetland
More than 25 businesses and individuals from across the Highlands and Islands are celebrating the news that they have been shortlisted for this year’s Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards.
More...Outer Hebrides
Tourism Minister Jim Mather saw some of the Outer Hebrides best tourism businesses first hand on a visit to the islands last month. He presented three Outer Hebrides tourism businesses with five star plaques on Wednesday 27 August, following their successful grading under VisitScotland’s quality assurance scheme.
More...Perthshire
While work on updating accommodation and visitor guides for Perthshire, Angus and Dundee are well underway, work has begun on the production of the 2009 Perthshire Golf Guide.
More...Perthshire
A new tourism campaign encouraging Scots to holiday at home was launch last month by Culture Minister Linda Fabiani at award winning Perthshire adventure sports company Nae Limits.
More...Perthshire
The sensational Perthshire Big Tree Country DVD was launched in spring this year and continues to receive excellent reviews from both tourism businesses and local people.
More...Perthshire
The Scottish Family Business Association, in association with the Small Business Club, are hosting a series of regional interactive workshops across central Scotland.
More...Perthshire
A number of food and travel writers attended a press trip to Perthshire last month organised by Perth and Kinross Council with support from VisitScotland.
More...Aberdeen & Grampian | Highlands | Orkney | Outer Hebrides | Shetland
We have been made aware of a new scam doing the rounds with tourism providers in the Highlands.
More...General
The refreshed Homecoming Scotland website has a number of enhanced features such as a fully functional events search engine and a Get Involved section with suggestions as to how to help spread the word, while Scottish Government Minister Jim Mather launches a new direct mail campaign in the United States.
More...General
Lanarkshire’s tourism operators have successfully won a £30,000 Growth Fund grant from VisitScotland to launch a new marketing campaign targeting visitors in Carlisle and the North-West of England.
More...General
Visitscotland.org is constantly being updated with new and updated content.
More...General | Sustainable Tourism
Tourism businesses are being encouraged to go green through an initiative encouraging sustainability.
More...General
The last few remaining places on the brand new, specifically designed VisitScotland stand for World Travel Market are still available.
More...General
Details of events and conferences for the Scottish tourism industry happening in the forthcoming weeks and months.
More...General
The Scottish Food Scholarship, created in 2006 to encourage and develop the culinary skills and talents of young chefs working in Scotland, is currently looking for business partners who can support this worthwhile competition.
More...General
The Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick has won the VisitScotland Tourism Business of the Year Award.
More...General
This year's prestigious awards are being held on 24th of October and there are still some tickets available for the gala event.
More...General
A tourism campaign that scooped top prize at one of the UK’s most prestigious public relations awards has generated over £46 million in Scottish tourism revenue.
More...General
VisitScotland recently passed a rigorous external assessment and achieved Hospitality Assured Accreditation for the first time. In doing so it is now the first UK national tourism organisation to achieve accreditation.
More...General
Vacancies have arisen for VisitScotland's board.
More...Sustainable Tourism
VisitScotland Chairman, Peter Lederer, recently did an interview with Travelmole to talk about sustainability in Scotland.
More...Sustainable Tourism
The Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, now in their fifth year under the World Travel and Toursim Council (WTTC) stewardship are aimed at recognising best practice in sustainable tourism within the Travel and Tourism industry worldwide.
More...
