Activity to support tourism in Shetland from October - December 2022
In this update:
Introduction from Steve Mathieson, Development Manager for Shetland
Corporate press activity update
Article published 10/02/2023
Hear from Steve Mathieson, Development Manager
Steve Mathieson, Development Manager for Shetland
Welcome to the first regional update of the year. In this update, we look back at our key activity in the last quarter of 2022. Our industry continues to adjust to tough new financial circumstances and it is clear that these will continue to impact in the year ahead.
But there is much to build on and we remain committed to doing what we can to support the industry, whether that’s bringing people to Scotland, offering support and guidance to businesses, or creating opportunities for growth and investment.
Our marketing, funding and business support activities are all aimed at building on these shoots of recovery to support the responsible growth of our industry.
It has been a busy period in Shetland – from the launch of our film guide to supporting critically-endangered crafts through our Shop Local retail initiative in Lerwick iCentre - and much more.
Find out more in this regional update on how all our work is helping to support the ambitions of the national tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, for Scotland to be a world leader in 21st century tourism.
Update from our iCentre staff
The return of Shetland Wool Week at the end of September and start of October was a welcome sight. The Lerwick iCentre worked closely with the Wool Week team to ensure attendees were able to once again enjoy everything that Shetland has to offer by setting up an outreach iCentre in the Wool Week Hub.
During the week, we also hosted an event in the iCentre highlighting two of our local producers with a focus on the preservation of endangered crafts.
Throughout the winter we continued to see visitors with some Aurora hunters but also several people working in Shetland looking to make the most of their free time. We also saw a number of small group tours visiting in December.
Towards Christmas, the iCentre worked closely with Living Lerwick to support their events on Da Street by taking part in late night shopping events and being the pickup and drop off point for the Christmas Trail and shop window votes. Our local community once again showed their support for local producers by many shopping locally for Christmas.
We've had a steady stream of enquiries for 2023 and the return of Up Helly Aa and Tall Ships have been popular enquiries. For accommodation enquiries, we've noticed that the summer of 2023 is already picking up.
Latest activity from our regional corporate press team
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Working with the media
Steve Mathieson was interviewed by BBC Radio Shetland after we issued an opinion editorial regarding the Shetland tourism industry’s resilience in challenging operating times.
Shop Local
Our feature about how Shop Local is helping support critically-endangered crafts in Shetland was used on BBC Radio Shetland and also in the Shetland Times.
Film guide launch
Our press release about the launch of our Set in Scotland film guide, appeared in the Shetland Times.
New blogs on visitscotland.com
Visitors at Shetland Museum
You could inspire your visitors, refresh your website and social media by sharing our blogs. Our regional marketing team create new blogs regularly which feature on VisitScotland.com. We've included Shetland in these latest articles:
9 Free UNESCO attractions to experience in Scotland
9 reasons why you should visit Scotland in 2023
How to enjoy a local community experience in Scotland
6 Scottish fire festivals that will warm your heart this winter
Scottish traditional music to listen to on a musical journey through Scotland
Global PR highlights
All markets
Up Helly Aa
- In Europe, we were able to pitch Shetland stories (Tall Ship Races, Viking heritage, UNESCO Global Geopark) to key consumer and trade media during media appointments in Hamburg early November and then Paris late November. The team also had a series of media meetings in New York City for the travel media summit, International Media Marketplace (IMM), in January.
- We created a pitching deck (a sales presentation), which focused on Shetland and Orkney, to send to our our media contacts. This was received by 15 key travel editors in the UK.
- Two press trips were organised to Up Helly Aa, working in wider Spirit of Highlands & Islands messaging. One trip for the Financial Times, the other for the Metro. Coverage for this activity is pending.
- Shetland figured quite largely in our Spirit of the Highlands and Islands broadcast campaign as we had Laurie Goodlad from Shetland involved as a spokesperson. Shetland was referenced in interviews such as Laurie being interviewed by BBC Wiltshire where she talked about Isle of Yell.
- Shetland included in dark skies pitching and from a pan-market perspective it is worth noting that Shetland (Tall Ship Races) featured in our What’s New for 2023 release which was issued to over 1,000 media contacts globally at the start of November.
- Print coverage has continued to run in regional newspapers across Germany based on a press trip organised for journalist Dörte Nohrden pre-pandemic. Her article for the German press association highlighted Shetland’s unique natural treasures, fascinating heritage and crafts scene. It was one of the most successful pieces of coverage for Germany during 2022. Most recent pick-up included Nordwest Zeitung.
- We also received a very visual feature on Up Helly Aa in new online travel publication trpstr.de (on the back of hosting journalist Peter Pfänder on a group press trip pre-pandemic).
Year of Stories 2022
The Year of Stories launch image
The end of 2022 closed the book on the Year of Stories, however there’s a wealth of resources and information here on VisitScotland.org to continue the legacy of the Themed Year.
In case you missed it, Shetland Museum and Archives featured within a story on new initiatives and campaigns created by attractions across Scotland. Take a look at our news story.
Publishing partnerships with News UK (The Sun) was part of Year of Stories supported promotion of the Great Days Out campaign. It focused on:
- storytelling related attractions
- those with a great story to tell
- free attractions
Both Jarlshof Prehistoric and Norse Settlement featured.
Regional marketing
Scotland's UNESCO trail logo
We had a successful end to the year for Scotland’s UNESCO Trail, forming part of a well-received Parliamentary Reception in December. It was attended by representatives from a number of UNESCO designations and MSPs.
The Trail has so far won two awards - Fondazione Santagata Award for sustainable development projects and the UK - Wanderlust Sustainability Award.
The final phase of paid media activity, across publishing, partnerships and PR, runs between January and March this year.
Shetland UNESCO Global Geopark has a designated page within the trail website. The page also showcases places to visit, eat and stay on the island.
