Visit Scotland | Alba
Article published 31/01/2024

Welcome to the July-December 2023 edition of our regional industry update for Outer Hebrides, with an overview of some of the ways we’ve been promoting and supporting tourism in the area over the last few months.

In this article:

Spirit of the Highlands and Islands campaign

Our Spirit of the Highlands and Islands campaign, in partnership with High Life Island and High Council, came to an end after two years of a wide-scale multi-channel marketing campaign targeting both UK and international audiences. 

The Outer Hebrides were predominantly promoted in recent Autumn 2023 activity including:

  • In 3 new Autumn videos 
  • On the campaign website. The autumn landing page included community stories, inspirational video and audio content, alongside 10 themed itineraries.
  • In the campaign's autumn paid marketing activity. This £185,000 campaign ran from late August until November and through paid social media and publishing partnerships, the campaign reached millions in the UK and EU. 

 

Marketing Outer Hebrides to the world

  • Scotland's UNESCO Trail

    Scotland’s UNESCO trail was launched in October 2021 and was designed specifically to showcase Scotland as a world-leading responsible tourism destination.

    With dedicated funding made available by the Scottish Government, we launched a marketing campaign in October 2022 which built on the success of previous activity around the launch of the Trail, which includes St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides.

    With the activity concluded, a series of webinars took place last year with Scottish Government, designation site representations and the UK UNESCO Commission to present the results of this activity.

    We also presented to a meeting of the Nordic UNESCO delegates who were keen to learn more about the development and success of the trail. Our insights team are continuing work on an economic impact report which will be published in 2024. 

      

  • What's new on visitscotland.com?

    Check out some of our new and refreshed blogs on visitscotland.com featuring Outer Hebrides:

  • Email marketing

    Outer Hebrides continues to feature within our email programme to over one million global contacts, across 15 markets and five languages. Each email is designed with seasonality and geographic spread in mind, while promoting responsible tourism.

    Our emails signpost to businesses and places in Outer Hebrides highlighting experiences and travel inspiration.

Outer Hebrides on social media

3 million reach

Number of times Outer Hebrides content reached people on social media

490,000+ engagements

Reactions, likes and comments, shares and saves of Outer Hebrides posts

441,000+ reach

Top performing post by reach was an Instagram UNESCO World Heritage Sites post including St Kilda

Outer Hebrides in the news

Our PR teams works to both promote Outer Hebrides and Scotland across key travel, lifestyle and industry media. In the last six months, the team have shared information and press releases to more than 2,500 media contacts in the UK, North America, Germany, France, China, Australia, and the UAE.

The team pitch ideas to media contacts throughout the year, handle enquiries and requests from global media, and attend events such as the World Travel Market in London. 

They also host press visits across Scotland to generate coverage that truly reflects all the country has to offer.

Use the tabs below to find out how they have promoted Outer Hebrides to different consumer and industry audiences.

Travel Trade - What's new?

Our Travel Trade Team supports travel intermediaries around the world as they develop and adapt their Scotland programmes for future sales.

In October, the team added Perle Hotels to the travel trade website.

Visit the travel trade website to find out more about how to market your business to global travel trade intermediaries and to get in contact with the team.

Travel Trade Website

An update from our Stornoway iCentre

It was a busy six months for our iCentre team in Stornoway. Over the summer months, the team welcomed a increased number of cruise ships (105 across the year) and also supported visitors looking for last minute accommodation for HebCelt. 

In the autumn and winter months, the team attended the Outer Hebrides Tourism conference, making some great new contacts. They are looking forward to a busy 2024 with the opening of the Deep Water Port and the regeneration of the Cromwell Street Quay which will mean more visitors than normal docking right on their doorstep. 

A reminder that our iCentre team are here to support local businesses, so don't forget to let them know about events happening across the Outer Hebrides. 

Sign for a VisitScotland iCentre 

Related links

08/01/2024

Chief Executive set to retire

Malcolm Roughead OBE, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, is to retire after more than 20 years with the national tourism organisation.