Germany is a nation of prolific holidaymakers and a key inbound market for Scotland. The country is well connected to Scotland and typically has high rates of travel intent, repeat visitors, and a willingness among these visitors to explore new regions and experiences.
This makes the German market one of high growth and strong potential, aligned to our responsible tourism ambitions.
There was a unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on Scotland to a large potential visitor audience this summer. Germany, after all, was set to host the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2024) and the Scotland team qualified, kicking off the tournament.
Knowing that the cities and fan zones would be noisy, we worked on a strategy to best reach prospective visitors.
We identified Düsseldorf, Dortmund, and Cologne as key cities in the west of Germany with strong visitor demand and connectivity to Scotland. A series of adverts on mobile digital screens promoted Scotland as the perfect getaway for locals, looking to substitute the football drama with dramatic scenery.
We developed playful football-adjacent ads that would feel relevant to the in-market commentary, whilst appealing to a wide prospective visitor audience. This took the form of messaging like: “our landscapes are unbeatable”.
Across the three cities and the course of the tournament, they were seen by an audience of up to two million people. We further amplified visibility through aligned industry communications and PR activity.
This secured large volumes of coverage across a variety of leading domestic and international media titles, as well as broadcast channels.
Between 13 June and 7 July, we recorded a 70.3% growth in traffic from Germany to visitscotland.com compared to the same period last year.
Scottish fans, the Tartan Army, scored major points, capturing the hearts and minds of our German hosts at Euro 2024. They infected locals with their distinctive enthusiasm, warmth, and humour.
Their strong presence and support have made a lasting impact and shown that Scotland is a spirited country, filled with vibrant and welcoming people.
A poll run by the German media outlet RTL voted for the Tartan Army to be the “best supporters at Euro 2024”. Meanwhile, German broadcaster WDR reported that Scottish and German football fans “have found their soulmates in one another”.
A petition is now in circulation calling for a permanent sporting and social exchange between the two countries.
The wave of affection for Scotland has in itself attracted extensive positive consumer and media attention. It further elevated the reputation of and interest in our country.
A recent Booking.com study reported that 22% of Germans interested in the Euros said the tournament inspired them to visit countries other fans are from.
To build upon the positive sentiment, we’ve been proactively engaging across our media contacts, through paid media, and on our social and owned channels. This has taken the form of:
developing new German web content (browse 11 reasons why you should visit Scotland in 2024 on visitscotland.com)
pitching related news stories and tourism experiences to our database of journalists around the world
running activity live in market to increase sign ups to our email database next month
running optimised paid social media
developing upcoming influencer marketing activity
developing optimised conversion marketing activity with Skyscanner
As part of both our core international marketing and our partnership marketing, further promotion of Scotland within the German market will run throughout the year.
