Visit Scotland | Alba
Article published 10/05/2024

Putting responsible tourism experiences on the map

In March this year we announced a new partnership with Tourism Cares to profile trade-ready, responsible tourism experiences in Scotland on their new, interactive Meaningful Travel Map.

As part of an ongoing project, we're working together with Tourism Cares and our Scottish tourism industry to build Scotland’s presence on the map. This will extend our reach with global tour operators and travel advisors, who are looking to add meaningful travel experiences to their itineraries.

Tourism Cares is a US non-profit organisation aligned to our responsible tourism objectives, with a global vision that travel and tourism can be a force for good.

The Meaningful Travel Map acts as a useful resource for the travel trade to easily source tourism experiences making positive social and environmental impacts in destinations.

Scotland is the first European destination to feature on the map, which marks a significant milestone for Tourism Cares.

In this article:

Reaching global tour operators

With over 60% of our international visitors booking part, or all of their holiday in the UK, as a package, we recognise the important role tour operators play in bringing international visitors to Scotland.

We work with travel intermediaries, such as tour operators, travel advisors and travel agents to inspire and include responsible tourism experiences within itineraries and programmes to Scotland.

As part of our activity celebrating Scotland Week in New York we hosted a round-table discussion with the US Tour Operator Association (USTOA) and Tourism Cares.

Feedback reinforced the clear demand for meaningful travel experiences and with tour operators looking for informative, easy-to-access resources to help them include the right products and experiences into their itineraries.

The Meaningful Travel Map brings tourism experiences with positive local impact to the attention of their global network of tour operators and key influencers in the travel industry.

Working closely with USTOA, Tourism Cares has a membership of more than 160 global travel advisors, tour operators and airlines, reaching millions of travellers each year who are planning and booking their holidays.

A young person looking at a Tapestry on a wall

Experiences on the map

A selection of travel-trade ready tourism experiences currently feature on the map:

  • Argaty Red Kites
  • Comrie Croft
  • Dundreggan Rewilding Centre
  • Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere
  • Long Island Retreats
  • Mercat Tours
  • Inverewe Garden
  • Fyvie Castle

 

  • The Burrell Collection
  • Murton Trust – Murton Farm
  • Radical Weavers
  • SCOTLAND: The Big Picture
  • The Great Tapestry of Scotland
  • The Scottish Crannog Centre
  • The Scottish Seabird Centre
  • Trimontium Museum
  • Wild Discovery
  • Wreckspeditions

At Trimontium we are committed to responsible tourism and creating a positive impact to the local and global community, for people and the environment.

We are thrilled to be involved in such an innovative project and we cannot wait to connect with other individuals and organisations making a difference in the world of tourism through this wonderful platform.

Thania M. Flores, Heritage Environment Resources Officer Collections, Archives & Programmes, The Trimontium Trust & Museum

Put your business on the map

The Map is a free marketing opportunity to showcase your tourism experience to visitors who want to have meaningful, memorable experiences while being considerate to host communities.

Find out more and take a look at the criteria on Tourism Cares website.

If you would like to find out more or discuss your application, please email our team.

How to work with travel trade 

If you are travel-trade ready, are driving positive change in your local area, and you meet the Tourism Cares criteria, we’d love to hear from you.

Take a look at our handy webpage "preparing your business to work with travel trade" providing easy steps to help you identify if your business is travel trade ready. 

Our team can also advise on all aspects of working with travel trade, get in touch on travel.trade@visitscotland.com

Find out more about our approach to responsible tourism and working with travel trade

Responsible tourism

Find information on responsible tourism in Scotland, and how you can make your business more sustainable.

Read More

Preparing your business to work with the travel trade

Find out some easy steps on how you can ensure that your business is ready to work with the travel trade.

Read More

Read our case study

We've been speaking to Mercat Tours about their project 'Our Stories, Your City' and how that impacts the community in and around Edinburgh and the Lothians. They also feature in Tourism Cares' interactive Meaningful Travel Map.

Case study | Mercat Tours

We spoke to Edinburgh based Mercat Tours about their work with local communities and how they feature on the Meaningful Travel Map.

Read More

Related links

Responsible tourism

Find information on responsible tourism in Scotland, and how you can make your business more sustainable.

Responsible tourism research

Find research into responsible tourism in Scotland. This includes reports on visitor, community, and industry insights.