View from the Chamber

March saw the second annual Scottish Tourism Month, led by the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) that brought together a packed schedule of events and talks engaging more than 12,500 people all over Scotland.

Scottish Tourism Month celebrates the enormous contribution that Scotland’s tourism industry makes to our economy, as well as finding new and better ways of doing things; stimulating creativity and innovation, relationships and connectivity, information and inspiration.

This is an exciting time for tourism – for the first time VisitScotland is promoting Scotland as a visitor destination as part of a larger overarching ‘Brand Scotland’, which aims to sell us to attract new high-spending visitors, international students, major investors and ‘migrant talent’.

Brand Scotland is the result of the first joint initiative between the Scottish Government, VisitScotland, Scottish Development International and Universities Scotland.

The ‘Scotland is Now’ campaign has been created as part of the bid to set the country apart from its major competitors and help us to develop our global appeal and success, promoting Scotland as ‘one of the most open countries in the world’.

Launching the campaign during a visit to China last year, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘The message at the heart of Scotland is Now is of a bold and positive country offering the warmest of welcomes, rich in history and heritage, and with a progressive, pioneering and inclusive approach to our future.’

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