VisitScotland eUpdate October 2007
This is the 10th eUpdate of the year which features a wide range of articles which we hope you will find of interest. You can update your subscription details or forward this eUpdate to a colleague, by clicking on the links provided. Let us know what you think of eUpdate by emailing us at eupdate@visitscotland.com. Please contact us also if you would like to hear more about any of our marketing activities or business opportunities.
18/10/2007
Southbank Guesthouse in Elgin, Moray, is the first business in the Grampian region to take advantage of Web In A Box (WIAB) – the new e-commerce product from VisitScotland which enables accommodation providers to set up and manage their own website and online bookings. More...17/10/2007
The Granite City and all its top attractions formed the backdrop to several STV celebrity interviews last week, as the Royal London Watches Grand Prix World Snooker Championships came to the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre. More...17/10/2007
Scottish Enterprise Grampian is running a Tourism Business Improvement Programme over the next six months (October 2007 - March 2008) open to all tourism enterprises in the region. More...17/10/2007
Scottish Enterprise Grampian is running a Chef’s Development Programme over the next six months consisting of four workshops which focus on food skills and are aimed at chefs working in Aberdeenshire. More...16/10/2007
Members of the Aberdeen Convention Bureau will attend an industry conference in Thailand at the end of October, aimed at developing skills in sales, marketing and leadership, and providing opportunities for networking within the international business tourism arena. More...18/10/2007
A combination of high employment rates, good health, large houses and low crime rates have helped mark Aberdeenshire as having the bext quality of life in Scotland. More...17/10/2007
Scottish Enterprise Grampian is offering tourism businesses in Grampian a unique opportunity to visit and learn from tourism businesses in the internationally renowned Banff National Park in Calgary, Canada More...17/10/2007
Maryculter House Hotel in Aberdeen is to feature in the November issue of the Waitrose Food magazine as part of a joint marketing campaign between VisitScotland and the upmarket food chain. More...16/10/2007
Having enjoyed the busiest July in five years this summer, the Macduff Marine Aquarium in Banffshire is now well into its Autumn programme, with new exhibits and presentations to keep visitors, families and school children entertained, with talks on everything from sea turtles to kelp. More...16/10/2007
VisitScotland offers a host of online training opportunities to the tourism industry, through Tourist Board Training (TBT), aimed at enhancing knowledge of specialist niche markets. More...18/10/2007
Wednesday 24th October 2007 2-4pm, Angus Archives, Restenneth Priory, Forfar As more and more people become interested in researching their family roots, ancestral tourism promises new and exciting year-round commercial opportunities whatever your size and type of business. More...18/10/2007
For a list of forthcoming Angus & Dundee network events please read on... More...18/10/2007
Scotland’s wide variety of high quality natural ingredients are being used to entice food loving visitors to Scotland. More...17/10/2007
Winter can be a beautiful time to visit Scotland. The “white” campaign has been created to encourage consumers to experience many of the “White things to do” during a break in Scotland in the winter as well as taking advantage of the great accommodation offers that we have to offer. More...17/10/2007
Scotland’s wide variety of high quality natural ingredients are being used to entice food loving visitors to Scotland. With an average of 21% of all tourist expenditure in Scotland spent on food and drink, this is an important sector for Scottish tourism. More...12/10/2007
An exciting new golf course looks set to transform Kintyre after a marketing initiative attracted a record funding award of £65,000 from VisitScotland to promote the area as a major golf holiday destination. More...12/10/2007
Falkirk’s tourist information centre is set for a relocation to the Falkirk Wheel, where it will take advantage of the attraction’s annual 0.44 million visitors to more effectively promote the Falkirk area. More...16/10/2007
A little bit of extra knowledge goes a long way in growing your business, and there are lots of opportunities to bone up on some of our key growth markets in the next few weeks. More...17/10/2007
Stay ahead of what's happening in Ayrshire & Arran and you can pass on information to your visitors about events they can experience. There's a cultural feast for the eyes, ears and taste buds. More...17/10/2007
Deadline for getting into the Visitor Guides and Bedroom Pack is the end of October, read on to see how you can ensure you don't miss this fantastic opportunity. More...17/10/2007
Tourist Board Training (TBT), owned by VisitScotland, develops and co-ordinates innovative, flexible and sustainable training opportunities that offer the tourism industry the chance to enhance their skills and knowledge of specialist niche markets that are attracted to Scotland. More...17/10/2007
One of Ayrshire's leading hotels joined tourism businesses from across Scotland as they headed for Russia's second biggest city to showcase Scotland in St Petersburg for the first time. More...17/10/2007
Glenapp Castle is celebrating after being awarded five AA red stars an excellent achievement for the prestigious Castle continuing their excellent success since opening in 2000. More...17/10/2007
The King of Rock n' Roll, Elvis Presley, returned to Prestwick Airport at the end of September - almost half a century after the first and only time he set foot in the UK. More...17/10/2007
Marketing of Ayrshire & Arran continues to be a major priority for VisitScotland Ayrshire & Arran and the local marketing team have been busy recently working on the following projects… More...17/10/2007
The Euro Info Centre, in partnership with Business Gateway and the Scottish Government, is holding a series of events to raise awareness of the opportunities arising from public procurement, not only in Scotland but also the UK and Europe. More...17/10/2007
Find out what the SBTP have been discussing this month - topics include the Scottish Borders being open all year, SBTP representatives, and the industry conference for next year. More...17/10/2007
Members of the VisitScotland Border's Scottish Borders Ambassadors Club were given a VIP tour of the new Lochcarron of Scotland recently at a special evening reception in their honour. More...18/10/2007
Coldstream, the gateway town to Scotland, has re-established an old tradition of Border runaway marriages by opening its new Marriage Room for business. More...17/10/2007
Stay ahead of what’s happening in the Scottish Borders and you can pass on information to your visitors about events they can experience. More...17/10/2007
Opportunities for Borders Businesses Seminar, 15 November 07. More...17/10/2007
Catherine Maxwell Stuart has been working on a pilot initiative, co-ordinating the production of a leaflet promoting Attractions open October and November. More...17/10/2007
Staff at Borders Tourist Information Centres have had another busy and interesting summer, welcoming visitors to the Borders from all over the world and showing their breadth of knowledge and expertise. More...17/10/2007
The Scottish Borders Bedroom Pack has a print run of 4,000 copies and is displayed in all Scottish Borders bedrooms and self catering units who are affiliated with Quality & Standards. More...17/10/2007
Fludha Guest House in Kirkcudbright is celebrating after becoming the first property in Dumfries & Galloway to achieve the top five star rating for serviced accommodation from VisitScotland. More...17/10/2007
The Glorious Galloway and Lockerbie Initiative websites are now live with help from VisitScotland Challenge Funding. More...23/10/2007
The Scottish Tourism Forum has joined forces with Scottish Enterprise to help tourism businesses get the most out of the internet with the help of a tourism e-business workshop at the North West Castle Hotel in Stranraer on Thursday 1st November. More...17/10/2007
Stay ahead of what’s happening in Dumfries & Galloway and you can pass on information to your visitors about events they can experience. There’s a cultural feast for the eyes, ears and taste buds! More...17/10/2007
Philip Riddle, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, joined the team in Dumfries & Galloway recently to meet with staff and partners in the area. More...17/10/2007
No it's not the latest recipe ...but a little taste of the intriguing insights that you'll find in the recently published booklet "Wildlife and landscapes" by Solway Heritage. More...17/10/2007
Do you struggle to find the time to think about how the right training for you and your staff can help grow your business? If so, learndirect Scotland for business is here to help. More...17/10/2007
Congratulations to Winton House has which has been awarded the title of Scotland's Leading Private Castle for the third year running. More...17/10/2007
In winter, Edinburgh, one of Europe's most romantic cities, sparkles with over a month of festivities. More...17/10/2007
The world’s largest indoor climbing arena has received Scotland’s top tourism rating, only four months after re-launching as the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena. More...17/10/2007
A date for your diary – the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group conference will take place on Tuesday 19 February 2008, at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh. More...17/10/2007
You are warmly invited to a business seminar on developing horse & rider accommodation for the self-guided riding market on Thursday 8 November. More...17/10/2007
If you would like to hear more about the story behind Edinburgh’s famous Hogmanay celebrations or how to make the most of business tourism and the conference sector, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce has a couple of events coming up, which could be of interest to you. More...17/10/2007
Businesses should keep their eyes peeled for forthcoming network events that will be taking place throughout the season. More...17/10/2007
Dean Park Hotel, Tuesday 30 October 8-10am Recent sharp increases in the cost of traditional energy supplies together with the impact of new laws aimed at reducing carbon emissions mean that businesses increasingly need to focus on the potential of meeting their energy needs through on-site renewable energy technologies. For a growing number of businesses, these emerging technologies could offer significant cost and environmental benefits. More...17/10/2007
Crerar Hotels has now submitted its planning application to develop a new 3-4 star 80-bedroom family friendly hotel and health club at St Nicholas Park in St Andrews. The proposals would generate £10 million of investment for the local economy and create 60 jobs. More...17/10/2007
Scotland’s wide variety of high quality natural ingredients are being used to entice food loving visitors to Scotland. More...17/10/2007
Tourist Board Training (TBT), owned by VisitScotland, develops and co-ordinates innovative, flexible and sustainable training opportunities that offer the tourism industry the chance to enhance their skills and knowledge of specialist niche markets that are attracted to Scotland. More...12/10/2007
Potential visitors to Glasgow are being lured to the city by a new marketing initiative that allows them to build their own Glasgow movie. More...12/10/2007
He’s photographed The Beatles, Liz Taylor, Michael Jackson and every US president since Eisenhower, but now Glaswegian superstar photographer Harry Benson has chosen his home city as the subject of his latest book—and he chose Glasgow tourist information centre as the venue for the book-signing launch. More...16/10/2007
A little bit of extra knowledge goes a long way in growing your business, and there are lots of opportunities to bone up on some of our key growth markets in the next few weeks. More...17/10/2007
Participating restaurants are offering either £15 or £25 fixed price meals, take your pick from over 30 restaurants! More...17/10/2007
Over 5600 runners lined up for Baxters Festival of Running on the 7th of October, on a bright day, which brought out crowds of spectators to support all the runners. More...17/10/2007
Highland Council’s annual tourism seminar will be held this year on Wednesday 5 December from 0930 – 1300 in the Council Chamber, Glenurquhart Rd, Inverness. More...17/10/2007
Inverness is on an all time high as, for the first time, it has come within the top fifteen most popular UK cities for overseas visitors according to new official statistics. More...17/10/2007
VisitScotland’s Business Tourism Unit showcased the best of the Highlands in Edinburgh at the Northern Showcase 2007. More...17/10/2007
Latest research from YouGov, for sat nav expert Garmin, has revealed that a Highland road has been voted as one of Britain’s Best Roads. More...17/10/2007
On Saturday 12 January, 2008, the eve of “An t-Seann Bliadhn’ Ùr” (The Old New Year), join with the people of Inverness to mark the close of the Highland 2007 celebrations in the Highland capital. More...17/10/2007
VisitScotland were delighted to host the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) in the Highlands last week. More...17/10/2007
A journey into the heart of the Gaelic world has been so successful that five new trips are to be launched. The first of the Gaelic Rings, or Cearcaill na Gàidhlig, was launched in July and is based on Caledonian MacBrayne’s Islands Hopscotch route taking in Oban, Barra, Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Skye and Mallaig. More...19/10/2007
The Highlands and Islands-wide quest to honour the area’s most successful tourism businesses, initiatives and individuals is on target for a nail-biting finale as the shortlist for the 2007 Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards is announced. More...17/10/2007
If you wish to book a place on any of these workshops or courses, please contact the Who Cares Wins Team More...17/10/2007
A feasibility study has identified a demand for new marina facilities and related onshore developments within Stornoway Inner Harbour. More...17/10/2007
With a continuous growth in the UK short break market and with the islands less than an hour’s flight from Glasgow/Edinburgh/Inverness we are again this year putting together a promotion on www.VisitHebrides.com called “Winter Hebrides”. More...17/10/2007
It's in the Genes! As more and more people become interested in researching their family roots, ancestral tourism promises new and exciting year-round commercial opportunities whatever your size and type of business. This fascinating evening at the AK Bell Library will give you all the information you need to capitalise on this growing market. More...17/10/2007
A Perthshire business will be at the forefront of this years’ highly successful VisitScotland Autumn Gold campaign. More...17/10/2007
Motorists travelling up and down the A9 over the next ten days might be forgiven for thinking aliens have landed, as the skies over the road are lit up each night with lasers, strobe lights and lanterns as part of a Perthshire Big Tree Country initiative to highlight The Enchanted Forest event which began on Friday 19th October at Faskally Wood, Pitlochry. More...17/10/2007
Scone Palace will be the venue for mischief-making and devilment this Hallowe’en when it launches a weekend of unique Hallowe’en events on 27th and 28th October, in association with Herald Events. More...17/10/2007
'A jewel of a festival' where contemporary song meets folk, roots and tradition. With concerts in wonderful venues - theatres, castles and even an iron age crannog! - as well as ceilidh, open mic, spontaneous music sessions, workshops, talks and walks. Come and enjoy great music amid Perthshire's autumnal beauty! More...17/10/2007
The Green Tourism Business Scheme has rewarded the Highland Offroad Centre for reducing their environmental impact by implementing simple but effective measures. More...17/10/2007
For a full listing of over 200 events taking place in Perthshire during the rest of this year and into 2008, please click on. More...17/10/2007
Mansio Holiday Apartments, based in historic Crieff, is the latest Perthshire accommodation provider to join an elite band of world class accommodation providers with five star status. More...17/10/2007
The winners of the first Big Tree Country Awards were announced at a ceremony at Gleneagles Hotel on Sunday 23 September. Hosted by Perth & Kinross Countryside Trust (PKCT), the awards were presented by journalist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch, during a ‘cake ‘n’ cuppa’ celebration. More...16/10/2007
The 2008 tourist brochure from VisitOrkney promoting all there is to see and so in the islands will be launched on Thursday 8th November 2007 at an informal evening event at 8pm at the Lynnfield Hotel. More...17/10/2007
Eleven tour operators in Shetland recently gained star gradings through VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance Scheme. More...17/10/2007
Lerwick based business OfficeLodge has been short listed for the Innovation award in the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards 2007. More...22/10/2007
As well as the installation of a new search facility on the site, a whole range of new content has been published on visitscotland.org including the new corporate plan and other information in areas including research, events and training, marketing opportunities and partnership working. More...17/10/2007
Representatives from Scotland’s tourism sector joined forces and headed to Italy and Spain in September to forge stronger business relationships with their European counterparts. More...18/10/2007
An update on the UK Main Awareness Guide. More...22/10/2007
The winners of this year's awards will be announced at the glittering ceremony on Friday 26 October and the results will be made available to businesses as soon as is possible. More...19/10/2007
Highlands & Islands Enterprise, in partnership with the Scottish Tourism Forum and VisitScotland, bring a workshop, designed specifically for people involved in the tourist industry, to your local area. More...17/10/2007
As from 26th March 2006 it was also an offence not to display a mandatory sign in all enclosed premises which include Bed and Breakfast establishments and guest houses etc, as well as certain motor vehicles. More...17/10/2007
News on a forthcoming visitors' survey and a new piece of research on fishing. More...18/10/2007
Would you like the opportunity to influence the offer of Hospitality & Tourism qualifications for the future? More...17/10/2007
A new website featuring over 400 Scottish Scottish gardens has been launched. More...17/10/2007
International Marketing will be launching its fifth Pan-European Touring Campaign in 2008 targeting the markets of Germany, Spain, Netherlands, France and Italy. More...18/10/2007
VisitScotland’s International Consumer PR team are looking for tourism businesses to come forward with their green and sustainable tourism stories to promote to the overseas media. More...17/10/2007
Do you have a burning question you would like to ask the VisitScotland Chairman? More...18/10/2007
This month's update includes 4 articles: 1.Green futures new section 2.Tomorrow’s World 3.Thought Leadership series 4.Long term forecasts More...18/10/2007
Pride & Passion’s autumn programme of free Visitor Experience Workshops is filling up fast, so if you’d like to sign up for an event please contact them as soon as you can. More...17/10/2007
Following on from the success of the Walking Tourism guide, look out for the second guide in the Series from Tourism Intelligence Scotland which is available now. More...18/10/2007
Two events: Business Tourism Conference, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow – Tuesday 20 November 2007 and the start of the Scottish Enterprise Tourism Masterclasses. More... | 
