Reconnecting Scotland with vital overseas markets

Scottish tourism businesses engaged directly with tour operators, travel advisors and Destination Management Companies representing key global markets at an event earlier this month, to drive bookings from visitors from abroad once again. 

Discover Scotland: Reconnect 2022 is part of VisitScotland’s activity to rebuild international tourism demand, as well as supporting the country’s ambitions to be a leading destination for responsibletourism. 

In all, 324 Scottish businesses engaged with 298 international tour operators and travel agents from 21 global markets at the three-day online event earlier this month.

4,455 meetings were facilitated on the virtual platform through 1-2-1 meetings, highlighting the best of Scotland’s responsible tourism products. 

While inbound travel accounts for a fifth of all visitors to Scotland, it provides more than 40% of the overall spending.  Scotland’s key international markets according to spend pre-pandemic were USA, Germany, Australia, China and France. * 

“Discover Scotland 2022 enables Scottish businesses to connect with key buyers from around the globe to help attract visitors, from near and far, to help rebuild Scotland’s valuable tourismindustry. As well as the economic benefits of engaging with global markets, Discover Scotland was a hugely enjoyable week in terms of reconnecting with colleagues and customers from around the world. We look forward to sharing our stunning landscapes, history, culture and warm welcome with visitors this summer and beyond.” 

*According to 2019 International Passenger Survey data