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Visit Scotland | Alba

What is our Strategic Framework?

The Strategic Framework is our organisational blueprint as the national tourism organisation. It summarises the scope of the work we will carry out between 2021 and 2024 to enable Scotland to be a leader in 21st century tourism with a thriving, responsible visitor economy.   

  • Purpose

    To deliver a strategic and coordinated approach to supporting the rebuilding of the visitor economy in a responsible way, to ensure that tourism thrives.

  • Vision

    Scotland is a leader in 21st century tourism with a thriving, responsible visitor economy.

  • Mission

    Through strategic leadership and industry partnerships, encourage a responsible approach to re-building and growing the value of tourism highlighting the benefits of tourism and events across Scotland in delivering the very best for our visitors, our businesses, our people, our communities and our environment.

What are our strategic pillars?

  1. 1

    We inspire life-long love affairs with Scotland

    Building a responsible destination brand

  2. 2

    Together, we build a responsible, quality product

    Investing in Scotland’s tourism and events communities

  3. 3

    We use intelligence, tools and technology to drive

    Facilitating collaboration and embracing change in support of a fairer, more responsible and inclusive visitor economy

1. We inspire life-long love affairs with Scotland

Building a responsible destination brand

What we do: 

  • Develop a rich understanding of key markets and traveller segments, of visitors to Scotland, and of those who engage through our multiple touchpoints to support the creation of relevant, compelling and effective activities
  • Build long-term relationships with current and potential visitors and, by extension, influence investors, students and migrants; actively managing their lifetime worth to the country
  • Build a global brand whose attributes will increase awareness and propensity with target audiences and grow our long-term, global reputation
  • Put responsible tourism and climate change at the heart of all our marketing activity – to ensure that communities and visitors can build strong and harmonious relationships
  • Harness our paid, earned and owned channels and work with partners to grow the contribution of the visitor economy to the overall Scottish economy
  • Work with regional organisations and sector partners to promote a breadth of visitor experiences stimulating regional and seasonal spread of visitor spend
  • Mobilise information and advice to support a safe visitor experience and encourage visitors to spend more time and money across Scotland
  • Deliver unique and memorable sporting, cultural and business events, which showcase our talents and enhance our global reputation as the perfect stage

Scotland – A powerfully enriching personal experience

2. Together, we build a responsible, quality product and visitor experience

Investing in Scotland’s tourism and events communities

What we do: 

  • Support the industry to deliver the aspirations and objectives of “Outlook 2030”
  • Engage with communities to rebuild tourism in a responsible and inclusive way ensuring that the infrastructure and welcome reflects and supports issues around over-demand, visitor management and Scotland’s target of net zero by 2045
  • Draw together enterprise investment that will enable destinations, product owners and sector specialists to invest in internationalisation
  • Raise the profile of tourism and events as a force for economic and social good
  • Lead industry efforts to create a quality, end to end, measurable customer experience that attracts visitors who are both responsible and high value
  • Work with industry partners to distribute the economic and social benefits of tourism and events across the whole of Scotland in line with capacity
  • Provide information, at the point of need, through our Information Centres, iKnow partners and digital assets
  • Provide leadership and support to the industry in key strategic areas: insight, customer experience, distribution, events, marketing, and digital
  • Support industry upskilling and digital adoption
  • Research and analysis to build a robust picture of tourism performance and prospects in Scotland and a thorough understanding of responsible tourism indicators and issues

Raise the profile of tourism and events as a force for economic and social good

3. We use intelligence, tools and technology to drive innovation

Facilitating collaboration and embracing change in support of a fairer, more responsible and inclusive visitor economy

What we do: 

  • Collaborate and empower industry innovators to bring technology and new ideas to market that will enhance people’s real-life experiences
  • Digitally enable the tourism and events industry
  • Provide the intelligence and insight that enables strategic decision making
  • Provide tools, platforms and talent that empower every DMO, local authority, event organiser and sector specialist to market and sell their own product
  • Collaborate with destinations and key industry partners to develop low carbon products that will dynamically evolve our offer, underpinning our responsible ambitions towards Scotland’s target of net zero by 2045
  • Work closer with industry groups such as STERG and EIAG to develop new and innovative approaches and solutions for the tourism and events sector to adapt to the evolution of our sectors
  • Deliver a comprehensive data and insight resource to support the responsible tourism ambitions and strategies, empowering the industry and government to make data-driven decisions on strategy, policy and investment
  • Share relevant, rich insight to support businesses, partners and stakeholders in their strategic and business planning

Provide the intelligence and insight that enables strategic decision making

The building blocks

  • Invest in technology that makes people’s real life visitor experiences better

    We don’t believe that technology will ever replace the physical experiences we have or the relationships we build when visiting Scotland, but we do believe that the right technology will help visitors find, and share the experiences that they love and spend more time with the people they meet, thereby enhancing our reputation as a world-class organisation and destination of choice. To enable that to happen, we need to ensure that our own people have access to the technology that will allow them to work smarter, gather, interrogate and interpret data and information which will lead to greater understanding and fulfilment of both our visitor, partner and internal stakeholder needs.

  • Protect our natural environment

    We pledge to combat climate change and support Scotland’s aspirations to be net zero by 2045 by resetting tourism in a responsible way, working hand in hand with communities, tourism businesses and visitors to ensure that communities and our environment are enriched by tourism. Our ambition is to be a Net Zero Organisation by 2030. Find out more in our responsible tourism section.  

  • Flexible, specialist and passionate people who embrace change

    The specialist skill-sets required to realise our strategy are dramatically changing. We need to identify and integrate the changing skillsets required to become a fully rounded world-class organisation and embrace, nurture and develop specialists in key areas of the business thereby creating an organisation which possesses not only the skill-sets required for future growth but also demonstrates an in-depth knowledge and passion for tourism and events.

  • Strategic partnerships will be our most powerful differentiator

    The right channel, technology and industry partners will open up a world of opportunities to help us achieve our vision and goals.

  • Directing and influencing investment aligned to 2030 ambition

    Private and public sector capital and infrastructure investments are going to be key elements supporting recovery, visitor management and future growth ambitions. We must engage, influence, challenge, support and where appropriate facilitate discussions to secure the right investments in the right locations delivering the right outcomes for the sector, communities and the environment.

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