How Tartan Week helps us drive visitor demand

Earlier this month, our team headed to New York to take part in Tartan Week.

Tartan Week was established to expand on Tartan Day (6 April) when the USA and Canada, and their Scottish diaspora, turn their attention to the ties that bind Scotland and the two countries.

As well as being a celebration of our distinct and unique culture, the week, which culminates in the NYC Tartan Day Parade, represents an important opportunity for us to build and foster those strong relationships that are key to ensuring Scotland remains a destination of choice.

This year’s parade involved several thousand marchers, including more than 1,500 bagpipers and Highland dancers and was led by Outlander star Sam Heughan as Grand Marshal.

We leverage opportunities like Tartan Week to increase demand for Scotland by promoting regional and seasonal spread, and highlighting Scotland’s strong connectivity which includes several direct flights.

It also plays a vital role in helping us build and foster those strong relationships with influential partners. This can include tour operators and travel agencies who sell Scotland to their clients, media who promote our world-class offering to their readers or viewers and destination partners, who we work with to gather insights and identify new opportunities that help us drive the visitor economy.

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo performers enjoying a hot dog

What we delivered

Our Tartan Week programme included:

• Working with the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo on a range of activity including speaking opportunities, performances and a photo shoot to generate media interest. 
• Wrapping six electric cars in tartan to raise awareness of Scotland during Tartan Week, encouraging people to make their ‘next stop, Scotland’.  The cars were highly visible, driving a lot of attention on social media.  
• Delivering a series of travel trade destination training sessions with leading US tour operators to position Scotland as a leader in responsible tourism with a focus on regional and seasonal spread. Working with two of our key tour operators, we delivered destination training to over 30 advisors at CIE Tours and to 20 luxury travel advisors with Brendan Vacations.
• We hosted networking events for the 35 members of the diaspora community including Global Scots in NYC to foster strong ambassadors and advocates for Scotland. This included a presentation on new openings, products and attractions, and from Robert Burns’ Ellisland Farm and Museum, a performance from musicians Claire Mann, (playing the flute which is believed to have belonged to Robert Burns’ son), singer Robyn Stapleton and harpist Rebecca Hill.
• Creating a broadcast package for NBC’s New York Live which was hosted on its website, alongside ads created by VisitScotland which were broadcast on the channel on the lead up and around Tartan Week.

• Staging an exclusive Outlander media event for over 50 attendees with a preview screening of the latest episode of the television series produced by Sony Pictures Television, and a Q&A on the impact of the series on Scottish tourism.  
• Hosting a travel trade networking reception to senior travel trade and media partners, showcasing Scotland as a world class event's destination, with support from Destination Glasgow.
• Hosting a strategic planning session with VisitBritain to secure further in-market support and agree a clear market development plan for Scotland in the US.
• We took part in the Tartan Day parade, alongside this year’s Grand Marshal Sam Heughan where we shared Scotland flags and small football stress balls with the crowd, branded with VisitScotland.com and our logo, and a message to potential visitors to follow Scotland at the World Cup then follow us home. We also captured footage with Sam Heughan to use on social media.

Why is this important?

The USA accounts for 22% of all international trips to Scotland and 36% of all international spend.

International visitors are important for Scotland’s visitor economy as they tend to stay longer and spend more, supporting businesses and communities across the country.  

Jill Walker, VisitScotland Director of Marketing, said: “Tartan Week is an exciting and important opportunity for us to engage directly in market with key media and industry partners. It helps us build demand for Scotland by showcasing the breadth and quality of experiences available right across the country.
“It also allows us to work more closely with influential partners to reach new audiences and position Scotland as a destination of choice. The strength of our programme - and the response from both potential visitors and partners - reinforces that demand from the US market remains strong, with many already keen to visit or explore new ways of working together to support connectivity and promote Scotland as a year round destination.”

Staff at the Tartan Day Parade