Introduction
Our Insight team uses social listening as a key tool for research, for example, to understand how visitors view Scotland as a destination. At its simplest, social listening is about being aware of what visitors are saying about a business or area online.
It is not limited to the mainstream social channels such as Twitter and Instagram but also includes articles and comments made on blogs and forums, as well as articles on news sites and review sites.
This methodology gathers first-hand insights about what visitors and potential visitors are looking for - their interests and expectations, their experiences and feedback - as well as allowing us to spot trends in the industry.
For the purpose of this analysis, we gathered online conversations using the following criteria:
- conversations in the first person
- conversations about visiting Scotland or travelling to Scotland
- analysis of conversations (within this context) that included topic themes such as “where to stay’’, ‘things to do” or “how to get there”
- data is gathered from public-facing sites such as Twitter. Retweets have been excluded to focus on unique conversations
- mentions from news sites have been excluded to focus on visitors’ conversations
- Facebook is not included as a source of data due to its private nature
Between 1 January and 31 December 2019 there were almost 44,000 online mentions related to Cairngorms as a holiday destination. August was the busiest month with 16% more mentions then the second busiest month, July.
Among the main conversation topics, people:
- shared their pictures and experiences of a trip to Cairngorms, particularly sharing pictures of the castles, wildlife and nature there and
- asking questions while planning a road trip to Cairngorms on sites like Reddit and Tripadvisor.
The main source of mentions are social media sites (86%) followed by forums (5%).
Within social media, Instagram generates more than half of the mentions, while Twitter generates almost a third.
Flickr is the main forum where mentions were generated by users sharing their photos. This was followed by TripAdvisor.
The top Twitter hashtags mentioned places close to the Cairngorms.
- #Cairngorms
- #Scotland
- #Aviemore
- #Braemar
- #Cairngormsnationalpark
- #Highlands
- #VisitScotland
- #Newtonmore
- #Dalwhinnie
- #Ballater
Mentions were analysed only for forums and review sites as these are more indicative of the visitor’s experience.
Caravan parks and camping are the most popular types of accommodation in Cairngorms, followed by hotels, B&B and AirBnb.
The main things visitors are looking for when thinking about accommodation are:
- weather – what are the usual conditions in Cairngorms
- camping information (how to do it) and
- itinerary advice for lengthy Scotland tours
Cairngorms is often linked with Isle of Skye, Loch Ness, Loch Lomond and St Andrews. This is due to visitors planning road trips through all these destinations.
I am definitely marking this hostel in my diary for future visit. Brilliant stay and possible to see red squirrels at any time.
Planning a holiday in Scotland around cairngorm national park and the Isle of Skye, neither of us were ever in the scouts/girl guides but would love to learn how to build a fire and wild camp while we are up in such beautiful locations.
Spent one of our days at Loch an Eilein. Everything we see gets better and better.
Mentions were analysed only for forums and review sites as these are more indicative of the visitor’s experience.
Outdoor activities are the most popular visitor attraction for Cairngorms, especially hiking.
Castles and distilleries are also places of interest for visitors with both Blair Castle and Balmoral Castle getting the most mentions.
The main conversations take place on social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram as well as on review sites such as TripAdvisor.
When planning a trip or holiday to Cairngorms, visitors usually look for outdoor activities, advice on how to plan a road trip and talk about other locations they’d like to see on the same journey, such as Loch Ness or St Andrews.
Cairngorms National Park, Scotland.
With legends of fairy folk washing clothes in the green lakes and 100 year old pine trees, this place really feels like a storybook.
Been in Scotland for about 8 hours, and it's already rained, hailed, and snowed. Now it's bright sunshine. Also had the best steak of my life and visited the Queen's residence of Balmoral Castle. What a ridiculously amazing country this is.
The majority of conversations about festivals originate from social media sites, mainly on Instagram; while Twitter is the main channel for events.
There is a small percentage of conversations about concerts on YouTube and higher cover on Forums, compared to the other two themes.
The most talked about events were:
- The Wildlife Book Festival (15 April – 19 April)
- The Highland Games (12 May – 21 September)
- A fundraising truck show (Truck in2 Grantown 2019) on the 18 of May
Mentions were analysed only for forums and review sites as these are more indicative of the visitor’s experience.
The main conversations revolved around whisky, pubs, cafes and restaurants.
When on a distillery tour, visitors appreciate having a more in-depth look at the whisky making process.
Potential visitors researched and asked for advice online about how to best organise their itinerary.
Not normally a whisky drinker but enjoyed hearing about the history of the distillery and how single malt is made.
Very disappointing. For one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, they should have a world class whisky presentation and tour.
Mentions were analysed only for forums and review sites as these are more indicative of the visitor’s experience.
There was a common theme between the various conversations. Visitors asked for advice regarding how to best connect from the main airports (Edinburgh and Glasgow) to Cairngorms. The online community provided multiple suggestions regarding transportation.
The majority of questions revolved around road trips (itinerary and best routes).
We are going to hire a car and prefer to sleep in small towns/villages with character that are in or near the national parks...
Your messages here are extremely helpful but now I feel almost overwhelmed with options for my upcoming trip to Scotland - I'm hoping you can help narrow down some places/ideas for us!
During the summer time, most of the conversations were about travelling with family, followed by travelling with friends.
There was no decrease in any travel group, which could indicate that Cairngorms is a popular destination all year round.
Interest in travelling with friends increased by 285% in the summer months compared to the spring period.
The above chart shows volumes of conversations for each type of traveller during July, August and September 2019 and a comparison with the previous quarter of the year (April, May and June). Conversations increased in general over this period. Conversations about travelling with friends and solo travellers increased the most during the summertime.
Conversations about different type of travellers remains similar month on month except for family travellers that increased during August.