Great Days Out in Scotland Campaign - Opportunity Advice

How to get involved with the Great Days Out Campaign? Working with partners, we will deliver the Great Days Out In Scotland campaign to boost visitor numbers during the autumn and winter.

Our plans:

• A domestic campaign with ScotRail to promote days out to attractions and to run with their "Kids for a Quid" offer
• A days out campaign linked to the Year of Stories that promotes our wide portfolio of attractions, experiences, and the stories they have to tell
• Working in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA) to encourage business offers

In this section:

1. What are the benefits of the campaign?
2. What should the offer be?
3. Do I need to add information to my own website?
4. Do I need to add the offer to my visitscotland.com listing?
5. How can my business promote the Great Days Out In Scotland campaign?
6. Do I need to run the discount throughout the promotion period?
7. How is VisitScotland promoting the campaign?
8. What if I am a free attraction?

1. What are the benefits of the campaign?

According to our latest research, demand for short breaks and holidays remains strong this autumn. One key takeaway was that flexible booking deals and offers helps to convert bookings. By delivering an offer-based campaign, we can support attractions to harness this potential.

2. What should the offer be?

All offers are welcome. We’ve received offers ranging from a percentage off ticket prices, kids’ tickets for £1 with a paying adult to buy one get one free!

Although it is not essential, the preference is for offers to align with the ScotRail activity, promoting their Kids for a Quid offering. Entry for £1, for example, would present a coherent and compelling campaign proposition for consumers. This could be the offer of a £1 child or adult ticket or, depending on your attraction, £1 entry to a paid exhibition. Other strong offers are welcome.

You can add T&Cs for your offer to your visitscotland.com web listing. Consider for example a child ticket for £1 with every adult ticket purchased, or an adult ticket for £1 with every child ticket purchased.

Please note that your business doesn't have to be close to a railway station or buy a train ticket to benefit or take part.

3. Do I need to add information to my own website?

We would encourage you to add information of your offer to your website or social channels, but this is not essential. Your visitscotland.com web listing can hold all the details of your offer.

Ensure you make any booking requirements clear for the visitor. You may choose to use a booking code to help track redemptions of the offer. For example:

• Claim a free child ticket with every adult ticket purchased enter the code "days out" at the checkout when booking online
• To claim your £1 adult ticket with every child ticket purchased call and quote "days out" to book

You should also make any booking restrictions clear. For example:

• Tickets are limited. Please pre-book in advance online and enter "days out" at the check out. Not valid during December

• Excludes group bookings of 15+. Please contact us for group booking enquiries

4. Do I need to add the offer to my visitscotland.com listing?

Yes, you need to tick the promotion box under "facilities", in your extranet. Under "notes", you can add any specific booking requirements, such as quoting "days out offer" to redeem your child ticket for £1.

Please ensure you have updated your business listing on VisitScotland. This will help potential visitors access the offer details and see who is involved.

Top tips:

• Ensure your website link is correct
• Check your opening hours are up-to-date
• Ensure your descriptions reflect the current offering from your business
• If you go to "facilities", you can use "notes" under the great days out tick box to explain how visitors can redeem the offer at your business. If you have any specific booking requirements, please add them into the notes e.g. please quote "days out" to redeem a child ticket for £1

6. Do I need to run the discount throughout the promotion period?

You can be flexible with which days or weeks you choose to run the offer as long as these fall between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023. If your offer is only valid on certain dates, you should make that clear on your visitscotland.com web listing in the notes section. If your offer is unavailable for a period of time you should turn your offer off.

• Amend your offer through your extranet account

7. How is VisitScotland promoting the campaign?

Our campaign focuses on encouraging more visitors to attractions from October 2022 to March 2023. We do so by harnessing the offers from attractions in conjunction with the ScotRail "Kids for a Quid" offer and Year of Stories activities.

We will be using a multi-channel approach to ensure we are:

• Reaching visitors
• Encouraging them to visit attractions across the country

8. What if I am a free attraction?

This campaign is offer-led. But free attractions are hugely important to a visitor experience. We will thus ensure to promote such attractions as part of this campaign.