Industry guide | help visitors enjoy Scotland responsibly

We’ve come together with organisations across Scotland to develop a Scotland-wide strategic and coordinated approach to Visitor Management. We want to inspire and educate ‘novice’ outdoor adventurers and visitors in how to enjoy the outdoors responsibly across marketing, media and social media.

Being a responsible visitor and respecting and protecting our environment and communities makes for a better experience for everyone. 

Our collective ambition is for everyone to have the skills and knowledge to be able to enjoy the outdoors responsibly. This will in turn, enable them to aid the recovery of our rural economy. 

That’s where you come in...

We want to work with businesses, destinations, and communities to ensure that visitors and locals can have a fantastic experience, whilst respecting and protecting our environment and communities.

We need you to help spread the message and share content with your visitors / communities, helping them to enjoy the outdoors responsibly. The more we talk about it; the more people will hear about it.

You can start by using #RespectProtectEnjoy across your social media channels. And remember to use #VisitScotland to make your posts more discoverable and add our handle @VisitScotland to your tweets for us to see them.

We also have many tools for you to take inspiration from and be part of the activity. There are films, images, content and more – available for you to communicate widely across your social and marketing.

In this section, you can find out more about: 

• Keep Scotland Unspoiled campaign
• Free images and films from the Digital Media Library
• Share content from VisitScotland.com
• Social media
• Videos to share
• Scotland's responsible tourism promise
• Partnership approach
• Results and thank you!
• Useful links

Spring 2022 sees us launch our new campaign ‘Keep Scotland Unspoiled’. This campaign aims to call out the bad behaviour we don’t want to see and the ‘spoilers’ behind the scenes. Key themes include camping, water safety, wildlife, Scottish Outdoor Access Code / littering.

Target audience
We’ll use social media to reach younger audiences, using humour to convey our key messaging and ensure we're setting a more positive tone around the need to behave responsibly when visiting destinations.

To do this we’ll work with influencers to give this approach authenticity and we’ll use channels that will give us the best reach and engage this audience – with TikTok a key channel. This will give you fantastic content to share and engage your visitors – or perhaps attract some new ones.

For those a wee bit older and our international audience, we’ll use visitor and residents' love of Scotland, or memory of the last time they visited, to create ambassadors for visitor management.

We’ll take an emotional approach that celebrates what makes Scotland so special and calls upon visitors to protect it. And we’ll celebrate the incredible sights, sounds, moments, and magic our followers expect from us – and ask for their help to protect them.

Campaign activity
Activity will include a mix of radio, YouTube, social media and publishing through media partnerships – all targeted to reach and engage these key audiences.

SPOILER ALERT! Here’s the four films available for you to share with your visitors…

The easiest way for you to get behind the new campaign is to share imagery and content that can enhance your marketing material.

We can help by giving you access to a range of pictures of Scotland and campaign resources such as videos and infographics, which you can download and use free of charge.

Take a look at our responsible tourism collection within our Digital Media Library. Simply register to our Digital Media Library for free, login and search "responsible tourism" to access the assets.

We have a range of content ideas to support your business and to inspire potential visitors to plan a responsible break to Scotland.

Find everything from how a visitor can plan and enjoy a responsible trip, to outdoor access guidelines and responsible travel trade itineraries, all available for you to share with your visitors.

Social media is a quick way to reach your audience and potential customers with messaging. Remember to use #RespectProtectEnjoy across your social media activity.

On your social channels, share messages of support, compassion and community spirit – consider what might resonate best with your audience.

Last year, we partnered with social media influencers The Hebridean Baker and On the Road Again Travels to produce inspirational information to reach a wider audience across social media and TikTok. The use of influencers enabled authentic messaging to reach new audiences.

Our plan is to work with an even wider pull of influencers providing films that cover our key messages, in an engaging way. You’ll start to see them from early April right through to the summer.

Make sure you follow our channels so that you can share our content directly or tag us in a post that you put up:

View our six top tips for social media to help you build your social media presence and reach more potential customers visiting Scotland.

People now watch more video than ever before. Using video in your marketing is a great way to reach and talk to your customers.

The good news is, we have a range of films that you can use.

Campers, campervan and motorhome rental operators attract adventure-seeking visitors and encourage them to explore Scotland and support local businesses. The vast majority are responsible individuals who love the countryside and the communities they are visiting.

Share our films which provide a guide to responsible motorhome / caravan and camping trips, encouraging everyone to enjoy Scotland’s countryside and communities responsibly.

Our ‘Tread Lightly’ film encourages visitors to “tread lightly” when visiting Scotland. It celebrates that visitors can feel good exploring Scotland, knowing about the steps we’re taking to deliver a sustainable experience… but with an ask. An ask that visitors also play their part to #RespectProtectEnjoy Scotland; to choose a path that treads lightly on Scotland and protects our natural assets. You can share this film with your visitors.

Another film that you may find hits the right spot for your visitors is ‘Let’s keep Scotland special’. The film encourages those that live in and visit Scotland to make the most of our outdoors, but to take responsibility for caring for it. And you can easily access it from YouTube to share with your visitors.

We’re asking visitors to show their commitment to preserving Scotland’s natural assets and beauty for now and generations to come. The Responsible Tourism Promise asks visitors to make just a few simple ‘promises’ on how they’ll enjoy Scotland, responsibly.

My promise – pass it on #RespectProtectEnjoy

Visitors are asked to commit to their promise and share it with others, using #RespectProtectEnjoy on Twitter and encouraging friends and family to do the same and get involved.

You can encourage your audience to make their own promise, which covers:

• I promise to care for Scotland's nature.
• I promise to care for Scotland's communities.
• I promise to care for Scotland and the world's tomorrow.

VisitScotland, along with partner organisations Cairngorms Business Partnership, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Forestry & Land Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, Lochaber Chamber, National Park Authorities, NatureScot, Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA), Wild Scotland and Zero Waste Scotland, have come together to educate outdoor adventurers and visitors.

We’re committed to protecting the natural assets which are vital to Scotland’s iconic identity through our marketing, advice, partnerships and the actions of our staff. 

To maintain our stunning landscapes, we must ensure we protect, respect and enjoy our countryside, towns and cities responsibly by asking people to leave no physical trace of their visit. 

Join us.

A huge thanks to everyone that got involved in our marketing campaigns encouraging responsible visitors – from let’s keep Scotland special to tread lightly, you’ve helped us share the message that we all have a duty of care to protect the natural, social and cultural assets which make Scotland so special.

Working together we can continue this momentum and ensure enhanced experience for our visitors, a better time for communities, better seasonal and regional spread and an all-round happier place for everyone.