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Visit Scotland | Alba

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Helping visitors enjoy Scotland responsibly

We’ve joined 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...

What can you do to get involved?

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

Spring 2022 saw the launch of our campaign ‘Keep Scotland Unspoiled’. The campaign used humour to call out the problem bad behaviours we don’t want to see by showcasing the ‘spoilers’ behind the scenes. The aim was to inspire more responsible visitor behaviours, particularly across younger demographics.

Key themes included camping, water safety, wildlife, Scottish Outdoor Access Code / littering.

Target audience
We used 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 worked with influencers to give this approach authenticity and we used channels that we knew would give us the best reach and engage our target audience. This provided fantastic content for others to share and engage with visitors – or perhaps attract some new ones.

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

We took an emotional approach to celebrate what makes Scotland so special, calling upon visitors to protect it. And we celebrated the incredible sights, sounds, moments, and magic our followers expect from us –asking for their help to protect them.

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

We continue to promote key visitor management messages across our activity.

SPOILER ALERT! Here’s the four films available for you to share with your visitors… the campaign may have ended for now, but you can still use the films.

Digital Media Library

The easiest way for you to get behind our campaigns 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.

Share content from visitscotland.com

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.

  • Sustainable and responsible tourism in Scotland

    We provide visitors with information on what responsible travel means to Scotland and how they can plan and enjoy a responsible trip. From becoming an eco-tourist to helping keep our beaches clean to understanding the environmental impacts of tourism – take a look at the sustainable travel section of VisitScotland.com. It's a useful source of information for your visitors.

  • Safety outdoors in Scotland

    Take a look at this handy guide for getting outdoors in Scotland. It has all the essential outdoor safety topics visitors need to know – what to wear outdoors in Scotland, health and safety tips, and advice for specific seasons too.

  • Getting around Scotland

    Transport has a big impact on how sustainable visitors are. Scotland's public transport options are great for travelling around the country, even to our most remote locations. Take a look at the information we have on the different travel options for your visitors.

  • Responsible travel trade itineraries

    Take a look at our regional itineraries, which suggest a variety of green experiences. This includes exploring a city with an electric bike, taking a tour on an electric vehicle or eating delicious and sustainable local produce. We will help you build trips that will give your clients the feel-good factor of helping protect the environment while still enjoying outstanding travel experiences.

Get sociable 

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.

We previously 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. 

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

Consumer

Corporate

Twitter: @VisitScotland

Twitter: @VisitScotNews

Facebook: @visitscotland

Facebook: regional groups

Instagram: @visitscotland

LinkedIn: @VisitScotland

YouTube: Youtube.com/VisitScotland

YouTube: VisitScotland Connect

 

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

Videos to share

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.

Responsible motorhome, caravan, and camping trips

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.

Step forward and tread lightly. Scotland is Calling

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.

Let's keep Scotland special

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.

Visitor Promise | Scotland's responsible tourism promise

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.

How to share the guidance with visitors

  1. 1

    Download the Visitor Promise

    We've provided a PDF version of the Visitor Promise in English or Gaelic for you to download. 

    Visitor Promise| How to enjoy Scotland responsibly

    Published May 2021

  2. 2

    Print and display

    Print and display at your business for visitors to see. 

     

  3. 3

    Promote

    Get sociable, join the conversation and share the message of enjoying Scotland responsibly across your social media or on your website. 

    Share the hashtag #RespectProtectEnjoy.

     

Visitor Promise in Gaelic | How to enjoy Scotland Responsibly

Published May 2021

Partnership approach

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.

Results and thank you!

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.

Some campaign results for 2022

120 million

opportunities to see or hear campaign activity

15 million

impressions on social media (Facebook and Instagram)

12 million

views of our campaign videos

Our partner feedback – the highlights:

Cairngorms National Park

  • Rangers engaged with 11,400 visitors in 2022 – a 69% increase on 2021​.
  • Despite a 123% increase in tents and a 169% increase in overnight caravans, bags of litter collected only increased by 15% compared to the previous year.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

  • Litter decreased by 26% compared to 2021
  • Water safety advice on social media reached 1.9 million

Forestry and Land Scotland

  • Reported fire damage down 18% on 2021
  • Reported campfires down 23% on 2021

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