Social tourism and visitscotland

Lee McRonald,International Partnerships Manager5 April 2017

2016

• 254 families

• 30+ industry / strategic partners

• Impacts

• Well-being

• Political

• Industry engagement

• Tourism potential

Lone piper, edinburgh military tattoo

contents

• Why did VisitScotland get

involved?

• Political / strategic context

• What we delivered + how

• Impacts and potential

identified for tourism

▪ Key learnings and next steps

Lone piper, edinburgh military tattoo

Why?

Lone piper, edinburgh military tattoo

There’s a need…

250,000 Scottish families want to but are

unable to take holidays

Poverty statistics in Scotland:

• 16% of individuals in relative poverty

• 19% of children (33% in Glasgow)

• 15% of working age adults

• 15% of senior citizens

Why is visitscotland involved?

Lone piper, edinburgh military tattoo

There’s an opportunity … for inclusion

Lone piper, edinburgh military tattoo

Social and health benefits

Why is visitscotland involved?

Lone piper, edinbugh military tattoo

✓ Family cohesion

✓ Mental health

✓ Increased job-seeking and engagement with education

✓ Learning abilities and personal development

✓ Participation in community life

The business case

Why is visitscotland involved?

Lone piper, edinbugh military tattoo

• 83% of visitors to Scotland from UK

• If 1 in 3 unable to participate in tourism, what’s the potential?

• Win-win

• Research

Economic benefits: business, destination, cross sector

Why is visitscotland involved?

Lone piper, edinbugh military tattoo

✓ Reduced impact of seasonality

✓ Creating and maintaining year-round employment locally

✓ Business reputation and staff satisfaction

✓ Additional footfall and word of mouth marketing

✓ Reduced reliance on health and social services through improved physical and mental health

commitment

What we’ve delivered

Lone piper, edinburgh military tattoo

Strategic objective:

✓ Explore how the tourism sector can contribute to social inclusion

✓ Work with partners to explore how social tourism can be developed at Scotland level

How?

Lone piper, edinbugh military tattoo

• Charity partner

• VisitScotland secured product:

• Identifying staff

• Identifying industry and strategic partners

• Messaging and communication

• Government engagement

• Accommodation, transport, visitor attractions

• Break packages co-ordinated and distributed

Keeping it simple!

What we achieved

National pilot – scotspirit breaks

• 24 partners

• Two-night break packages for

families of four

• 7 locations all over Scotland

• May – October 2016

• 84 families – 280 people

What we’ve delivered

Lone piper, edinburgh military tattoo

Regional pilot – families from Glasgow area

What we’ve delivered

• 20 partners

• Day-trips in and around the city

• 16 locations – many rural

• October

• 86 families – 376 people

Impact of generosity

Sdg 10 – reducing inequality

Lone piper, edinbugh military tattoo

Final numbers:

• 254 families

• 979 people

• 555 children

✓ Enough product for additional 84 families – 323 people

criteria

Lone piper, edinbugh military tattoo

• Families on low income

• Hadn’t had a break for two

years

• At least one child under 18

impact

resultsLone piper, edinburgh military tattoo

Beneficial impact on the families

✓ 94% able to cope better

✓ 75% more confidence as a result

✓ 81% got on better as a family

✓ 69% felt less stressed and worried

✓ 94% felt more optimistic about the future

✓ 100% had more fun and were able to create happy memories

POTENTIAL

Sdg 8 - promote sustained, inclusive growth

Lone piper, edinburgh military tattoo

✓ 94% of families visited a new part of Scotland for the first time

✓ 87% of families recommended the places they’ve visited to family and friends

✓ 94% said the break gave them confidence to try more trips in the future

Key messages coming from industry

Lone piper, edinbugh military tattoo

• We’d do it again and recommend it – 100%

• It must be easy, quick and convenient for us to participate

• Why we got involved:

• To support a good cause – 94%

• It can be good for business – 41%

• Because of VisitScotland’s advocacy of it – 47%

• It supports existing CSR – 29%

• Recognition of business and reputation potential

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

Lone piper, edinbugh military tattoo

• Be beneficial for business – 77%

• Bring additional visitors – 65%

• Improve business reputation – 77%

• Make a positive difference to the lives of those unable to participate in tourism – 100%

% of businesses who agree that social tourism can:

Where do we go from here?

Next steps

Lone piper, edinbugh military tattoo

• Roundtable discussion

• Celebrate success

• Highlight potential of social tourism – win-win

• Galvanise ongoing industry support

• Listen – what worked best

• 2017 and beyond

• Build on momentum, interest and goodwill with new initiative

• Enhanced research and focus on impacts and potential

• Learn from partners – at home and abroad

• Year of Young People 2018

• Continue to grow social tourism in Scotland - nurture

Bbc Scotland clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-tTUGcLeAE

Questions?

lee.mcronald@visitscotland.com