Scottish tourism industry contacts
Introduction
When marketing your business or event to tourists, it’s most effective to team up with other local and regional businesses and tourism organisations. This creates a ‘buzz’ around your area and helps promote the benefits, activities, and attractions that are specific to your region.
This concept is called destination marketing – a type of marketing that promotes a particular destination to increase visitors.
Throughout Scotland, all the Local Authority areas have their own destination marketing representatives.
VisitScotland support
VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation and provides industry leading advice, opportunities, and information in the area of tourism. General advice and information for businesses can be found on VisitScotland’s corporate website. This includes useful tourism insights VisitScotland Research and insights.
As part of their service, VisitScotland also provide Industry Relationship Managers (IRMs) for each region, who form the first port of call for Scottish businesses, including individual museums, looking for personalised advice and support in tourism. The IRMs can help with anything from identifying your audience, providing tailored business surgeries, and developing your digital marketing. For further information and the contact details of each of the IRMs, see the VisitScotland Industry Relationship Managers page.
There’s also the opportunity to create a free business listing on the public-facing VisitScotland website, which will also alert an IRM that there’s a new business in their area. You can do this by completing the Working with VisitScotland form.
As part of our Talking Partnerships series of online events, we invited VisitScotland to present an overview of ways in which Scotland’s national tourism organisation can provide the museums and galleries sector with support, guidance, and insights. This blog highlights key points from the presentation.
Other support
As well as VisitScotland, there are a range of other organisations that operate within destination marketing. Primarily these are organisations of two types:
Business Improvement Districts
This is formed when a group of local businesses get together and invest collectively to support their area’s tourism industry.
For more information and a list of all Business Improvement Districts, visit the Scotland’s Improvement Districts website.
Destination Management Organisation/Company (DMOs)
These are organisations that represent a destination and help to develop their long-term travel and tourism strategy.
Contacts by region
The organisations outlined here are a mixture of types of organisation. Some are more commercial and others less so. We would suggest visiting their website and researching the organisation prior to getting in touch. If you’re unsure of how to progress, speak to your local VistScotland IRM.
Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire
Coordinator: Aberdeen City Council/Aberdeenshire Council
Contact: 01224 900490 or info@visitabdn.com
Angus
Argyll & the Isles
Wild About Argyll/Explore Argyll
Coordinator: Argyll & the Isles Tourism Cooperative
Local areas include: Oban and Lorn (email subscriptions@oban.org.uk); Heart of Argyll & Inveraray; Bute and Cowal; Mull and Iona; Kintyre and Gigha; Islay, Jura and Colonsay
Contact: For contact information for the individual local agents email admin@exploreargyll.co.uk
Coordinator: Love Loch Lomond
Due to the large area Loch Lomond and the Trossachs represent, this listing is also included in the Stirling and West Dunbartonshire sections.
Contact: manager@lovelochlomond.com
Ayrshire & Arran
Coordinator: South Ayrshire Council, North Ayrshire Council, East Ayrshire Council
Contact: Register through website
Coordinator: Arran Trust
Contact: 01770 302043 or info@arrantrust.org
Clackmannanshire
Coordinator: Tourism Group for Clackmannanshire
Contact: discoverclackmannanshire@hotmail.com.
Dumfries & Galloway
Visit South West Scotland (NOTE: also serves South Ayrshire)
Coordinator: Visit South West Scotland
Contact: info@VisitSouthWestScotland.com
Dundee
Coordinator: Dundee City Council/ One City Many Discoveries Marketing Campaign
Contact: Jennifer Caswell, Campaign Manager 01382 434252 or contact@dundee.com
East Dumbartonshire
Coordinator: East Dumbartonshire Tourism Partnership/East Dumbartonshire Council
Contact: through website
East Lothian
Edinburgh
Coordinator: Marketing Edinburgh
Paid membership
Contact: Head of Member Services 0131 473 3666 or hillary.bett@marketingedinburgh.org
Falkirk
Coordinator: Falkirk Council/Falkirk Area Tourism Partnership
Contact: 01324 590960 or visitfalkirk@falkirk.gov.uk
Fife
Coordinator: VisitFife/Fife Tourism Partnership
Contact: 03451 555555 ext 445838 or promoting.fife@fife.gov.uk
Glasgow
Coordinator: Glasgow Life/Glasgow City Marketing Bureau
Contact: Membership Manager anne-marie.gray@glasgowlife.org.uk
Highlands
Coordinator: VisitInvernessLochNess (Business Improvement District)
Contact: through website
Coordinator: North Coast 500 Ltd
Area covered: North Highland Coast – Black Isle, Caithness, Easter Ross, Inverness-shire, Sutherland, Wester Ross
Contact: 01463 229 849 or enquiries@northcoast500.com
Coordinator: Cairngorms National Park
Contact: office@visitcairngorms.com
Coordinator: Lochaber Chamber of Commerce
Contact: 01397 705765 or membership@lochaberchamber.co.uk
Inverclyde
Coordinator: Inverclyde Council/Local Tourism Partnership
Contact: discover@inverclyde.gov.uk
Midlothian
Coordinator: Midlothian Tourism Forum
Contact: Simon Beattie, Rosslyn Chapel on simon@rosslynchapel.com
Moray
Coordinator: Moray Chamber of Commerce
Contact: info@morayspeyside.com or laurie@morayspeyside.com or 01343 610 383
North Lanarkshire
Coordinator: Lanarkshire Area Tourism Partnership
Contact: thomsonje@northlan.gov.uk
Orkney
Coordinator: Orkney Islands Council/Orkney Tourism Group
Contact: info@orkney.com or admin@visitorkney.com
Perth & Kinross
Coordinator: Perth and Kinross Council
Contact: 01738 475727 or 01738 475728
Coordinator: Crieff Succeeds BID Ltd
Contact: 07412 847098 or david.crieffsucceeds@gmail.com
Renfrewshire
Coordinator: Live Renfrewshire
Contact: iain.shepherd@liverenfrewshire.co.uk or 07538 037 957
Coordinator: Paisley First
Contact: ask@paisleyfirst.com or 0141 237 8120
Scottish borders
Coordinator: Scottish Borders Tourism Partnership
Shetland
South Ayrshire
Coordinator: Visit South West Scotland
Contact: info@VisitSouthWestScotland.com
South Lanarkshire
Coordinator: Lanarkshire Area Tourism Partnership
Contact: thomsonje@northlan.gov.uk
Stirling
Coordinator: Your Stirling
Contact: enquiries@yourstirling.com
Coordinator: Love Loch Lomond
Due to the large area Loch Lomond and the Trossachs represent, this listing is also included in the Argyll & The Isles and West Dunbartonshire sections.
Contact: manager@lovelochlomond.com
West Dumbartonshire
Coordinator: West Dunbartonshire Council
Contact: via website
Coordinator: Love Loch Lomond
Due to the large area Loch Lomond and the Trossachs represent, this listing is also included in the Stirling and Argyll & The Isles sections.
Contact: manager@lovelochlomond.com
Western Isles
Also have an industry website
Coordinator: Outer Hebrides Tourism
Contact: Rob McKinnon, Chief Executive rob@outerhebridestourism.org or 07808 098860, Mairi Thomson, Tourism Development Officer mairi@outerhebridestourism.org or 07717 283012
West Lothian
Coordinator: Visit West Lothian
Contact: Callum Findlay on callum.findlay@westlothian.gov.uk