Gentlemen, pack your kilt if you are headed to Scotland for a meeting. It is a land of legends, such as the Loch Ness Monster, and legendary scientific innovations, a la Dolly the cloned sheep.
On November 6, VisitScotland Business Events launched a new digital campaign called “Scotland. Where ideas become legend.” The country has four main convention bureaus—Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee—who are working on this joint effort to promote offerings in the meetings world.
Over the course of two years, the tourism board will showcase 12 sectors—technology, education, creative, energy, life science, engineering, marine, surgery and medicine, digital, space, health and food and drink—for two months apiece. During that time, they’ll post blogs and video podcasts featuring experts in the field being highlighted. First up is technology.
“Pioneering innovation is in Scotland’s soul. We have a legacy of invention, research and knowledge that continues to this day and is being secured for the future,” Rory Archibald, business development manager for VisitScotland Business Events, says in a press release. “Scotland is home to leading pioneers from industries as diverse as engineering and robotics to computer gaming and medicine which are the exact stories the campaign will highlight to the world. Quite simply, Scotland is a place where ideas come to life. Ideas enable change, events create ideas and Scotland is a place where ideas become legend.”
The hope is for meeting professionals to use Scotland’s history of discovery to incite groundbreaking breakthroughs of their own. The country wants to position itself as a global destination for the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) market. Business travel accounts for 20 percent of tourism in Scotland and they find business travelers spend nearly twice as much as vacationers.
In addition to convention centers and typical hotel accommodations, Scotland offers unique experiences such as castle tours and overnight stays, bagpipe performances, cultural dancing and the famous Highland Games, where strength is put to the test in competitive tug-o-war and hammer throwing.
