Opinion: Working together to promote Falkirk as a visitor destination

“As we move through the winter season, we know that Scotland’s tourism industry is facing fresh challenges, and this comes having already experienced considerable difficulty during the Covid-19 pandemic. The rise in the cost of doing business is having a significant impact on the industry, as well as ongoing issues with staff recruitment and retention.

“At VisitScotland, we continue to work with partners in our tourism and events industry on promoting activity that extends the season and ensuring Falkirk, and indeed Scotland as a whole, remains front of mind for potential visitors.

“It has been fantastic to see the return of domestic and international visitors to our region over the summer months and we want to see this continue. We’re prioritising activities that will stimulate demand and new bookings for the industry to support its long-term recovery.

“Through our activity, we are developing exciting relationships in order to reach a wider audience. For example, this year we have undertaken marketing partnerships to encourage sustainable travel to Scotland with ScotRail, and LNER. We’ve also worked with Hostelling Scotland, and Diageo to jointly push their offering to potential visitors.

“We have been supporting social media activity promoting short breaks and day trips in Falkirk aimed at those living in Scotland and North England, run by VisitFalkirk. We launched our Great Days Out campaign with the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA) and Historic Environment Scotland to encourage people to take advantage of the discounted rates and experience a day out at one of the many fantastic attractions and experiences on offer across the country including Blackness Castle and Divergent Games Escape Rooms. I hope more businesses from across Falkirk can participate.

“Scotland’s UNESCO Trail is being promoted with the launch of a dedicated VisitScotland marketing campaign. The campaign, aimed at potential visitors from the UK & Ireland, Germany and France, will encourage them to discover more about the country’s 13 place-based designations including Frontiers of the Roman Empire, The Antonine Wall.

“We recently released a new-look film location guide, Set in Scotland, which features locations across the Falkirk area They include Blackness Castle and Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway where the guide was launched by Scottish acting legend James Cosmo.

“And in November Forth Valley’s tourism industry was reunited after almost three years at a special event organised by VisitScotland. An in-person networking session took place for the first time since the pandemic began at The Albert Halls in Stirling.

“With collaboration and cross-selling key to developing the region’s tourism offering, it was important to bring tourism businesses together from across the Loch Lomond and Trossachs, Stirling, Clackmannanshire, and Falkirk. The event was an opportunity to share new developments and innovations in the local industry and highlight supportive tools from VisitScotland to help businesses navigate the cost of doing living crisis.

“We are here at VisitScotland to help support our tourism industry navigate the challenges ahead of them. Our industry website is a vital source of up-to-date advice and information on a range of topics. From marketing, sustainability and digital skills to research and insights as well as our cost of doing business support page. There’s a lot of resources to be found.

“By working together, we can ensure the sustainable and long-term recovery of one of Scotland’s most valuable industries.”