At last, we get sense out of Visit Scotland

Chap called Mike Cantlay has taken over at Visit Scotland, the quango which handles Scottish tourism.
So far he has made three good moves since he took over in April. He is talking about modifying the grading system - good.

He has sacked the previous Chief - another good move.

He is now talking about getting all of us to concentrate upon our prime market, the UK, and the UK  holidaymaker.  80% of the tourists come from the UK - they are the target market that no one can afford to neglect.

Forget USA, forget the Commonwealth, forget most of Europe except for Germany, France and Italy.

Here is an extract from him. He is concerned that the Icelandic ash cloud may come back and disrupt travel again. Maybe, maybe not, but if it achieves the primary aim of getting everyone to focus on the core market that is ok with me.


"The whole country needs to get behind the idea that holidaying in Scotland is a good thing to do. It's a good time for the industry to be looking at their databases to be making hay of the 'staycation' phenomenon. I'm not saying you should use scare tactics [to remind Scots of the risks of flying abroad] but it's an opportunity to tell people that it's a safer bet to be in Scotland this year."

"Imagine the Edinburgh Festival with the airports closed! It would be the tourism industry equivalent of rain at harvest time. We need to put our marketing emphasis on the 'close market"

Ok, you've got my vote, Mr. Cantlay. You need all of us in tourism to help.

John
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