A firm that uses vintage Bentleys to offer chauffeur-driven tours of the Highlands is among the Scottish tourism businesses heading to France and Spain with VisitScotland this week.
Bygone Drives will join the national tourism organisation on its business development mission to Paris tomorrow (Wednesday 12 October), followed by a similar trip to Barcelona and Madrid over the weekend.
The missions will see the Aviemore-based firm, along with other tourism businesses from around Scotland, hold face-to-face meetings with key tour operators from two of Scotland’s biggest overseas markets.
France is behind only the USA and Germany, welcoming 196,000 visitors and generating £118 million for the Scottish economy in 2015. Spain, meanwhile, is Scotland’s fifth largest overseas market, with the country welcoming 146,000 visitors in 2015. Spanish visitors contribute £105 million a year to the Scottish economy.
The following Scottish tourism businesses will be heading overseas with VisitScotland this week:
Paris, 12-14 October:
Bygone Drives (Aviemore)
• Scot Mountain Holidays (Boat of Garten, Highlands)
• Glasgow City Marketing Bureau
• Lovat Hotel (Fort Augustus, Highlands)
• Speyside Wildlife and Cairngorms NP Ltd (Highlands)
• National Trust Scotland
• Love Loch Lomond
• Knockderry House (Argyll)
• Scottish Equestrian Hotel (Lanark)
• Tour Skye
Barcelona and Madrid, 16-18 October:
Bygone Drives (Aviemore)
• VisitArran
• Jacobite Cruises (Loch Ness)
• Hotel Eilean Iarmain (Knoydart)
• Achnagairn Estate (part of Perfect Manors, Inverness)
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “VisitScotland supports industry in their aspirations to internationalise and to attract more business and income from international markets. Our business development missions to France and Spain are a cost-effective way for Scottish businesses to maintain existing relationships and to establish new ones with overseas tour operators.
“Worth nearly over £100 million a year each to our economy, France and Spain are key markets for Scottish tourism and I’m sure these missions to Paris, Madrid and Barcelona will prove an enjoyable and beneficial experience for all of our partners.”
Isobel Yule, Director of Bygone Drives, said: “We offer unforgettable driving experiences through breath-taking Cairngorms and Speyside scenery, but we are keen to expand our reach. We are very excited to be offering a History Heritage & Archaeology tour in our vintage cars in 2017 to evoke the emotion, spirit, and mystic qualities of our Highland culture.
“VisitScotland’s business development missions to France and Spain will give us a fantastic opportunity to reach out to important overseas markets, something we wouldn’t be able to do on our own.”
The missions to France and Spain follow a similar mission to Amsterdam last month. VisitScotland’s European marketing team will lead another business development mission to Germany in November.
Source:- Visitscotland
