Former BBC Political Editor to probe Deputy First Minister on the future of Scottish tourism at industry conference this Thursday
“This has been our fastest selling conference event to date, which clearly demonstrates the appetite within the industry to come together to learn, network and explore the opportunities and solutions to the various serious challenges faced by all sectors within Scotland’s tourism industry. The pain of the cost-of-living crisis is being felt acutely for all businesses in tourism and hospitality and knowing that we have a tough winter ahead, our conference programme has been built to deliver some game changing insights and inspiration with real solutions which delegates can take back to their businesses.” – Marc Crothall, CEO Scottish Tourism Alliance
More than 30 speakers will bring up to the minute insights around emerging trends from a global perspective, inspiration and fresh ideas to the EICC this week at Scotland’s Tourism Industry Conference, which has been built around the theme ‘New World, New Opportunity, New Responsibility’.
The event will welcome former BBC Political Editor, Brian Taylor to interview Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, John Swinney MSP on the Scottish Government’s vision for the economic recovery of Scotland and future growth of our tourism sector.
With a packed programme over one and a half days, the event is designed to celebrate, empower and propel Scotland’s tourism industry into the future, seizing and maximising opportunities as we move further on our journey towards Net Zero.
More than 600 delegates have registered to attend the event which has been organised by the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA), the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA) and HIT Scotland (Hospitality Industry Trust).
Hosted by television and radio presenter Jennifer Reoch, the conference will welcome a stellar line up of international industry experts and thought leaders from areas such as travel and tourism, global economics, technology, resilience building, community engagement and transformational visitor experiences.
Sessions include ‘What’s trending globally’, with Daniel Levine from the Avant-Guide Institute; ‘The Economic Outlook’ with Philip Bartlett, NatWest Group and ‘What are they saying about Scotland on TripAdvisor?’ with returning speaker Justin Reid from TripAdvisor
Marc Crothall, Chief Executive of the STA will give an update on the STA’s activity and the next steps of Scotland’s Tourism Strategy, ‘Scotland 2030’, introducing the new Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group
Business, brands and technology is for discussion during the afternoon session on Day 1 of the event with sessions on ‘The Metaverse – Technology to Stimulate Innovation in Tourism Engagement’ with Graeme Stevens, New Frontier; ‘Monetising Online Audiences’, Nik Wyness from the Tank Museum and ‘Bringing a brand to life’ Greg Klingaman, VP, EMEA at AnyRoad/ex-Diageo Global Retail Director.
Sustainability is as expected, high on the agenda at this year’s event, with sessions such as ‘Developing a Sustainable Destination’, Michael Golding, Visit Inverness Loch Ness; ‘The Evolution of Climate Action’ with Shannon Guihan from The Travel Corporation and ‘Taking an 800-strong hotel business to a Net Zero future’, Alex Flach, Whitbread
Thought provoking panel sessions feature throughout the programme, delving deeper into the issues, challenges and opportunities currently facing the sector within the context of the cost of living and cost of doing business crises.
The first day will end on a high with an evening reception for delegates, welcoming Ivan McKee, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise to deliver his thoughts on the future of Scottish tourism before he presents the scholars from the HIT Scotland Tourism and Hospitality Talent Development Programme with their certificates.
STA Chief Executive Marc Crothall said;
“This has been our fastest selling conference event to date, which clearly demonstrates the appetite within the industry to come together to learn, network and explore the opportunities and solutions to the various serious challenges faced by all sectors within Scotland’s tourism industry. The pain of the cost-of-living crisis is being felt acutely for all businesses in tourism and hospitality and knowing that we have a tough winter ahead, our conference programme has been built to deliver some game changing insights and inspiration with real solutions which delegates can take back to their businesses.”
“The programme is also about ambition, looking forward and exploring the opportunities which we know lie ahead and looking at how we can capitalise on these to build a strong, globally recognised, competitive, sustainable tourism product.
Gordon Morrison, Chief Executive of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions said:
‘The attendance numbers for this year’s event and the buzz around it are testament to the strength of collaboration between the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions and HIT Scotland, and also a reflection of the success of last year’s co-partnered conference. Again, through our partnership, we’ve been able to draw some of the biggest names globally to deliver the most important and up to the minute insights to Scotland’s tourism businesses across all sectors. Recovery in the visitor attractions sector has been slow and inconsistent this year as a result of the continued and increasing challenges with the decline in consumer spending and cost of doing business. The event will address those challenges head on; I look forward to an invigorating and exciting few days with our members and all within Scotland’s tourism industry.”
You can view the full line up and running order for the conference here.
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