New VisitScotland CEO talks exclusively to Vision on Sustainable Tourism

See video of interview HERE
See video of interview with VisitScotland Chairman Mike Cantlay HERE

Scotland has been at the top of the tourism tree for over two hundred years, will clever marketing keep it there?

Malcolm Roughead has been the architect of VisitScotland’s successful marketing strategy for the last nine years. He now steps up to the top job in the organization at a time of immense challenges in the industry.

How does he see the future for Scottish tourism given the global recession, the forecast spike in energy prices, and global warming?

Firstly, it’s probably right to say that Malcolm is a staunch sustainable tourism champion, like VisitScotland as a whole. It is no surprise to see that some 30% of all the winners in the recent Thistle Awards have sustainability as their core value.

Malcolm confirmed that one of VisitScotland reviews is currently looking at how to further accelerate  the incorporation of sustainability into the mainstream of what VisitScotland does.

And it’s natural that he should be as green as he is – after all, as he underlined, people come to Scotland for its environment, and its stewardship is fundamental to the success of Scottish tourism. The same as New Zealand and Australia – two of Malcolm’s closely-watched tourism icons.

“Marketing takes time” said Malcolm, when talking about the complex marketing strategy that he has been creating and masterminding for Scotland for the last nine years.

The ‘Senses’ campaign identified Scotland’s marketing DNA involving the acronym HED – Human, Enduring and Dramatic. It is these values that VisitScotland uses to define its offer and to create individual campaigns around – such as the immensely successful ‘Homecoming’ campaign.

But, of course, we are all limited by money and Malcolm said that VisitScotland was currently planning for various scenarios in preparation for the potential cut in budget from the Scottish Government.

He said that the organisation is trying to protect its high yield activity as much as possible and that efficiencies would have to be made in some places but it would be a case of working more efficiently and doing more for less.

Pragmatic, then – as suits someone who has carefully crafted and protected a marketing strategy for nearly a decade, knowing that consistency delivers many financially sustainable rewards.

As he said – tourism is a big earner for Scotland and its importance is generally underrated (a recent report by Deloitte put the value of tourism at around £11billion) and in 2009/2010 working together with the industry VisitScotland generated £400 million of additionality for the Scottish economy. Also, he knows that tourism is growing faster than any other industry including manufacturing, utilities, retail and transport.

In many respects, of course, Scotland is lucky to have as significant a position in the world tourism scene as it does. But canniness has played an enormous part too.

Over the last two hundred years the development of products such as whisky, tartan, tweed, shortbreads have emphasized, augmented and capitalized on the potency of Scotland as a brand that creates real economic revenue. But none of these Scottish revenue-earners would be quite as world-class without the beauty of the destination and its cultural assets.

Is this legacy being carried on? Judge by Scotland’s current marketing campaigns:

Capture your Autumn Moments: set to bring in a record £63million for Scotland – that’s more money than in previous years: despite tough economic times, and more Scottish businesses than ever got on board (over 350)

Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink: the Autumn Moments campaign has Scotland’s larder at its core. Showcases Scotland’s best food providers, producers and experiences it encourages visitors to forage for food, explore harvest festival traditions and support local suppliers

My Scotland: Reaching some 3 million people, it too tapped into the popularity of staycations and encouraged Scots to discover delights on their doorstep

Winter White: launched today and expected to generate in excess of £60m for Scotland.
In the words of VisitScotland’s new CEO “Yes there are challenges, but these are usually opportunities too.

It looks like Scotland may well make the most of them.

Valere Tjolle
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Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite: EXTRA SPECIAL OFFER at: www.travelmole.com/stories/1144671.php