I’m off to the Granite City this week to sell Stirling Castle – and our soon-to-open refurbished royal palace – to the world. Aberdeen is hosting this year’s VisitScotland Expo trade fair, which is where tour operators from Argentina to China, come to see what our country has to offer. It’s often thanks to what goes on at this huge international showcase that planes, coaches and cruise ships bring people to spend time and money in our shops, hotels, restaurants instead of going to one of the growing number of competing destinations.

This year we are promoting the fabulous new experience Stirling Castle offers thanks to the £12 million project to refurbish its magnificent Renaissance palace. As in every aspect of marketing, Scotland has to keep offering something new, as well as reminding people of its established delights. We are even taking along some of our costumed characters to meet and greet the travel company reps, and tell them about what their customers can expect from a day at the castle.

For the third year in succession, Stirling Castle will be joining forces with Stirling Council and a host of local attractions, to promote the entire area. It’s great working together, because we can encourage visitors to see the city, and its surrounds, as a place to spend several days, rather than just dropping in on the way north or south.

From our point of view it is always interesting to see which markets are well-represented at trade shows. It was no coincidence that I mentioned the countries that I did at the beginning of this blog as they are among the places where people are becoming affluent enough to think about intercontinental holidays. The more we know about who is heading over here, whether from new or traditional markets, the better we can cater for them. A prime example is that one of the new staff who will show people round the palace speaks Chinese. It’s fantastic to be able to welcome some of this new wave of tourists in their own language.


Nicola McCrae, Stirling Castle Marketing Executive

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