VisitScotland Connect to again spotlight Highland tourism.
With international tourism worth over £3.5 billion to the Scottish economy, tourism businesses in the Highlands are being encouraged to register for a major event aimed at sustainably growing Scotland’s share of global travel.
VisitScotland Connect is the national tourism organisation’s flagship travel trade event, connecting Scottish tourism businesses with tour operators and travel advisors across the world.
More than half of international visitors plan and book their travel through the travel trade.
Overseas visitors are a crucial market for Scotland as they often stay longer and spend more, helping to support jobs and communities in every region across the country.
Following the successes of the new format events in 2023 and 2024, VisitScotland Connect returns to P&J Live in Aberdeen, on 9-10 April 2025 and eligible, trade-ready businesses are being invited now to register their attendance.
These are businesses across all tourism sectors who have a product that can be booked through an intermediary (travel agent or tour operator etc), for example a hotel room, a self-catering cottage, a private tour, food and drink, an attraction, transport, an activity or experience, or a combination of these.
The event provides Scottish tourism businesses with an opportunity to showcase their products and services under one roof, make connections with the domestic and international travel trade and grow their business potential.
It enables business contracting for 2026, 2027 and beyond.
This year’s event was attended by 222 trade-ready Scottish tourism businesses, including accommodations, visitor experiences and attractions – a 27% increase on 2023. They connected with 257 tour operators and travel advisors representing 23 countries.
More than 7,000 meetings took place at this year’s event – up 1,000 on 2023.
The event has been praised for its importance in establishing connections, supporting businesses in their ambitions to internationalise, and the subsequent business potential it brings to Scotland’s valuable tourism industry.
Almost 30 businesses from the Highlands attended this year’s event, including the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown on Spey, Rothiemurchus Estate, High Life Highland, Cruise Loch Linnhe, Dundreggan Rewilding Centre, Cawdor Castle & Gardens, Kingsmills Hotel Group, Curling Experience at Aviemore, MGM Muthu Hotels, Nevis Range, Balmacara Hotel and Perle Hotels.
The region was also promoted by VisitCairngorms.
In addition to the travel trade event in Aberdeen, a specially curated programme of familiarisation trips (fam trips) showcased the best of Scotland’s tourism offering, including three covering the Cairngorms, Inverness, Loch Ness and the North Highlands.
The Grant Arms Hotel, Uile-bheist Distillery, Glen Mhor Hotel, the Highland Folk Museum, Cawdor Castle, Dornoch Station Hotel, Loch Ness Discovery Centre and Inverness Castle were among businesses that hosted fam trips.
These took place in the days immediately preceding and following VisitScotland Connect and staff representatives hosted attendees on trips to different parts of Scotland.
Bespoke itineraries were created to introduce the international and UK tour operators to locations and experiences which would meet their demand for more responsible tourism options – including less travelled routes, public transport and immersive and community-driven experiences
International travellers are an increasingly important market for Scotland.
In 2023, visit numbers, nights spent and visitor spending by international travellers to Scotland all surpassed the levels seen in both 2019 and 2022.*
Tourism businesses are keen to take advantage of higher-spending, long-haul visitors in particular – and increasingly recognise that working with the travel trade is a way to access that opportunity.
Chris Taylor, VisitScotland Destination Development Director, said:
“Building on the successes of VisitScotland Connect in 2023 and 2024 – and positive feedback from both buyers and suppliers – we are thrilled to be returning to P&J Live in Aberdeen, the most sustainable venue of its type in the UK, in 2025.
“I would encourage any trade-ready tourism businesses in the Highlands to register for the event, which offers a targeted opportunity to connect them with the travel trade, helping to generate sales and new business opportunities.
“In the months and year ahead, we would like to work with more tourism businesses to get them travel trade-ready, to make the most of this opportunity.
“With such large numbers of visitors using tour operators and travel agents to plan and book their travel, due to the extra reassurance and guidance they offer, we recognise also that these intermediaries can play a very important part in shaping their experiences in the region to be more sustainable and more positive for the communities they visit.
“Responsible tourism is at the heart of what we do and will form an integral part of VisitScotland Connect 2025, in terms of both event delivery and our efforts to ensure visitors can make more sustainable choices.
“VisitScotland Connect is only one element of a comprehensive marketing strategy which works year-round to bring visitors to Scotland.”
For more information about eligibility to work with the travel trade go to https://www.visitscotland.org/supporting-your-business/advice/travel-distribution/travel-trade-benefits
To register for VisitScotland Connect, visit visitscotland.com/connect
*International Passenger Survey 2023 (IPS) https://www.visitscotland.org/research-insights/about-our-visitors/international/annual-performance-report
