| eTourism in Scotland is about to
undergo a major revolution as a new partnership designed to
sell the country on a global scale moves into top gear.
The company known as eTourism Limited is a partnership formed
by VisitScotland, the Area Tourist Boards, the Treasury-backed
Partnerships UK and multinational technology company SchlumbergerSema.
The Scottish Executive gave their support to this project
from start to finish.
Through a combination of a contact centre in the heart of
the central belt at Livingston in West Lothian and an advanced
website with associated technology, the company will bring
the selling of Scotland as a world class tourist destination
firmly into the 21st century.
impact of eTourism
We recognise that eTourism will change people's business model,
but we are happy to work with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands
and Islands Enterprise to work with businesses which are impacted
upon by this venture and emphasise the benefits that can be
derived.
eTourism Limited will provide a shop window for Scotland
which is available for the world to see. For the first time
the potential visitor to Scotland will be able to gather information
about what our country has to offer from their office or their
living room. More importantly it will be a one stop operation
and the travel, accommodation and activity aspects of their
visit will be available through the website.
benefits
The investment will lead to significant benefits to tourism
businesses throughout Scotland with more detailed entries
appearing on the website and facilities for last minute offers
and late deals.
It will also bring an £11million investment to visitscotland.com
with eTourism predicting some 500,000 room nights being booked
online by 2005. We are in no doubt about the need for improvements
in the e-commerce side of tourism and of the massive benefits
it will bring to the industry.
We now have an excellent opportunity to sell Scotland in
the global marketplace while at the same time gathering consumer
intelligence which we can use to further improve the product
and the way we bring it to the market.
Quality
One of the key selling points of Scotland as a holiday destination
is the quality of its accommodation, its visitor attractions
and its catering.
The fact that standards in the large majority of cases are
high and continuing to rise is due in no small measure to
the Quality Assurance schemes introduced by the Scottish Tourist
Board almost 20 years ago and now run by a dedicated VisitScotland
team. The success of the schemes has been well documented
but it is worth remembering that in one year alone the extra
spending by tourist businesses in Scotland prompted directly
by QA involvement can be as much as £34million.
business development
Yet behind the figures lies a more important aspect of the
Quality Assurance schemes, the fact that they are now part
of a much wider business development culture being promoted
by VisitScotland and embraced by the tourism industry in Scotland.
It is no longer the role of the quality advisors, who test
the standards of Scotland’s tourism industry simply to
turn up and mark the establishment or attraction according
to the book. Now that quality advisor will spend time with
the proprietor outlining in detail any changes which are proposed
to a grading and how standards may be improved. In addition
there can be general discussion about business development
and the local markets and a sharing of information.
best practice
VisitScotland is particularly pleased that the mixture of
grading and business development has attracted interest from
other parts of the world and that the South African government
invited VisitScotland personnel to travel there to assist
in the setting up of a similar scheme.
food scheme
The next challenge for the team is the development of the
recently launched quality assurance scheme for the food, eating
places, service and catering industry in Scotland which is
considered a huge part of the overall tourism package. This
is operated on behalf of VisitScotland by a subsidiary company
of Taste of Scotland.
In order to avoid confusion with the stars used to signify
grading for the existing schemes, we will use a medallion
symbol to denote quality standards for the new scheme. It
is estimated that there are 20,000 places to eat in Scotland
from fish and chip shops to fine dining restaurants and we
want to have a scheme that can cover them all.
The scheme is in its infancy and we are confident the industry
will embrace it as they have the accommodation and attractions
schemes.
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