Visit East Lothian attended the VisitScotland Connect travel trade show in Glasgow earlier this month, working alongside local tourism businesses to promote East Lothian to the global travel trade.
Scotland’s flagship travel trade event brings together tourism businesses and international buyers to generate new business opportunities and strengthen existing relationships. The event plays a vital role in increasing Scotland’s share of global tourism in a sustainable way, while supporting long-term economic growth.
Seven tourism businesses from East Lothian attended the event, supported by East Lothian Council. Carberry Tower Hotel & Mansion, Carfrae Farm, Jerusalem Farm Pods, the Scottish Seabird Centre, The Leddie, Ocean Vertical and NB Distillery connected with 330 buyers who plan inspirational Scotland trips for their clients. The buyers represent 20 countries including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the UK domestic market.
Attendees connected with travel trade buyers who design and deliver Scotland itineraries for domestic and international markets, providing valuable opportunities to raise awareness of East Lothian as a high-quality visitor destination and to develop new commercial partnerships.
Claire Dutton, Tourism Officer at Visit East Lothian, said: “Scotland Connect provides an invaluable opportunity for East Lothian businesses to meet international buyers and showcase the quality and diversity of our tourism offer. By supporting local enterprises to attend events like this, we are helping them reach new markets, build long-term relationships and strengthen the local visitor economy. Tourism plays a vital role in supporting jobs and driving economic growth across East Lothian and we are proud to work in partnership with businesses to help them succeed.”
Trudi Cueto from Carfrae Farm said: “We were delighted with the strong attendance at Scotland Connect this year. The event provided an excellent platform to generate valuable new business connections, while also offering a welcome opportunity to meet existing clients face-to-face. We are particularly grateful for the continued support of East Lothian Council, which plays an important role in enabling businesses like ours to showcase what the region has to offer.”
While the UK remains Scotland’s largest visitor market, international visitors tend to stay longer and spend more, making engagement with overseas travel trade operators increasingly important as East Lothian looks to continue to grow its visitor economy.
Visit East Lothian will continue to work closely with local tourism businesses to support sector growth, ensuring the destination is well represented at key industry events and that businesses are supported to promote the quality and diversity of East Lothian’s tourism offer.
For more information or to get in touch, go to the Visit East Lothian website.