£3 million marketing fund aims to support tourism recovery strategy
Added: 31 May 2021
Applications open tomorrow, 1 June, for a new £3 million Destination & Sector Marketing Fund which aims to support the revival of tourism in Scotland.
Part of the £25 million Scottish Government industry recovery programme announced in March, the Fund is one of 10 proposals developed by the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group (STERG) in collaboration with the Tourism Task Force.
The Fund, which will be managed and delivered by VisitScotland, has been designed to accelerate tourism recovery in the immediate to medium term by focusing on the domestic market.
Destination and sectoral groups across Scotland are being encouraged, through the Fund, to develop and promote strong visitor propositions – both sustainably and responsibly – to help stimulate all-year-round demand in the UK and Ireland market.
The funding is being made available to enable the destination and sector organisations to carry out targeted campaign activity marketing visitor experiences that are aligned to identified post-COVID-19 trends and reflect what consumers are now looking for. The initiative is therefore designed to help the sustainable recovery of the industry going forward.
The Destination & Sector Marketing Fund will operate across three tiers:
- Tier one – City Region Award Programme (awards between £50,000 – £100,000). Closing date for applications: 29 June
- Tier two – Pan Scotland Sector Groups & Regional Destination Organisations (awards between £40,000 – £80,000). Closing date for applications: 3 July
- Tier three – Local Destination Organisations, Marketing Groups & Non-Pan Scotland Sector Groups (awards between £10,000 – £20,000). Closing date for applications: 23 July
Please note, this funding is not available to individual businesses, it is purely for destination and sector organisations. We are highlighting the opportunity as we know that many of our members will be involved in local/regional destination organisations or marketing groups and may wish to apply as part of such a group.
Information on the Fund criteria and eligibility requirements for each tier, as well as details of how destination and sectoral groups can apply, can be found here.
VisitScotland is hosting a webinar about the Fund on Wednesday, 2 June at 2pm-3pm. Senior Marketing Fund Manager Emma Hallington will provide a overview and participants will have an opportunity, via the web chat, to ask questions as part of a Q&A session. You can register for the event here.