tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.comments2023-09-07T09:18:17.130+01:00Tourism Matters | News | Opinion | Discussion | Advice | Innovation | DevelopmentIan McCaighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08867447706592162945noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-85280268301460306472011-05-06T22:03:37.803+01:002011-05-06T22:03:37.803+01:00count me in!count me in!Rebeccahttps://draft.blogger.com/profile/02173930152868642653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-40366369985147675132011-05-06T10:24:27.538+01:002011-05-06T10:24:27.538+01:00Photograph of Prestwick St Nicholas would have bee...Photograph of Prestwick St Nicholas would have been more appropriate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-22082884530412290232010-11-16T10:50:39.954+00:002010-11-16T10:50:39.954+00:00The Gailes Experience4 Nights B & B @ Harbours...The Gailes Experience<br>4 Nights B & B @ Harbourside Hotel,Irvine. One round at Western Gailes, Glasgow Gailes and Dundonald Links. Return transfers to courses<br>Winter £199, March £249, Summer £299 andy@harbourside.biz<br>andy 01294 275515Andrewhttps://draft.blogger.com/profile/02962422139625605217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-8205680410057307042009-07-30T10:02:11.693+01:002009-07-30T10:02:11.693+01:00Interesting!Thanks for sharing.Interesting!<br><br>Thanks for sharing.Leather Diarieshttps://draft.blogger.com/profile/12775919598748922496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-42830341933642905502012-12-08T09:17:58.153+00:002012-12-08T09:17:58.153+00:00All great stuff. However the problem is when one o...All great stuff. However the problem is when one of the bully boys at the 'Price Comparison team' of these online bookers phone you up and say if you offer your own ' Best Rate' they will automatically take your listing off their site. When over 70% of your bookings are coming via these third parties this is a major risk. We have come across this several times this year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-66466721131429314992012-11-19T12:13:41.919+00:002012-11-19T12:13:41.919+00:00Great news
Hopefully the prices between London an...Great news<br /><br />Hopefully the prices between London and Scotland will start to get back to where they were when BMI were operating flights.Norman Friendlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14842194481736209316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-88369683824718889712012-11-13T12:34:57.782+00:002012-11-13T12:34:57.782+00:00I agree with many of the comments here. My own exp...I agree with many of the comments here. My own experience of VS has been mixed, at times easy and others shambolic, I wince at the shear waste of money and complete lack of industry and business knowledge. There should be someone on top who knows what they are talking about and be much more in the public eye like a figure head, someone who is trusted and seen as a bastion of common sense. I am sure there are many people out there capable of fulfilling such a roll. <br />I feel that many business owners should just take matters into their own hands and all should have their own manageable and very affordable bookings system, nothing to fancy just practical that works, makes life easier and hopefully gets more bookings. Organisations like VS/TIC's or whoever else are created as agents and if they have someone who wants to book they can go and check availability and give an immediate answer or make a referral through to the accommodation providers own site. I may be able to help those left in the lurch by VS. Currently I am conducting a survey of b&b, guest house, small hotel owners etc. to find out exactly what they want from an online bookings and management system. Even if they want one at all!! If you'd like to help and have your opinion heard please go to thebedbooker.com and complete the anonymous survey. There will be no spam mailing. Once I have enough feedback, a system will be designed and built that will fulfil the needs and wants of accommodation providers and this nonsense with VS will become nothing more than a memory.David Keithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-23825436444414801362012-11-10T11:28:18.825+00:002012-11-10T11:28:18.825+00:00I worked for the snappily-titled Greater Glasgow &...I worked for the snappily-titled Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley Tourist Board until 2002, before moving to England. I had worked for GGCV (previously GGTB) for 10 years up to that point. Between 1997 and 2002, Visitscotland's response to the changes in destination marketing brought about by expanding internet usage was lamentable. They acted then (and seem to have acted since) as if VS had to be the conduit for bookings, rather than just get out of the way of individual businesses, or act simply as a portal for every other business's own web presence. Instead VS went in search of truly piddling 10%s and fees, modeled on the old TIC BABA system. Once professional and political reputations had been invested in making it 'work' it was too late to admit that the organisation did not in fact know what it had gotten into - non-commercial individuals trying to be commercial - not a pretty sight.<br />My then CE, Eddie Friel, warned them, but they didn't listen because he was an old pro at winding them up, and playing the Glasgow-underdog routine. What they failed to acknowledge was that he also had more commercial nous and strategic perspective in his little finger than the lot of them put <br />together. So, Glasgow ended up setting up the Glasgow Marketing Agency to try to escape the amateurish, bungling, centrist, bureaucratic grip of VS, and establish a stronger relationship with its own tourism businesses in the city and surrounding region. Not been following subsequent events in the last 10 years very closely, but it seems VS still lacks leadership, and it is hard to believe it has taken this long to pull the plug on the whole VS.com fiasco. Sad - it seems Scotland will never get tourism right, and that vested geographical and parochial political interests will always trump marketing effectiveness.Jimmynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-6088380155974986632012-11-09T09:51:08.941+00:002012-11-09T09:51:08.941+00:00A very apt post.
Unfortunately VisitScotland fail...A very apt post. <br />Unfortunately VisitScotland failed to learn from the even more costly errors previously made by VisitBritain. <br /><br />This has been nothing less than a scandal over the last few years. Mr McCaig is quite right to be curious as to how this has not 'blown-up' in the media. Panorama often reports on cases much less onerous than this. Behind the scenes people have tried to responsibly and diplomatically stop the tourism authorities from throwing public money down the toilet but to no avail.<br /><br />To respond to a couple of posts here; Mr Graham said: <br />"Ok it might not have been the best booking engine but it did the job. It must be better than none at all."<br /><br />The pros & cons of the booking engine itself are not the issue here. At issue is a publicly funded authority competing with the public sector, using public money to do so. It simply can't. Not only is it illegal, but even more importantly it is not financially viable. The money spent is not recouped in bookings or profits - in fact, the losses of authority booking systems are very high indeed.<br /><br />Point 2:<br />Anonymous said:<br />"VS is going to make recommendations to providers in June next year" <br />Do not wait for a proclamation from VS about what booking system you need to use. They do not have any knowledge beyond your own and why would you wait to be told what to do in the middle of your next season at the worst possible time anyway? <br />Act now and Google "Hotel Booking System" and take it from there - you wont be short of options. <br />Peter Shearnhttp://www.caterbook.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-56057954357792136182012-11-07T13:13:53.009+00:002012-11-07T13:13:53.009+00:00Typical!
Sack the lot of them and save millions o...Typical!<br /><br />Sack the lot of them and save millions of public money.<br /><br />They have always been useless self-serving parasites, and just creamed off commissions from accommodation providers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-31605822593067689442012-11-06T21:12:47.169+00:002012-11-06T21:12:47.169+00:00What a shambles. As the owner of a small B&B, ...What a shambles. As the owner of a small B&B, we now have a month to find an alternative system to handle online bookings. VS is going to make recommendations to providers in June next year? That's way too late for a season that only really lasts from Easter to October. Small B&B owners are already struggling due to economic conditions and I fear that the last-minute nature of VS' communications - for something they surely have known about for a while - will only add to their troubles. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-12572390492533996682012-11-06T16:41:50.842+00:002012-11-06T16:41:50.842+00:00Couldn't agree more - especially with regatrd ...Couldn't agree more - especially with regatrd to accountability and joined up thinking. VS seem unable to engage with industry sectors, but instead insist that they know best when it is usually some PYT who has been in the post for a matter of months trying to tell someone about running their own business. We have had to attend the same workshop on more than one occassion with different VS staff but the same industry representatives!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-75886947842546305202012-11-06T13:02:36.901+00:002012-11-06T13:02:36.901+00:00I am concerned about the labeling of the proposed ...I am concerned about the labeling of the proposed 'book now' button. Potential Guests are being prompted to book without having had the opportunity to check either tariff or availability. Obviously that would be the next step when re-directed but, from many years online experience, people do not always appreciate how booking engines operate; e.g. "...but I've already paid". I would recommend that the button be relabeled 'Check Price/Availability'David Cattersonhttp://www.fernbank.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-57355641489273747272012-11-06T12:58:40.707+00:002012-11-06T12:58:40.707+00:00Well said! VS have wasted millions on online booki...Well said! VS have wasted millions on online booking over the years. Ironically the system launched in April this year was by far the best, and was indeed easy to administer for accommodation providers. The TICs could also use it to search for accommodation and we received more bookings this summer from that source than ever before. How are the TICs going to make bookings now?Charlie Steele, Coilanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-5200328943977153582012-11-06T12:51:44.682+00:002012-11-06T12:51:44.682+00:00Ok it might not have been the best booking engine ...Ok it might not have been the best booking engine but it did the job. It must be better than none at all.Alan Grahamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-24960003787412661142012-11-06T12:38:47.990+00:002012-11-06T12:38:47.990+00:00Well well well - VisitScotland have finally had a ...Well well well - VisitScotland have finally had a reality check! What a pity it has taken 10 years to do so; amazing what a limited budget does to make you focus on the priorities. In our view (over 25 years in the business), VS should keep it simple and stick to what they do best and that is market Scotland as a whole country on a global basis as well as promoting Quality Assurance. Simplify the website and start 'joined up thinking'when it comes to promoting different ares. If VS were a private enterprise they would have gone bust years ago. What a shameful waste of taxpayers money!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-8732230861337711132012-11-06T11:42:30.124+00:002012-11-06T11:42:30.124+00:00I couldn't agree more with your comment about ...I couldn't agree more with your comment about the idiocy of region competing against region for tourism money - and have consistently said as such in the many (normally badly constructed) surveys sent out by VS, which are generally geared to justifying what they've already decided to do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-66980549057877428942012-10-05T20:37:24.920+01:002012-10-05T20:37:24.920+01:00Malcolm and his minions keep bringing us these top...Malcolm and his minions keep bringing us these top down ideas perhaps in the notion they know more about how best to promote golf in Scotland than those of us who have to successfully make a living. <br /><br />As a result, they never get any new ideas and most of what they put forward is ineffective at best and half ass at worstAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-56397189926170483772012-10-05T20:31:16.128+01:002012-10-05T20:31:16.128+01:00The chief question that needs to be answered is: H...The chief question that needs to be answered is: How can Scotland put together a unified national marketing and advertising campaign for its golf product? Who will conceive it and direct it? Who will execute it? Where will the funding come from? Who will track and report on its efficacy?<br /><br />At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think the golf tourism product in Scotland has a lot more potential than is currently being realised. If we were any other country our efforts would lead to a bankrupt golf tourism industry. But a national strategy and outreach plan/structure is desperately needed. Can these strategy sessions help answer those questions?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-38237858652439530242012-10-05T20:26:50.785+01:002012-10-05T20:26:50.785+01:00Extremely well put.
It was indeed the manner in w...Extremely well put.<br /><br />It was indeed the manner in which Peter Dawson dismissed Portrush as a venue which was extremely disturbing.<br /><br />Before this years Irish Open, Royal Portrush was dismissed because the area would not be able to cope with the crowds and the traffic. What happens? They sell out and there wasn't as much as a small hiccup with the park and ride and accommodation needs. Unlike Turnberry and Royal St. Georges.<br /><br />So, Grandstands, practice grounds, tented villages, problems? mere blips in the road for the Irish. I agree that to bring it back to Royal Portrush, it would simply be magnificent and I for one would be there and likely to be drinking in the small Guinness tent with the many of the Irish.<br /><br />Dawson's attitude though is head in the sand stuff which is very much the same as their neighbours at the Links Trust and their fellow suits at the tourist board. The majority of their decisions prove to be self serving rather than serving anyone else.<br /><br />, Norman Friendlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-57246387804359324992012-10-05T20:05:43.557+01:002012-10-05T20:05:43.557+01:00£300,000.00 is that all. Lets be thankful that so...£300,000.00 is that all. Lets be thankful that someone in that outdated organisation didn't say lets make an animated tv series on the lives of golfers in Scotland and spend another £8 million.<br /><br />So that's £8.3 million to two international multi national companies who if you asked them where Scotland is, would point the a city in South Dakota.<br /><br />However I agree, because we should be at the doors of VS asking what the hell is going on. Instead no one is up in arms and we can't even get enough interest to take part in industry bodies.<br /><br />Instead we let these jokers, most of whom have only had to earn a wage for five minutes, continue in situ with their cushy jobs, nice wages, all the days holiday and in lieu for every half day they work over their 38 hours and a nice plump pension.<br /><br />Who are the mugs?Norman Friendlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-69324208257990647052012-10-05T19:48:36.597+01:002012-10-05T19:48:36.597+01:00It seems to me that when it comes to flights. We ...It seems to me that when it comes to flights. We only here of flights being dropped as well as new flights to sun destinations. <br /><br />There are never any new flights into Scotland. What are the tourism leaders doing? It smacks of laziness and lack of knowledge in this market.<br /><br />Then again I could say that about every market within tourism and our "Tourism Leaders"Norman Friendlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-58345722859187209852012-09-12T09:12:36.786+01:002012-09-12T09:12:36.786+01:00This Wednesday (12 September) the committe will ta...This Wednesday (12 September) the committe will take evidence from Dr Mike Cantlay, Chairman, and Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive, VisitScotland and Fergus Ewing, Minister for Energy, Enterprise & Tourism.<br /><br />rticle in todays Herald:<br /><br />Tourism chief hits out at high taxesSCOTLAND'S tourism boss says the industry is being held back by high taxes and tough visa restrictions which stop people holidaying in the UK.<br /> <br />Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said cuts are needed to VAT and air passenger duty to allow the Scottish tourist industry to compete on a level playing field with the rest of Europe.<br /><br />The tourism chief added the UK is in danger of being overtaken by other countries unless politicians make visitor visas easier to obtain.<br /><br />He said: "There's no room for complacency. Tourism is the most competitive industry in the world. Scotland is trying to shout above the noise from more than 200 countries, all hoping to woo the next visitor.<br /><br />"This is an industry which touches every part of Scotland, every business and every person living here. To meet our ambition we need to address the barriers in our way – and to grow tourism we need to act quickly."<br /><br />Will he raise this issue at committee and will he be more vocal with government. <br /><br />I wonder?.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-11621301808548633882012-09-10T16:11:27.620+01:002012-09-10T16:11:27.620+01:00Let me get this right - VisitScotland is using tax...Let me get this right - VisitScotland is using tax payer money to sponsor television coverage being shown with the UK? <br /><br />So once again Scotland is being promoted to the Scots (being recipients of Sky TV) at their own expense.<br /><br />And the golf industry is not involved or consulted in a campaign to promote the 'Home of Golf'. <br /><br />Yup, that sounds absolutely like VisitScotland. A complete lack of joined up thinking but a constant desire to spend money to provide media stats to show they are 'doing something' and justify their existence. <br /><br />They are not of the real world, where marketing and sales campaigns that don't work mean people lose jobs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021845168519112922.post-39275694032212389212012-09-10T13:53:29.500+01:002012-09-10T13:53:29.500+01:00If my fading memory serves me were there not a ser...If my fading memory serves me were there not a series of meetings with industry, VS, GTS, SGU, LGU, R&A etc to look at Ryder Cup and other things to do with golf and golf tourism. SGU given the lead. What on earth happened to that? SGU were the lead body in this????Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com