!nnovat!on News!
Creativity Collaboration Competitiveness
February 2009
Welcome to your latest news digest from TIG, the driver of innovation and strategic change in Scottish tourism.
This bulletin gives a round up of tourism
product development news from Scotland. Please feel free to use the
Forward Email button at the bottom of the page to pass on this
newsletter.
If you hear of any innovative product developments happening in your area please keep us posted.
IN THIS ISSUE...
TOURISM INNOVATION FUND
The Scottish Enterprise
Tourism Innovation Fund (TIF) provides innovation support that can
include matched funding of up to £30,000 and professional one-to-one
advice to enable tourism operators to deliver innovative projects to
market. The
support will be awarded via a competitive process that will incorporate
an initial Expression of Interest, followed by an application form and
subsequent presentations to a judging panel.
Support
is aimed at individual or collaborative project ideas that aim to offer
a new and genuine innovation which encourages people to visit Scotland.
This could be a product or a business process in a sector or service
category - for example, accommodation, attractions and activity
holidays. It could be a new collaborative experience, to increase an
existing market or enter a new market. Click here for more information and application details
FASHION HOTEL FOR EDINBURGH Hotel Missoni is the newest member of the Rezidor group of
hotels, thanks to a license agreement with the iconic global fashion
brand. Spring 2009 sees the first ever Hotel Missoni open on George IV
Bridge, Edinburgh. A new and distinctively different kind of hotel,
Hotel Missoni aims to be bold, passionate and fashionable, setting out
to capture the increasingly important lifestyle sector of the
hospitality market.
The hotel's core values will include a strong
interest in design, an appreciation of detail, a focus on food and
wine, a belief in authenticity, a cognizance of culture from a contemporary point of view, and a strong and equitable set of social values.
The other Hotel
Missoni under development is in Kuwait City, Kuwait, and this
brand will be adopted in both city centres and resorts in Europe and
the Middle East.
Collaboration between hotels and fashion brands can
also be found at The Palazzo Versace, Gold Coast, Australia; Mulberry
owned Carlton House Hotel in Somerset and the Armani Hotels Resorts to
be completed in Dubai and Milan.
10,000 podcasts for National Trust for Scotland
A
series of podcasts designed to bring the treasures of the National
Trust for Scotland to technophiles all over the world have been
downloaded more than 10,000 times. The free digital downloads feature
the full array of Trust properties, from Glencoe's stunning mountain
vistas to the fascinating history of the Royal Burgh of Culross in
Fife, and the chance to try out as a printer's apprentice at the Robert
Smail's Printworks in Innerleithen.
More than 2400 hours of content have been viewed from
www.nts.org.uk - the equivalent of 100 days of back to back viewing
for the popular podcasts.
Attracting fans from across the globe, the Dunkeld and Hermitage
walk is the most popular podcast, with close to 2000 hits. Property
Manager Ben Notley takes visitors on a tour of the picturesque town of
Dunkeld, before heading on a woodland walk to Ossian's Hall.
Download the podcasts at www.nts.org.uk/multimedia
INTRAWLET WEBSITE TRANSLATION
We
all want our visitors to have a good time, spend their money, tell
their friends how great it is here and to come back. And we all have
marketing material to help visitors decide to come to us and to help
them make the most of their stay: websites, brochures, information
packs etc.
But how many organisations are translating
these? It is well recognised that a translated web site, with a local
URL, and appropriate SEO can transform enquiries and bookings if you
are targeting international markets.
Read more to find out about Intrawlet translation services and their special Homecoming offer for Scottish businesses.
Pride and Passion Discovery Tours
Pride
& Passion are running new 'Discovery Tours' in late April and early
May. Locations include Skye, Banff, Nairn, The Machars (Galloway),
Tweeddale, Oban, Cowal and Highland Perthshire.
The
tours help to build and update local knowledge of what the area has to
offer visitors. For more information please call 0800 028 0588 or visit www.prideandpassion.net
TECHNOLOGY UPDATES & TIPS
- A
new testing tool has been developed by ready.mobi which evaluates
mobile-readiness using industry best practices & standards. The
free report provides both a score (from 1 to 5) and in-depth analysis
of pages to determine how well your site performs on a mobile device.
Visit ready.mobi to test your website now.
- Interesting
and innovative Web and mobile-based applications by innovators from
around the world were recently showcased at a recent travel innovations
summit. Read more
An easy to download
'journey planner' tool is now available free from the Traveline
Scotland website. Any website that needs to provide travel information
can download the tool to their website and they will have their own
journey planner. Details
- QR
bar codes allow users to pick up information with the swipe of a mobile
phone and have rapidly gained cult status in Japan and are on their way
to Britain. more
- EAE
can now delliver campaigns using the latest Bluetooth technology. All
that it requires is for the recipient to have his or her mobile phone
Bluetooth enabled. Read more
KEY POINTS FROM TOURISM INNOVATION DAY 2009
Last
month saw the 7th Tourism Innovation Day - the first such event at a
spanking new venue, The Glasshouse at Eskmills in Musselburgh.
With over 180 delegates it was a great turnout and high satisfaction levels were evident in our bespoke Visitrac survey.
This year Dr Bettina Von Stamm
from the Innovation Leadership Forum opened the day with a
captivating and inspirational presentation. A highlight was her
gorilla lesson - a warning of how businesses can be too focused
on operational minutia to notice the gorilla entering left, that could
sabotage proceedings...
Future Factory led an
interactive session showing attendees a process by which they can think
laterally and creatively to come up with opportunities and new ways of
doing things that are beyond current constraints - actions that
anticipate best possible responses to future market change. The
idea is to get away from ready-made answers to emerging scenarios and
come up with new possibilities and ways to overcome barriers. Please
get in touch if you want to try it, and we'll show you how.
Delegates heard how Angela
Wright has developed the most successful attraction in SW England
at Crealy Adventure Parks and Jenny Barker from Forum for the
Future ran a Workshop on Sustainable Innovation using a model of
Incremental, Radical or Systematic change. Tom Lewis of Monachlye Mhor inspired with his "can do"
attitude and energetic leadership (he shakes hands with all members of
staff each day) and there was a chance to hear more detail from Bettina
in a Workshop format. In the afternoon Ellis
Watson, of Menzies Distribution gained top marks when sharing some of
his more unusual business approaches and his experience of spreading
inspiration and innovation.
Severine Philardeau of
TripAdvisor completed the day with an informative and upbeat look at
how they have achieved such colossal growth and online success. She
provided useful facts to help improve traffic, comments and awareness of TripAdvisor.
Overall the day provided
a great balance of inspirational speakers sharing examples of great
innovation in a relaxed atmosphere. The feedback showed that as a
result of attending, nearly all attendees will do something differently
in their business - exactly the purpose of Innovation Day!
For further details of all the companies involved at TID, go to: www.tourisminnovationday.com In due course, highlights of TID will be available on the HIE Learningworks site
http://www.hie.co.uk/learningworks
Scottish Enterprise Visitor Experience Conference
Tuesday 3rd March, Glasgow Science Centre
This
high profile conference will look at the visitor experience on offer
across Scotland, examining practical ways we can work together to turn
ambitions into reality, and great examples of how good the future could
be if we can deliver.
Keynote
sessions include the Mayor of Queenstown in New Zealand, the GM of The
Beach Club in Santa Monica, USA and others from Canada and Spain. The
event will also have smaller, interactive seminars that will
illustrate real-life examples from within Scotland, the UK and the
international market.
Jim
Mather, Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism will also
launch 'Listening to our Visitors' an exciting new project for Scottish
tourism.
To find out more, or to book your place please visit www.registerforevent.co.uk/visitorexperience
Pay what you want Hotels and Restaurants
The newly opend Ibis Singapore Bencollen, a 538-room economy hotel
in the heart of Singapore are running a pay-what-you-want competition
during a designated portion of each day, which is announced on the
hotel's site. Interested consumers simply sign up as members and make a
bid for the price they would like to pay during one of the announced
promotion times. If they're one of the first to bid, they can win a
night at the hotel at exactly the price they offered.
Like the Ibis Singapore hotel, London restaurant Little Bay
is letting diners set their own prices. While many restaurants are
battling the credit crunch by offering 2-for-1 deals or other forms of
recession pricing, Little Bay's Farringdon branch will accept anything
from a penny to GBP 100 for its efforts. The promo has attracted
considerable media interest in London, shown the restaurant to be kind
in difficult times, and it may even boost revenue-the owner has seen
some customers paying more than 20% of listed prices. It can also serve
as a reality check, showing a business how much its customers value its
product and service.
Pay-what-you-want schemes have become popular with one of the
first from the music industry when Radiohead made the decision to let
consumers choose their price for its 'In Rainbows' album. The schemes
have become a trendy way for brands to be generous and attract lots of
goodwill and attention. One to try out in your next promotion....?
Website:
www.paywhatyouwant.com.sg www.littlebay.co.uk/london.html
TRADITIONAL SCOTS DISHES
Research tells us that visitors to Scotland would like to taste
traditional dishes, regional specialities and fresh local produce. In
this year of 'Homecoming', it is more important than ever that tourism
and hospitality businesses offer that choiceand promote our wealth of
excellent food and drink.
Food Tourism Scotland, funded by Scottish Enterprise, has to
date run a series of successful practical workshops throughout the
country featuring 'Breakfasts' and 'Cooking with Game'. The next
series, starting in March, will focus on 'traditional Scottish dishes
with a modern twist' to offer new food ideas to hotels, restaurants,
pubs, cafes and other food services businesses. Professional
chefs will demonstrate several quick, easy, tasty and economical
recipes, based on traditional dishes and ingredients, using as much
local produce as possible.
Participants can seek advice
directly from our food experts, meet some producers and add to their
recipe collection. They can discover the business benefits of offering
authentic Scottish food to 'Homecoming' visitors and discuss ideas with
like-minded contemporaries.
The events are free to attend but
numbers are limited and participation restricted to businesses that
offer meals other than breakfasts.
For more info, please email [email protected]
COLLABORATIVE MARKETING- FUNDS NEEDED?
Collaboration
is an indicator of how innovative we are, so remember that the
VisitScotland Growth Fund is offering up to £65,000 for mixed tourism
related groups to spend on new marketing activity.
Click here for more information and application details
UPCOMING EVENTS
Scottish Tourism Week
Don't forget Scottish Tourism Week will take place 2 - 9 March - you can find out more and register online here
17 March 2009
Edinburgh Tourism Action Group Conference
James Watt Centre, Edinburgh Conference Centre, Heriot Watt University
9am - 4.30pm
Click here for more info
100k Welcomes - Leadership 14-15 April 2009 9.30am - 4.30pm
Carnegie Conference Centre, Dunfermline
A
2 day leadership programme concentrating on leadership skills which
make a difference to you, your organisation and its ongoing
profitabilitiy. For more info contact Heather Malcolm on 01383 845 019
or [email protected]
[email protected]
To keep up to date with innovative product developments, news and events just sign up here.
If
you have ay interesting news stories of new collaborations/product
ideas happening in tourism across Scotland we would love to hear from
you just email us at -[email protected]
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