An event that aimed to reconnect Scottish businesses with global tour operators and travel agents has been deemed a success by tourism leaders in the Shetland Isles.
As Scotland continues to reopen to tourists, the Scotland Reconnect 2021 event, organised by VisitScotland, took place at the end of April, and witnessed over 7,000 business meetings, as over 390 buyers from 26 countries connected online with around 300 Scottish suppliers, all looking to creating bookings and tour packages for future visitors.
Shetland’s VisitScotland development manager Steve Mathieson said the event was a “great success at a time when reconnecting our tourism businesses from across Shetland with tour operators and travel agents in vital international markets has never been so important”.
He explained that the last year has devastated the tourism industry all around the world, but is hoping that the easing of the restrictions means he could begin planning some ‘brilliant new Shetland-based programmes, products, and itineraries for our international operators’.
“VisitScotland is focused on the recovery of the industry, building a destination and visitor experience which allows tourism and events to flourish now and in the future. We’ll continue to work with, and support, businesses to ensure we rebuild this vital part of our economy,” he said.
One of the participants was Promote Shetland, and manager David Nicol said that the organisation spike directly to a wide range of industry representatives from around the world, passing on relevant information to the Shetland Tourism Association.
“The 2021 event saw the introduction of a new ‘showcase’ session too, which we very much enjoyed taking part in. The attendees seemed very impressed by what Shetland has to offer and this bodes well for the tourism sector recovering quickly as we move beyond the current restrictions,” he said.
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