Employability and Professional Skills

Increasing the appeal of

Scotland to tourists, in
particular those
from China.
Hao Chen, Roddy How, Madiha Aslam, Rachel
Valentine, Megan Brown, Safiya Alsharji.

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Introduction

Tourism essential to Scottish growth, growing annually at around 4-5%

Huge potential having been voted the third best place to visit in the world
We have focused our aim on China

Objectives
Overall : Attract more tourists to Scotland
Build on existing information gathered as to why we should take on this
project to attract more people to Scotland
Evaluate further, possible solutions to bring more Chinese tourists to
Scotland
Build up to a final report with our recommendation on actions to be
implemented

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Why target China?

Expected Urban Population in
2022

The Population of China is 1.35

billion and still increasing
There is a growing middle class with
more money to spend

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Poor
16%

Mass Middle
Class
22%

Affluent
9%

Upper
Middle Class
53%

Why target China?

The UK has already experienced tremendous growth
Chinese visitors to Scotland have increased
Spending by Chinese tourists has increased
Chinese tourists are Scotlands biggest spenders
average spend is 770

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Why target China?

Relaxed visa rules making it easier for Chinese citizens to
come to Scotland

Anticipate that Chinese tourists will include a trip to the UK

when visiting Europe

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Why target China?

Awareness of Scotland in China
is low
Images and phrases associated
with Scotland are stereotypical
and traditional

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Popular holiday destinations

among Chinese tourists

Most popular travel

destinations are in Southeast
Asia
Future countries students
would like to visit are welldeveloped countries that are
rich in natural beauty and
have a long history

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What Chinese people expect to

do on a holiday to Scotland
It is important when advertising
in China to show that Scotland
does have many attractions
and great scenery that
people expect but also that
there is so much more
available for tourists to enjoy

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What Chinese people want to

do on a holiday to Scotland?
Play golf
Buy luxury items such as whisky
Seen as status symbol

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Links between China and

Scotland
Whisky consumed in China
The ambitious plan to increase the Scotch whisky
sales network in China in the next 3 years

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Links between China and

Scotland
Golf is the fastest growing sport in
China
Scotland is the home of Golf

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Links between China and

Scotland
Transport is important for travel
Direct flight from China to Scotland

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A picture is worth thousand words (Arthur

Brisbane, 1911)

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Virtual tours
There are many areas in which clever use of

technology could enhance the experience of the

visitors as well as offering additional opportunities for a
better utilisation of resources (Novelli, 2005).

http://www.visitlondon.com/discover-london/londonvirtual-tour
London: Harrods, Buckingham palace, Big Ben.

Edinburgh: Loch-ness, castle, inverness tourist

attractions

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Solutions Using Weibo

597 million social networking users in
China
Reported 400 million Weibo users in China
Hybrid of Facebook and Twitter

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Chinese Social Networking Users

40+
18%

19-25
19%

36-40
12%
31-35
21%

26-30
30%

49% of social networking users are between ages 19-30

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Methods adopted outside

the UK
Keep it simple
Make the tourists feel at home
Provide information to Hotels on what they can do individually

Provide a network on Chinese translators throughout Scotland

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Research completed to date

We have researched thoroughly into Chinese tourism to
justify our approach
We have uncovered that China is a lucrative market that
is growing rapidly
Potential for Scotland to be the destination of choice for
Chinese tourists
Potential solutions include using Weibo, virtual tours and
creating China Ready packs

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Work to be completed
We need to find out how easy it would be to implement
our various solutions
This will allow us to give Visit Scotland a solid
recommendation

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Thank You
We are happy to answer any questions

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