Outer Hebrides Tourism and CalMac Ferries set to launch extensive Uist Marketing campaign for 2019 season
CalMac Ferries is set to launch a new national marketing campaign ahead of the 2019 tourism season, designed to raise awareness of Uist as an unmissable destination.
The 'Sea Uist Soon' campaign is spearheaded by CalMac Ferries and supported by Outer Hebrides Tourism (OHT) and will comprise of marketing, PR, experiential and digital & social activity which will encourage tourists to 'seek out the extraordinary' and promote Uist as a world class visiting experience.
The new campaign will begin this month, with experiential teams hitting Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and Manchester alongside on-board activity across the Calmac fleet.
Andrew McNair, Head of Marketing at CalMac Ferries said: "The Outer Hebrides are becoming one of the most talked about tourism destinations the world over, and 'The 'Sea Uist Soon' campaign has been created to ensure we continue to drive visitors and have a successful tourism season in 2019. Following the operational issues endured last season, we wanted to ensure that we continue to support the region not only with our services, but by working alongside local tourism businesses, the local community and OHT to promote all that's great about Uist.
"By investing in this campaign we aim to demonstrate our commitment to the islands and the communities we serve and we are confident the islands will be firmly on the radar of visitors when they plan their visit to Scotland this year."
Robert McKinnon, Chief Executive of Outer Hebrides Tourism added: "We made it very clear to Calmac how serious the impact of the problems which occurred last year, and they have delivered on commitments to invest in the region and help promote the islands as a must-see destination to help grow our tourism economy. This is a creative campaign that will raise awareness of Uist, build tourism traffic, and ultimately show what we have to offer."
ENDS
For media enquiries contact:
Lynne Hughes / Jennifer McIlroy
Clarion Communications
lhughes@clarioncomms.co.uk / jmcilroy@clarioncomms.co.uk
Mobile: 07920 296 537 / 07415 350 752
Notes to editors:
The Uists consist of six main islands including Benbecula, Eriskay, Berneray, Grimsay, North and South Uist.
The Scottish Highlands and Islands, including the Outer Hebrides, are part of Lonely Planet's Top 5 region to visit in 2019, Top Travel Destinations by Airbnb and hailed as a top world tourist destination by CNN.
About CalMac Ferries Ltd
Award-winning CalMac Ferries Ltd is one of the UK's largest and most experienced ferry operators which is synonymous with the islands of the west coast of Scotland. It operates 33 ferries on 50 routes providing 158,000 sailings per year. In the 12 months to December 2017, the company carried more than 5.2 million passengers, 1.4 million cars and 79,000 commercial vehicles.