Tourism in Shetland and

the importance of air services

Alastair HamiltonHead of Planning

Shetland Islands Council

Discussion Points

• Shetland’s tourist offering: why do people come?

• Shetland’s brand• The scale of tourism in Shetland• Transport: visitor origins and modal split• Challenges for the future in tourism and in

air services

Shetland’s tourist offering: why do people come? (1)

• Peace and quiet

• Dramatic, unusual landscapes

• Archaeology

Shetland’s tourist offering: why do people come? (2)

• Watching birds, seals, whales

• Music

• Genealogy

Shetland’s tourist offering: why do people come? (3)

• Yachting

• Fishing, including sea angling

• Walking or cycling

Shetland’s Brand• The vision: a self-reliant, successful Shetland• Goal: to achieve export and tourism targets• Philosophy: excellence in everything and everyone• Proposition: a rich, rare and high quality experience• Essence: a synthesis of soul, fineness and origin• Focal customer: people who are ‘successful idealists’• Positioning: small, clever, specialised

Branding:

Shetland’s ‘creative co-ordinates’

The Scale of Tourism in Shetland (1)12.6

208

13.165

3

133TourismFishingAgricultureOilKnitwearCouncil

AnnualValues in £m

The Scale of Tourism in Shetland (2)

• 1,659 bed spaces• 372 people wholly or partly employed• Top 5 visitor attractions:

– Shetland Museum (32,629 visitors)– Bonhoga Gallery (art gallery) (12,924)– Jarlshof (archaeological site) (9,617)– Old Scatness (archaeological site) (6,161)– Da Warp and Weft (knitwear museum) (6,466)

• A small sector, but one seen as having growth potential and wider marketing relevance

Shetland Transport Links (Summer)

Direct air services from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Kirkwall, Oslo and Wick (plus Faroe and London Stansted from 2006)

Direct ferry services from Aberdeen, Bergen, Hanstholm, Kirkwall, Tórshavn and Seyðisfjörður

Transport: Visitor Origins

44

36

3.5

3.82.7

2.13.7 1.23.1

ScotlandOther UKNorSweFinUSA/CanAus/NZGermanyOther EurFaroeOther

Transport: Modal Split

65

35

AirSea

The challenge for the future: tourism

• Shetland has a superb natural ‘product’ – environment, archaeology, culture, distinctiveness

• Peripherality is both an asset and a liability• But quality of tourists’ experiences also depends

on man-made elements – facilities and service• More work needs to be done on the quality of the

man-made elements of the package if we are to maximise our appeal to our target market

• More local food, more care for our environment, better, more confident and friendlier service

The challenge for the future: aviation

• What opportunities exist for affordable air transport to Shetland of what are necessarily relatively small flows of people: and how to maximise benefit of PSOs?

• Air transport currently depends on oil; oil production will peak at some point (many forecasts suggest by 2010) with steadily rising oil prices. How will the economy and aviation cope?

Tourism in Shetland and

the importance of air services

Alastair HamiltonHead of Planning

Shetland Islands Council