The Scotlanders | Scottish Tourism

By Dougie Baird -

The intrepid Scotlanders have made it their mission to promote this country online, and Dougie Baird is here to tell us how they do it…

 

So much has happened since I last wrote for you!

In July we had our main summer adventure.This year we decided to go to Alaska – but we did it the exciting
way! We flew to Chicago and stayed there a few days before taking the train across America to Seattle. After a few days we took the cruise ship up to Alaska. It was a wonderful adventure.
But this is not the real reason I am writing here. I want to tell you all about another of my crazy ideas to promote my beloved Scotland. A few weeks earlier I came up with the idea of seeing how many loch I could visit in one day. I pushed it on Twitter as a #Lochathon.

The idea went down a storm and many people from around the World re-tweeted the images. By time we got number 12, Loch Lubnaig, we had driven 178 miles.

 

 

 

#Isleathon

After the success of #Lochathon I decided to go one step further.

I contacted my fellow Scottish bloggers, The Scotlanders, and had a meeting with our friends, the ferry company Caledonian MacBrayne. Our plan was a new project called Isleathon, where the team was to visit as many Scottish Islands as possible. Cal Mac kindly supplied us with the ferry tickets and our digs.

Islethon was planned to support tourism in the Scottish Islands and I think the Scotlanders team have done a great job.

I got the job of going to the isles of Muck, Canna, and the small island of Sanday. It was a wonderful insight into how islanders live and work. They treated me like a king with local food and drink, and all in the midst of superb scenery and tons of wildlife.

Some of the wildlife were more friendly than others – I was chased down the road by a team of hens once, and was a bit scared to open the farm’s gate as there was a rather large bull staring straight at me. This toonie not used to this.

The rest of the Scotlanders visited Barra, Bute, Colonsay, Iona, Mull, Raasay, Skye, Staffa and Vatersay, bringing our total island count to twelve in just three days.

It was reported that over the course of a weekend we managed to attract the attention of one million internet users through our online blogs, tweets and image sharing.

People Make Glasgow – The Film

In October I’m starting another project, this time to promote my home city of Glasgow.

The whole idea is to encourage the people of Glasgow to show their city on film. Today most mobile phones or cameras have video, so we are encouraging everyone to get out there and make a short film of their favourite part of the city.

I have joined up with my friends at 29Studios, who have kindly agreed to edit the video. They are a very forward-thinking company, and one of the best film makers in the country.

Clare from Intermezzo tours will join us, too. Clare is very knowledgeable and knows the Kelvingrove Art Gallery inside and out. She will be on board to advise us on history and the city’s museums.

Third, and last but not least, Laura Sutherland has come on the project.  Laura is very good at organising events and knows Glasgow very well.

I’ll have more news on this exciting project very shortly, so click back here on Friday for more information on how to take part!

Connect Online

To connect with the Scotlanders’ campaigns, search for #islathon, #lochathon or #PeopleMakeGlasgow on Twitter.

 

You can also follow them on Twitter at @Scotlanders for campaign updates, and follow Dougie himself at @Bairdtravels.

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