Perhaps no country has marketed their cultural heritage as effectively as Scotland since the release of Braveheart. This “Braveheart Effect” has expanded to cover recent heritage tourism campaigns built around the Outlander and Harry Potter franchises that also celebrate the history, landscape and culture of Scotland. The tourism industry has utilized this tie-in through custom-built franchise tours, steam train excursions, overnight stays in castles and genealogy opportunities that brings in more than £4.5 billion to the Scottish economy annually. Is this connection to and love affair with the past the only way to market Scotland to tourists?
On April 11, 2018, VisitScotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Development International and Universities Scotland launched a new initiative entitled “Scotland is Now,” that featured a video that highlighted all that Scotland offers, with only one short image of tartans, kilts and bagpipes that would usually be expected in a promotional piece for the region. Instead, Scotland is pitched as a modern country of new technology, scientific advancements, education, art and economic opportunities and achievements that focuses on the present and future.
In this paper, I explore this initiative and how VisitScotland promotes these forward-thinking themes to the world without minimizing their very successful heritage tourism base. To better understand what is being produced and for whom, I investigate the “Scotland is Now” campaign to examine how tourists are being encouraged to explore the Scotland of today while also respecting the history and heritage of the region. Through formal and informal interviews, archival research, and participant observation, I explore how they balance the tensions between the very successful heritage tourism business model with the need to also encourage people without any cultural ties to Scotland that this is a vibrant country of the present and future that has something unique to offer all visitors.
About the presenterKaralee Dawn MacKay
Karalee Dawn MacKay is an assistant professor, nontraditional student mentor, and the Academic Director for the annual international study abroad immersion course in the M.A. in Arts Management program at George Mason University. Past courses have traveled to Belgium, England, France, Ireland, Scotland, and The Netherlands.
A first generation/nontraditional student, she received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Theatre History & Performance Studies from the University of Maryland – College Park.