Fraserburgh’s Finest Hour(s)

A digital marketing campaign to encourage visitors to stay longer in Fraserburgh – 48 hours – has received a Growth Fund grant from VisitScotland.

The Discover Fraserburgh tourism group has been awarded a £15,000 Growth Fund award to promote #Fraserburgh48. Their campaign focuses on three themes – history & heritage, coastline and food & drink. The campaign will promote neighbouring towns Pennan, Rosehearty and Inverallochy, as well as Fraserburgh.

Fraserburgh’s unique landscape offers many opportunities to promote the idea of getting away from daily working life. The area has a wealth of hidden gems including unspoiled beaches, dramatic sea views and breathtaking landscapes.

A series of short promotional videos – including aerial drone footage of the stunning coastal locations – as well as images for social media will be created as well as inspirational content and ‘48-hours in Fraserburgh’ itineraries, with the purpose of increasing visits during the ‘shoulder months’ and extending the economic benefits of the tourism season.

Discover Fraserburgh is keen to highlight the strength of the region’s food and drink offer. Fraserburgh boasts the largest shellfish port in Europe and Aberdeenshire is a major producer of Aberdeen Angus Beef. The region also offers some of the best whiskies in the world and with two new restaurants having recently opened in Fraserburgh, fresh locally-sourced farm-to-fork beef and seafood is on the menu for visitors and locals to enjoy.

The campaign was developed with support from Digital Tourism Scotland, ensuring that the area benefits from the latest digital applications. VisitScotland’s Growth Fund award is being matched by funding from a number of local businesses and organisations including Klondyke Fishing; Gray and Adams; SWFPA; Fraserburgh Harbour Board; Feuars Managers, Fraserburgh; Strachan Electrical; Westward Fishing and Kinnaird Plumbing. The group also received £5,000 from Aberdeenshire Council’s regeneration fund and contributed to the match funding from their membership fees.

2020 is Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters and the #Fraserburgh48 campaign will help the tourism group prepare for this themed year by having videos and images ready to promote when the time comes.

VisitScotland Growth Fund supports national, regional and sectoral tourism groups across Scotland to deliver partnership marketing campaigns and constituted groups can apply for awards of £10,000 to £40,000.

Jo Robinson, VisitScotland Regional Director, said: “There’s a lot more to Fraserburgh and surrounding towns than you might expect and 48 hours discovering and exploring its hidden treasures will be time well spent.

“The #Fraserburgh48 marketing campaign is a fantastic way of promoting the region using its key strengths and I am delighted that the VisitScotland Growth Fund will help the tourism group to achieve this.

“We promote Scotland with Scotland. Partnership and collaboration is at the heart of Scottish tourism and VisitScotland works with local industry to develop and deliver innovative initiatives that grow the visitor economy.”

Lynda McGuigan, Chairwoman of Discover Fraserburgh Tourism Group, said:“We are sure this campaign will greatly boost tourism in our area. It is based on a simple premise - to increase the time people spend here from 24 to 48 hours.

“We are targeting visitors primarily from the north of England and Scotland. We aim to pull them round the coast into our corner. More visitors means more people shopping, eating, staying and buying locally.

“The whole project is based on grounded and solid research carried out by VisitScotland and VisitAberdeenshire. The research showed that there was a gap in digital marketing in our area and most tourists now use digital ways to find and book holidays and visits. The group worked with Gordon Black, a consultant from Digital Tourism Scotland to develop the #Fraserburgh48 digital marketing campaign and his time was funded by Scottish Enterprise.

“We have also had the support of many local business people who donated cash to make up our match-funding. The group has worked hard to develop the campaign, which we hope will benefit all businesses in Fraserburgh and beyond.”

For more information on the VisitScotland Growth Fund, visit www.visitscotland.org/growthfund 

Toasting the VisitScotland Growth Funding and new campaign are Michael Murray (Harbour Board); Jo Robinson (VisitScotland); Karen Paterson (Feuars Managers); Carole Short (Vice-chair, Discover Fraserburgh Tourism Group) and Lynda McGuigan (Chair, Discover Fraserburgh Tourism Group).