While Scotland's EURO 2024 journey may have come to an end, the nation itself has attracted a new fan base, in the form of German holiday goers.
New insights from VisitScotland have revealed traffic from Germany to its consumer website VisitScotland.com almost doubled during Scotland’s tournament dates (13 – 23 June 2024), an increase of +83% compared to the same period last year.
Friday June 14, the day of Scotland’s opening game against hosts Germany, saw the highest number of German users of the year so far.
This increase in interest will be seen as an encouraging sign by Scotland’s tourism industry with German visitors making 343,000 visits and spending £247 million last year.
Research from the national tourism organisation shows German visitors, who are more likely to travel throughout the year and different parts of the country, visit Scotland for its scenery and landscapes, history and culture and people.
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An estimated 200,000 Scottish football fans are believed to have travelled to the Germany to support the national team. Images of the Tartan Army enjoying their first away tournament since 1998 have attracted global media coverage.
Just this weekend, Scotland fans were voted best supporters by German news channel RTL. Meanwhile, SFA Chief Executive Ian Maxwell praised fans for the positive image of Scotland they have shared around the world.
Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland Chief Executive, said: “We couldn’t agree more that the Tartan Army have not just been a great support to our national team but also fantastic ambassadors for Scotland. It’s been incredible to see the scenes of Scotland fans displaying that famous Scottish welcome and earning such praise from the German supporters.
“Since the start of EURO 24, we’ve noticed an increase in traffic to our website from Germany, with visits almost doubling compared to this time last year.
“Germany is one of our key overseas markets, attracting 343,000 visits and £247 million spend last year. Our research shows that German visitors choose Scotland for its scenery and landscapes, history and culture and our people, with the Scotland fans a leading example of this.
“We’ll continue to build on this interest through our marketing activity which includes our most recent campaign targeting key cities in the west of Germany which have strong visitor demand and connectivity to Scotland.”
While Scotland may now be out of the tournament, VisitScotland hope to see EURO 2024 effect continue with interest in Scotland transferring off pitch too. The national tourism organisation is currently running a series of adverts across three German cities promoting Scotland as the perfect getaway for locals looking to substitute the football drama with dramatic scenery.
The mobile digital adverts which will run until the final on 14th July, are expected to be seen by up to two million people over the course of the tournament.
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