By Martin Dempster
In the countdown to the
Solheim Cup at Gleneagles in September, a campaign has been launched aimed at encouraging more women to travel to Scotland to play golf in the sport’s birthplace.
The VisitScotland video content campaign, which has adopted the #HerScotland hashtag, is a concerted bid to grow the number of female visitors from its current figure of just 12 per cent at a time when female golf participation in some European countries is in excess of 35 per cent.
The campaign features four women, including LET player Kelsey MacDonald, who are filmed enjoying a golf break which also involves other fun activities off the course.
“VisitScotland is proud to be doing something that no other tourism body has done before by investing in a female focused golf destination
marketing campaign,” said Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland’s chief executive.
“We pride ourselves on being a forward thinking and innovative organisation and I believe this campaign will
help to put the focus on Scotland as a female friendly golf destination.
“Scotland’ commitment to women’s golf is unquestionable with an investment in excess of £23 million since 2007 through our staging of both the Women’s British Open and the Aberdeen Standard Invesments Ladies Scottish Open cementing our reputation as the home of golf.”
Joining MacDonald in a campaign that will also be used to help support raise awareness of the 2019 Solheim Cup are Mar Hall head pro Kirstin Scott, Castle Stuart operations assistant Ellie Docherty and amateur golfer Susan Wood.
“It is a huge year for women’s golf in Scotland as we are set to host the Solheim Cup at
Gleneagles in September,” added Roughead of an event that aims to attract 100,000 spectators as North Berwick’s Catriona Matthew leads Europe into battle.
“The event offers us a significant opportunity to increase the number of female golfing visitors to Scotland.
“Add in a TV broadcast audience with the potential to reach more than 600 million households it means a lot of eyes will be firmly fixed on Scotland.”
