Get the wild factor

Tourism Intelligence Scotland has created a series of videos and webinars to get you thinking about what you can do to appeal to wildlife tourists.

Date : 28/05/2014

TV wildlife programmes like Springwatch and Autumnwatch are undoubtedly responsible for the explosion in recent years of an interest in nature. This has had a considerable impact on the Scottish tourism industry with visitors to Scotland coming to experience our wildlife contributing around £137 million to the Scottish economy.

Scotland’s climate and terrain means that we have a wealth of species of flora and fauna to enjoy. Almost half of all of Europe’s seabirds nest in Scotland, and we have two of the largest gannet colonies in the world.

So if you’d like to know what else you can do to entice nature lovers to Scotland and add that little bit of magic to someone’s trip, read on.

Get the wildlife habit

A great place to start is the Wildlife Tourism Story. This is a short animated introduction to what you need to know as a tourist operator in Scotland.

Your local knowledge is priceless for giving guidance on what visitors can see, when and where. Awareness of local wildlife operators and experts is crucial to those looking for more in-depth knowledge.

This film, along with the others in the series, gives you some really great starting points for getting the wildlife habit and an idea of where you can look next for hints, tips and best practice. For instance if you provide accommodation, visitors love seeing red squirrel on the feeder outside the breakfast room window.

The important message is don’t forget the commonplace. You may have seen a blue tit more times than you could possibly count, but that’s not to say that a visitor from, say, the US won’t find it exotic and wonderful.

Managing expectations

The one thing that’s predictable about wildlife watching is its unpredictability.

Make sure it’s clear that even with all the right conditions, the best known spots and all the planets aligned, your visitors may not spot that pine marten they’ve come to see.

Try it out for yourself so you can speak from a little first-hand experience and then you can talk knowledgeably with your customers. Do the walks and know where some good spots are. Know the operators and work with them to get their advice.

Nature programmes are excellent for educating the public in the wonders of wildlife on our doorstep, but it can give false expectations on how close you can actually get in the wild. Many nature reserves now have webcams installed so you can see close up without disturbing the animals.

Empathy is the best form of customer service

Even if it’s not your thing, doing your homework and understanding what your customers are looking for really does pay.

Wildlife spotters fall into two broad categories - the specialists and the general interest.

Specialists come with the intention of spending all of their holiday patiently lying in wait to spot a dolphin or see a golden eagle hatch, while general interest tourists would love to see some local wildlife as part of their trip, maybe visiting a nature reserve or going on a dolphin-spotting trip.

For tourist providers, the general interest wildlife lovers are really quite easy to cater for.

Have information at the ready on the what, when and where of wildlife spotting (you can find a full calendar on the Wild Scotland website).

Have photos of the area on your website showing all of the seasons, and if you can, the wildlife they could see near you - and keep updating them.

Find out when the big natural events are happening (for instance puffins nesting, red deer rutting, bluebells appearing, dolphin migration) and announce it on your website, Facebook page or Twitter.

Don’t give in to weather moans. Many species are actually more likely to be seen on grey, drizzly days. Know where the hides are so visitors can watch in shelter and if you provide accommodation, have a few waterproofs and wellies in the porch.

Families need easy educational activities so nature reserves and bird-watching centres are great days out to recommend.

Collaborative working

The wildlife tourism webinar includes a discussion on how tourisms companies can approach collaborating with other businesses. It gives great ideas about joining forces to offer deals and packages. For example you could offer a reduction if visitors are recommended by the ‘partner’, and link to each other’s websites. Watch the webinar for more ideas.

Working collectively is far more effective than businesses working on an individual basis, and often funding is only awarded to collaborations rather than individual businesses.

For an excellent example of how collaboration can work for nature tourism, visit the Wild Scotland website. You can become a member of Wild Scotland, which opens up a whole network of wildlife related businesses, event and ideas for visitors, as well as another way of marketing your business.

Wildlife tourism is still a relatively untapped market for Scotland. These are just some of the simple things you can start doing to improve your own business, not just in spring and summer but all year round.