Time running out on FREE Business Club membership

Posted on by Ally Campbell

The offer to enjoy GT Passport’s Business Club for free for a year is soon coming to an end with the 31st December 2024 being the last day businesses such as hotels, cafe’s and tourist attractions can secure Tier 1 membership at no cost.

That’s effectively 12 months free listing on the GT Passport website and our interactive Apple iPhone app, driving touring holidaymakers and road-tripper directly to your premises.

From January 2025 the price for Tier 1 membership will resort to £150/yr.

Some businesses who have already taken advantage of this offer include Hilton and Ramada hotels, an outdoor adventure centre, a stately home, as well as a river cruise company and an historic tram journey.

While GT Passport’s UK driving routes are freely available to see on GTpassport.com, our interactive app is the key to getting the most out of the journey. Users can follow the route and find, and pre-book accommodation or sightseeing visits along the way. When they visit our Business Club members, pinpointed on our routes, they will automatically collect a stamp at each venue they visit to create a record of their trip.

While we do not store or record personal details of any of our iPhone App users, by adopting Apple’s proprietary log-in system, we can still provide our business club members with precise data on how many users have opened their listing, called, emailed or visited the website, and most importantly, how many people have actually visited the location to collect a stamp.

How many other advertising avenues can provide such precise data, for just £150 a year? if you sign up before the 31st December 2024, you will receive all that for free.

Signing up is easy. Just visit GTpassport.com/businessclub and enter a few details and we’ll be in touch to complete the process.

Scottish Tourism preparing for re-opening from 15th July 2020

Posted on by GT Passport

The Cabinet Minister for Rural Economy and Tourism, Fergus Ewing, has announced his intention to re-open the Scottish tourism sector for business from the 15th July. As such Scottish businesses in the sector are now being advised to prepare to open, with strict adherance to government guidelines and with all appropriate safety recommendations in place, on or after that date.

Hermitage Castle, Newcastleton [Photo: Visit Scotland/ Paul Tomkins]

The tourism industry in the UK has been hit hard with shops, hotels and restaurants being asked to closed down virtually overnight when it became clear the deadly strain of Coronavirus was sweeping through the country unhindered. For some, the government’s unprecedented furlough scheme has brought a measure of relief and will ensure the business will still be able to open again, but the full impact of the safety recommendations on infrastructure and staffing levels, remains to be seen.

For GT Passport, the lockdown had severely impacted the ability to engage with businesses along its Grand Touring routes in the UK and EU. Now that the sector is begining to see a new dawn approaching, GT Passport will, once again, be reaching out to businesses around the South of Scotland, The Midlands, East Anglia, Wales and the Southern England, to help support their engagement with staycationers and road-trippers. The pent up demand for these kinds of holidays has the potential to create a boom in domestic travel. GT Paspsort aims to ensure that the rural and remote economies which are so often bypassed by tourism agencies will also be able to enjoy an uptick in visitors.

The Kelpies, Falkirk [Photo: Visit Scotland/ Kenny Lam]

Of course, increased visitor numbers can also create problems for some communities, and for a few, a growth in visitor numbers may be unwelcome. GT Passport’s goal to support the local businesses, by increasing foot-fall along the promoted routes, includes a willingness to engage with these local communities to understand how best to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism, while still drawing out the enormous benefits of attracting visitors.

The Dunbar Bear [Photo: Visit Scotland/ Kenny Lam]

But in the mean time, as Scotland prepares to re-open for business, GT Passport is preparing interactive guidebooks for both “The High Road” and “South of Scotland” grand touring routes and invites businesses that have a presence along these routes to get involved and secure a full-page listing inside the books and on the GT Passport website.

For more information of the GT Passport touring routes in Scotland, England & Wales, and the EU, visit GTpassport.com. Alternatively, you can email info@gtpassport.com or send a Direct Message to Skinidin House Media via LinkedIn.

Throughout June and July, @GTPassport will be posting a virtual tour of the routes on Instagram starting with the South of Scotland. Please follow to see more.

Bridges over The River Forth [Photo: Visit Scotland/ Stuart Brunton]

Main Image: The South of Scotland grand touring route [photo: Visit Scotland/ Cut Media]