Cycling mission to Netherlands

Perthshire businesses have travelled to the most bikefriendly capital city in the world to extol the virtues of cycling in Scotland.

They travelled to Amsterdam as part of a VisitScotland Business Development Mission (BDM).

Last year, Scotland welcomed 115,000 visitors from the Netherlands, who generated £62 million for the economy.

Representatives from Blair castle, Fisher’s Hotel, Atholl Palace Hotel, Splash White Water Rafting and Errichel House helped to promote Perthshire as a destination.

Peter Syme, managing director of Splash, which operates in Aberfeldy, said: “Our Scotland businesses have seen a large increase in European visitors this year, especially from the Netherlands.

“At the weekend, we had another group of eight to add to the several hundred Dutch guests we have helped introduce to adventure and Scotland.”

Judy Mariens, senior market manager for Europe at VisitScotland, said: “We want our Dutch tour operators to be inspired by suppliers they meet at the event and eventually create new products which will enable them to send even more visitors to Scotland. At the same time, we want to give a chance for Scottish SMEs to internationalise, grow their businesses and gain better knowledge and understanding of the Dutch market.”