Drive to attract super yachts sets sail on ‘Cool Route’

● West coast bid to bring in superboats ● Region added to existing campaign

Luxury super yachts are set to flock to the west coast of Scotland following a marketing drive to turn the area into a destination for the exclusive boats.

The region has been added to an existing marketing campaign, known as the Cool Route, which aims to attract the privately-owned yachts, which measure more than 24 feet long and are professionally crewed.

Around a dozen super yachts visit Scotland every year, according to Sail Scotland, the national marketing organisation for sailing and marine tourism - with many travelling between the Baltics and Scandinavia en route to the Mediterranean or the US,

The project, marketed by the Moffat Institute at Glasgow Caledonian University, aism to showcase Scotland’s coastline as one of the most attractive super yacht cruising destinations in the world.

Giancarlo Fedeli, principal investigator for the Cool Route at Glasgow Caledonian University, said: “One specific part of the project is to target superyachts and a lot of marketing activity will aim at this particular segment. There’s higher spending there.

“We are aiming at small and medium enterprises and trying to get them involved in the booking website, so visitors will consider using their services.

“It is crucial to communicate to all marine operators

0 Roman Abramovich moors his yacht to take his dog for a walk on Arran and beyond, the benefits the Cool Route can bring in terms of visibility and market reach.”

The entire Cool Route campaign - which takes in shorelines from Cork in the South of Ireland to Western and Northern Ireland, Western Scotland and then to the Faroe Islands and up to Tromso in Western Norway - is coordinated by the Cork Institute of Technology in Ireland, supported by regional partners in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway and the Faroe Islands.

It also aims to help to generate “vibrant, competitive and sustainable communities” along the route.

Lifestyle wesbite Superyachts.comhasalreadyclaimed that Scotland “is becoming a real yachting hotspot”, praising its “rugged, elaborate coastline”.

Small businesses are being encouraged to register for free on an online platform, which aims to link local enterprises to their ports, while the drive will also offer tourism information for the area.

In 2013 Glasgow Airport opened a £4m private jet terminal, which allows owners and guests of super yachts to arrive and depart quickly.

In the summer of 2015 Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich took his £1.5 billion superyachtupscotland’swest coast.