苏格兰旅游局在中国新年（2019年2月5日）之际推出了一款针对数百万中国社交媒体用户的新应用，旨在推动苏格兰成为游客的主要目的地。
A new app targeting millions of Chinese social media users has been launched by VisitScotland on Chinese New Year (5 February 2019), in a major push to promote Scotland as a key destination for travellers.
此款迷你应用设置在每月拥有10亿活跃用户（MAU）的中国社交媒体平台微信上的苏格兰旅游局账号“旅行Scotland”中。
The mini-app is housed under VisitScotland’s account, 旅行Scotland (Travel Scotland), on Chinese social media platform WeChat, which has one billion monthly active users (MAU).
中国是国家旅游组织的首选市场，中国市场的国际旅游预计支出为2577亿美元，该应用的推出也是对中国市场广泛关注的一个组成部分。
It forms part of a larger focus on China, now a priority market by the national tourism organisation, which has an estimated international tourism expenditure of $257.7 billion.
自2011年以来，中国到苏格兰的游客数量增长了316％*，英国旅游局预测在未来五年，中国访英游客数量将增加近一半。
Since 2011, there has been a 316% increase* in visitor numbers from China to Scotland with VisitBritain – the tourism body for the UK – predicting Chinese visitor numbers across the whole of the UK will rise by almost half over the next five years.
此款迷你应用将苏格兰划分为四个地区，用户能够浏览先期入驻此应用的200个苏格兰企业 ，这些企业涵盖了活动、景点、餐饮以及购物领域。这些企业都推出了与中国游客市场互动的定制产品，例如配备中文信息材料或说普通话的工作人员。该应用程序也可添加其他企业。
The mini app divides Scotland into four regions and allows users to browse an initial 200 Scottish businesses – activities, attractions, food and drink, and shopping – which have tailored their products to engage with the Chinese visitor market, for example, by having mandarin translations or mandarin speaking staff. The app will allow for additional businesses to be added.
去年，苏格兰与中国市场的合作更为紧密起来：首条中国--苏格兰直飞航线通航；最大规模的参加苏格兰首屈一指的B2B旅游贸易活动“苏格兰旅游局博览会”的中国买家队伍；以及苏格兰旅游局在中国推出的社交媒体频道。
Last year saw increased engagement with the Chinese market in Scotland including the first ever direct flight from China to Scotland, the largest contingent of Chinese buyers attending Scotland’s premier B2B travel trade event VisitScotland Expo, and the launch of social media channels in China by VisitScotland.
苏格兰旅游局于去年11月组织了迄今为止最大规模的中国旅游贸易代表团，16家企业加入了国家旅游机构在广州、北京和西安的业务发展推广活动。中国业务发展计划让苏格兰供应商有机会与中国买家面对面交流，帮助他们为中国市场度身定制未来的产品和服务。
VisitScotland hosted its biggest Chinese travel trade mission to date in November last year. Sixteen businesses joined the national tourism body on the business development mission in Guangzhou, Beijing and Xi’An. The Chinese business development mission gave Scottish suppliers the opportunity to engage with Chinese buyers face-to-face to help them to shape future products for the Chinese market.
上周，苏格兰旅游局被2019年胡润英中关系最佳贡献奖评为“入境旅游服务的英中关系杰出贡献者”。
Last week, VisitScotland was recognised in the Hurun UK-China Awards 2019 as “Outstanding Contributor to UK-China Relations, for Services to Inbound Tourism”.
苏格兰旅游局首席执行官马尔孔∙罗杰赫德表示：“一段时期以来，我们已经认识到了中国的旅游市场潜力，现在中国市场已被苏格兰旅游局列为首选市场。苏格兰中国游客的数量目前占英国所有中国游客的近五分之一，通过增强航空连接，苏格兰有机会进一步发展该市场。
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “We have recognised for some time the tourism potential of China and it is now considered a priority market by VisitScotland. Scotland currently accounts for almost a fifth of all Chinese visitors to the UK and with enhanced air connectivity there is a real opportunity to grow that market further.
“此款迷你应用将为游客提供实用信息，让他们可以轻松获得苏格兰许多为中国市场提供服务的旅游业务，并让他们更便捷地规划他们的首次乃至下次访问苏格兰的旅程。
“The mini-app will give visitors practical information at their fingertips on the many tourism businesses in Scotland who are catering for the Chinese market, making it even easier for them to plan their first or even next visit to our shores.
“这款应用进一步补充了我们苏格兰的合作伙伴在建立和中国旅游运营商之间关系方面正在开展的工作，以支持创造更多产品来服务于这一重要的市场。”
“It further complements the ongoing work we are doing in building relationships between our Scottish partners and Chinese tour operators to support the creation of more products to suit this important market.
*基于2009-2011和2015-2017的三年移动平均值。资料来源：IPS。
*Based on a three-year rolling average of 2009-2011 with 2015-2017. Source: IPS.