Travel website TripAdvisor has struck a partnership deal with Scotland's tourism agency to boost the Scottish economy.
First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the VisitScotland deal, a first for TripAdvisor in Europe, in New York, BBC News reported.
Speaking on the final day of her visit to the US, the first minister said it would promote Scottish tourism to 70 million potential new visitors. The two organizations will work on a joint marketing campaign in the UK.
Sturgeon said: "Our tourism industry has always been strong—spending by North American visitors leapt by almost 28% to £633 million ($783.2 million) in the last year alone. However, it's crucial that we ensure Scotland's appeal reaches as wide an audience as possible."
She added that this collaboration will ensure that millions more people will understand Scotland's appeal and boost Scotland's tourism industry for years to come.
"The fact TripAdvisor has chosen Scotland as its first European partner shows just how resilient they believe Scotland's economy to be and the fact we were voted the second-best country in the world to visit by the Rough Guide means site visitors are guaranteed a good holiday," she said.
Based on the deal, VisitScotland will have access to the TripAdvisor website and app to directly upload VisitScotland content to the TripAdvisor site.
People who were not considering Scotland but were looking at something else will be shown material encouraging a visit to Scotland. Due to projections and estimates, the deal could give a £150 million boost to tourism in Scotland over the next three years.
Latest VisitScotland figures for 2015 show there were just under 14.9 million overnight visitors and 124 million day trips were taken in Scotland, generating nearly £9 billion ($11.1 billion).
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