PROMOTING SCOTLAND AS THE NEXT HOST OF THE RYDER CUP

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1 Background Scotland is the next Host Nation of The Ryder Cup, when the matches will be played at Gleneagles from the 26 th to the 28 th of September To make the most of this opportunity at the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah a Team Scotland approach was adopted to deliver an extensive programme of activity designed to ensure Scotland received the maximum benefit from its presence at that event. The programme was led by VisitScotland and its EventScotland team, and included representatives from the Scottish Government as well as Scottish Development International. The team also worked closely with key representatives from The Gleneagles Hotel, Perth & Kinross Council, Tayside Police and Ryder Cup Europe as part of the planning process for the 2014 event. The Prize The 2012 event in Chicago was the last Ryder Cup to take place before the Gleneagles matches in 2014, and provided a major opportunity to promote Scotland in North America, one of our most important markets, which attracts around 400,000 visitors and a spend of around 300m every year. Golf is also a crucial market for Scottish tourism, bringing in around 220m every year to the Scottish economy. The 2014 Ryder Cup is expected to bring an economic benefit to Scotland of around 100m during the week of the event alone. Our Aims Our aims in attending the event in Medinah were to: Represent, and raise the profile of Scotland on the global stage at one of the world s biggest sporting events; Emphasise the position of Scotland as the Home of Golf, and as a country with a strong reputation for hosting successful world class events; Commence the handover to Scotland as the next Host Nation for the Ryder Cup; Observe and learn from the hosting of this year s event, to inform final preparations and planning for 2014; and Engage with specifically targeted business, tourism and golf contacts in the USA; Ministerial Attendance The 2012 Ryder Cup was attended by the First Minister and the Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport. Activity delivered 1

2 A wide range of activity was developed working with key Scottish and American businesses, as well as including promotional activity, business engagement, spotlighting Scotland in the closing ceremony, operations and encouraging thousands of golf fans to come to Scotland. The overall cost of Team Scotland s participation at the 2012 Ryder Cup was 468,580, and every effort was made to minimise costs including liaising with partner organisations to secure preferred rates where possible and identifying in-kind support. Scotland s strong presence at Medinah not only helped build and strengthen relationships with the world s media ahead of Ryder Cup 2014 but resulted in significant press, broadcast and online coverage throughout the globe, particularly following the official handover ceremony. On the Monday morning following the Medinah event more than 9,000 online articles mentioned the 2014 Ryder Cup and Gleneagles or Scotland. In addition, our Gleneagles 2014 stand was seen by tens of thousands of spectators on the ground and millions watching at home. In total 22 staff from VisitScotland, EventScotland and SDI attended the event for one of our biggest sales missions ever - to bring golfers to the Home of Golf. Their roles ranged from manning exhibition stands, media relations, event management, Ryder Cup 2014 planning meetings, business development meetings and networking with key stakeholders. Ministers were supported by a team of 12 officials from the Scottish Government with a policy, logistical support and media engagement remit, both at the event and as part of wider trade mission activity. This activity included: Consumer Promotion Scotland s largest ever consumer golf exhibition stand was created to promote Scotland as the Home of Golf to the audience of over 200,000 Ryder Cup visitors and spectators during the week. Open over 12 hours per day from the first practice day until the close of play on Sunday 30 th, the stand was prominently sited beside the 1 st hole of the Championship Course, and attracted more than 10,000 spectators during the week as well as over 4,000 competition entries. Business Engagement Programme The 2012 Ryder Cup provided Scotland with an exceptional opportunity to engage with a number of high-level business leaders, and events were held to develop relationships and networks across a wide range of business areas. This guest engagement programme hosted a total of 80 guests with guests identified and invited by each partner organisation, based on criteria set according to their priority areas: potential and existing inward investors, GlobalScots, tourism and events. The First Minister held an official Scotland 2014 reception at Medinah for over 350 guests including all the major attendees at the event both from Europe and the USA, including Ryder Cup officials, sponsors, broadcasters 2

3 and former players, all of whom will be directly involved in the development and promotion of the 2014 event at Gleneagles. The First Minister also held a dinner for 120 guests invited by each partner organisation according to their priority areas, including: potential and existing inward investors, GlobalScots, golf, tourism and events contacts The First Minister and SE Chief Executive also hosted a roundtable with senior executives from the North American oil and gas industry during the Ryder Cup. VisitScotland CEO hosted a business tourism unit and travel trade event with around 25 key business contacts to discuss product development, partnership working and promotion of Scotland as a destination for business events. Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International s participation in the Ryder Cup was part of a wider business programme in the US, where the Scottish Enterprise Chief Executive held an additional 11 separate high level business meetings with existing and potential new investors in the US. 13 Scottish food and drink and golf companies also participated in a trade mission, led by the First Minister, to identify new opportunities to grow their presence in the US market and explore business opportunities around Scotland's hosting of the Ryder Cup in Visitscotland CEO met with leading ancestral organisation to discuss Homecoming VisitScotland Chairman hosted a dinner with 100 key stakeholders to promote Scotland as a place to visit and invest in. While in the US, the First Minister and Scottish Enterprise Chief Executive made investment announcements collectively creating 100 new jobs and safe-guarding many more. This included AAM's announcement of a new 3.6 million centre of excellence at its Albion Automotive site in Glasgow while Albert Bartlett, one of the Scottish companies attending the trade mission announced a deal to supply American supermarket giant Walmart with its Rooster brand. Media Engagement More than 800 media representatives worldwide were accredited for the 2012 Ryder Cup, and promoting Scotland and providing information about the 2014 Ryder Cup to that audience was a major goal from our presence at Medinah. As well as liaising with media throughout the week with dedicated staff based permanently in the event media centre, an official media function was hosted to which all accredited media were invited. This opportunity was used to present Scotland as The Home of Golf and the Host Nation of the 2014 Ryder Cup, and included Scottish musical acts provided by Celtic Connections, food prepared by Gleneagles Head Chef, and drinks provided by Diageo. This proactive programme of media engagement resulted in a number of broadcast interviews taking place across US and UK TV networks, and on Monday 1 st October alone, more than 9,000 online news articles mentioned Gleneagles and Scotland as the next hosts of the Ryder Cup. VisitScotland CEO hosted a lunch with 12 leading travel and lifestyle journalists to promote Scotland. He also held several individual meetings with key media contacts. 3

4 In the USA, NBC Television secured its highest viewer ratings since 1999, confirming the Ryder Cup as one of the highest profile golf tournaments in the world. The Handover The Ryder Cup Closing Ceremony and handover to Scotland was an important event and the TV coverage over the course of the week was expected to reach more than half a billion homes worldwide. The Closing ceremony provided an important opportunity to put Scotland in the spotlight and to highlight this the ceremony featured a short film showing Scotland preparing to host the event in 2014, live music from two of Scotland s most renowned artists, Julie Fowlis and Nicola Benedetti and a celebratory speech from the First Minister. During the ceremony the First Minister was presented with the Silver Putter, symbolic of Scotland becoming the Host Nation for the 2014 Ryder Cup. Observation Programme Attending this year s Ryder Cup provided the final opportunity to gain valuable insights into the operational delivery of the event, informing our preparations for To make full use of this opportunity an extensive observation study was conducted at Medinah attended by all those involved in the planning and delivery of the 2014 event at Gleneagles. Presentations were made by the organisers of the 2012 event, including areas such as transport, policing and security, volunteering, media and broadcast operations, and site infrastructure. In addition the 2012 Junior Ryder Cup was attended, in order to inform plans in place to deliver the 2014 Junior Ryder Cup at Blairgowrie Golf Club, and to mark the handover of that event to Scotland. All learnings and observations from this programme are being collated by VisitScotland s research team following the return from Chicago, and will be used to inform Scotland s plans for Guest Lists VisitScotland does not routinely publish invitation lists. We are currently working with partners to ensure we meet our obligations in respect of publication of personal data under the terms of the Data Protection Act (1998). Subject to individuals consent we will update information shortly. Costs The overall cost of Team Scotland s participation at the 2012 Ryder Cup was 468,580 and is broken down below. 4

5 Ryder Cup budget summary Description Cost Accommodation 80, Logistics 8, Programme 202, delivery Marketing/branding 20, Exhibition Stand 83, Office costs 20, Flights 54, Total 468,