Nairn named as a global holiday hot spot
December 20th, 2009 | 
Author: The Scotland on Sunday newspaper reports that according to Trip Advisor, Nairn came second in an online poll of the top-ten best places to visit in 2010.
…the resort of Nairn, on the Moray coast, is about to undergo an extraordinary resurrection after being voted the second-most favoured global destination for 2010. The accolade has been bestowed by TripAdvisor, the world’s most influential travel website, which quizzed 3,000 online users on their choice as the hot vacation spots for the coming year.
Well, it’s a surprising report, certainly. But Tom Peterkin of the ‘Scotland on Sunday’ erred ever so slightly in his article.
TripAdvisor.com DID survey 3000 Americans for their views on Travel Trends, but they state that the selection of the ‘Top Five World Destinations for 2010′ is based on site data, including increases in search activity and postings on their site for the past year.
The full Press Release is at http://www.tripadvisor.com/PressCenter-i274-c1-Press_Releases.html
So where did all those enquiries for Nairn on TripAdvisor.com come from?
What has changed to make Nairn a travel hotspot? The beaches, golf courses, range of hotels and restaurants have all been there for many years. A centre for touring the Highlands? Yes, well, that’s always been there too. And visitor numbers have been stable, no more.
Tilda Swinton’ film festival? Admirable, high profile, different. But would it bring many hits to TripAdvisor.com?
One new item is an album of photographs on WEBSHOTS.com which shows locations mentioned in an unpublished book set mainly in Nairn in 1940.
See http://news.webshots.com/album/560500856sHFOFP
The novel concerns an RAF unit investigating psychic warfare in WW2, rather before the Americans became involved, e.g. as described in the current film ‘The men who stare at goats’. Hits are recorded as 24,474 in two years, currently at about 600 hits a week.
The Webshots album is filed under ‘Military’. There is a Webshot MILITARY ALBUMS RANKINGS LIST, which shows the Nairn album listed at No. 628 out of 14,000 albums today (it changes daily). See http://www.webshots.com/members/topalbums/news/military_top.html
In the US, there is much interest in military photographs, e.g. ships, submarines, aircraft, missiles, military hardware, theatres of war, training bases.
Many Americans simply surf through the MILITARY ALBUMS RANKING list, picking out those that interest them. They may think ‘Psychic Warfare? where’s this Nairn place?’ and straightaway click on TripAdvisor.com, to see if it’s for real, and where the heck Nairn is.
Hence all those enquiries for Nairn. Convoluted, maybe. But that’s the internet for you. 24,474 hits is a lot. 600 a week equals 30,000 a year, which is even more.
Hence Nairn get’s the #2 spot in the ‘TOP FIVE WORLD DESTINATIONS 2010′ list.
All we need now is a replica ‘Psychic Warfare’ RAF unit, to really fetch those visitors here.