ASK Linda McAllister if she has any particular memories from all her years with the VisitScotland Expo and she laughs and says: “Two words. Ash cloud”.

Seven years ago this month, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in south-east Iceland caused massive disruption to European airspace and led to the cancellation of 100,000 flights.

“That happened on day two of the expo,” recalls Linda. “I got a phone call that morning from my boss at the time, saying a volcano’s gone off in Iceland. I remember saying, yeah, right, and then putting the television on.

“I had a sense of dawning horror: we had 500 international buyers over here, many of whom would have to get international flights home. We set up an emergency desk at the SEC and helped those who needed help.

“We also had a large group of journalists over. They were trapped in Glasgow for over a week, so we pulled together some interesting itineraries for them.

“They went to Oran Mor to see A Play, A Pie and a Pint , and actually it all worked out really well.”

Linda, 40, who is originally from Motherwell, is senior manager in Intermediary Marketing & Strategic Partnerships at VisitScotland. The team she works with manages all the international buyers who come over for the annual Expo – this year’s edition runs tomorrow and Thursday at the SEC. The international buyers are important. Last year, at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre, there were more than 500 of them, from 31 countries. This year, so far, there are 636 from 30 overseas countries.

“What we are interested in is making sure that when we launch great consumer campaigns, or inspire interest and demand in Scotland, they achieve results. We need to understand the science of how travel is distributed in all our key international markets.

“To do that,” she adds, “we determine who the key players are, and how they work. We build relationships with buyers in international markets who would be responsible for getting the ‘Scotland product’ out to consumers.

“These guys will predominantly be tour operators, travel agents and airline vacation brands, and we work with them to give them ideas and inspiration as to how to develop a Scotland holiday product in their own markets.”

Thus the other side of the coin at this week’s expo will be the Scots-based tourism companies. Scotland’s largest overseas markets are the US and Germany, and while buyers from these countries will be out in force at the SEC this week, Scotland’s global tourism appeal is such that there will also be buyers from Australia, China, Taiwan and Brazil.

A number of international airlines are also showing increased interest, thanks to the number of direct flights to and from Glasgow Airport.

The international buyers will be put up in seven or eight core Glasgow hotels, all of them three, four or five-star places. “The hotels understand,” says Linda, “that it’s an investment, almost, for future bookings. And that’s the same approach we take to the ‘Fam trips’ programme.” Fam is short for familiarisation. “These are three or four-night trips that we offer both pre and post-expo to expose the best of the country to these buyers and help develop a much wider product base.”

This week will see 23 fam-trips in all, ranging from Shetland to Gretna and most places in between. Luxury mini-coaches and 40-50-seater coaches ferry the buyers around. Some experienced buyers opt for DIY trips: they’re given a hire car, and accommodation, and set off on specific itineraries. “They are really looking,” says Linda, “to get under the skin of a more authentic experience by themselves.”

Ten of this year’s fam-trips will home in on a specific concept or idea thought to have potential. Luxury food and drink in Scotland, say. Or one that brings together film, TV and book locations.

Tourism, of course, is hugely important to the Scottish economy. The most recent figures from VisitScotland say that in the second quarter of last year, international visitors broke through the £500 million spend barrier for the first time, an achievement described as “truly extraordinary” by the organisation’s chief executive, Malcolm Roughead.

Food and drink, culture and history, and the scenic Highlands and islands are all big, traditional draws. Golf, too: the economic value of golf tourism and events to the country has increased to £286m per year following what is officially described as a bumper decade.

Newer models have been emerging too. The Oscar-winning Disney/Pixar hit Brave, which was set in medieval Scotland, generated a joint marketing campaign alongside VisitScotland – the film, it was said in 2013, was expected to generate more than £140m in business for Scotland.

“The one niche market that has really grown leaps and bounds in recent years,” says Linda McAllister, “is wildlife and active. We’re seeing it being incorporated much more into wider touring activities. Particularly from North America and Europe, we’re seeing tour operators including an element of ‘soft adventure’ into their itineraries that we hadn’t seen previously. That can be anything from a gentle walk to something adventurous, like kayaking or watersports.”

Over the next two days at the SEC, then, the VisitScotland Expo will be a convivial but busy sort of place, at which hundreds of exhibitors will be pitching their wares and their services to buyers not just from abroad but from the rest of the UK too.

If Eyjafjallajökull stays quiet, all should go well.