A DIGITAL campaign profiling Edinburgh as a top youth tourism destination has reached almost five million people across the world.

#UncoverEdinburgh, which received a £40,000 Growth Fund award from VisitScotland, had a total reach of 4.9 million across various social channels.

The push, led by Youth Travel Edinburgh and supported by the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group and Marketing Edinburgh, encouraged visitors aged 18-26 from key European markets to come to Scotland’s capital on a year-round basis by pairing an Edinburgh influencer with another with similar special interests from cities like Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam.

The Herald:

Above: Edinburgh, by Davide Verri and Nicanor Garcia

The campaign brought 10 pairs of influencers to Edinburgh who collectively created over 200 pieces of content. Highlights included a video from parkour athletes Alex Schauer, from Austria, and Scot Robbie Griffith which reached over 431,000 people.

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The architect and renowned photographer Nicanor Garcia’s Instagram story was another highlight which had an organic reach of over 200,000.

The campaign brought together many from Edinburgh’s tourism industry and digital assets highlighting Edinburgh’s tourism offering for young people were created for businesses to use on social media.. Some 45 GIFs were made and downloaded by 74 different businesses.

The campaign was Edinburgh’s first destination-led campaign aimed at young visitors.

Scottish parkour athlete Robbie Griffith and Austria's Alex Schauer power up their best moves and race to the Royal Mile. Filmed and directed by Johnstone Macpherson-Stewart

Youth travel is the fastest growing segment of global tourism and Edinburgh is second only to London for young visitors to the UK.

By promoting Edinburgh as a year-round destination, the campaign supported the Edinburgh 2020 Tourism Strategy, which calls for growth in the visitor economy of three per cent per annum and prioritises stimulating this growth in the October to March period.

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The campaign, using Scotland’s 2018 Year of Young People as a platform, showcased as much of the city as possible. Music lovers were filmed in a recording studio in Leith, while the parkour video showed athletes race from South Queensferry and Leith to the Mercat Cross.

Pete Duncan, chair of Youth Travel Edinburgh, said: “We wanted a very different campaign to present specific aspects of Edinburgh to the growing youth market, a target audience that lives and breathes social media.

“We chose Instagrammers, bloggers and YouTubers with a niche following in interests like vintage fashion, music, Harry Potter and parkour. Both hosts and guests loved the city. As well as the direct interest from their followers during 2018, we’ve created long term advocates for the capital.”

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Paula Ward, VisitScotland regional leadership director, said: “#UncoverEdinburgh has been a huge success in showcasing Edinburgh to visitors across the world as a top, year-round destination for young people.

“Digital partnership initiatives like this are what VisitScotland’s Growth Fund is all about. We want to champion collaboration, spearhead digital innovation and make sure every part of Scotland makes the most of its remarkable tourism offering and understands its ripple effect of success, well-being and prosperity.”

Youth Travel Edinburgh is a 100-plus strong business group for tour operators in the tourism sector in Edinburgh with a particular interest in the youth market. It is constituted and chaired by Pete Duncan of Radical Travel and represented on the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group, and #UncoverEdinburgh was their first marketing campaign.

The VisitScotland Growth Fund supports collaborative tourism marketing projects which focus on growth and ensure that visitors experience the best of Scotland. To be eligible, applicants must place a strong emphasis on digital marketing and the creation of digital content assets.