How the Germans will see us...watch VisitScotland's new European promo

GERMAN and French travellers are being targeted in a new tourism campaign aiming to attract "culturally savvy and affluent" visitors to the Capital.

The £320,000 VisitScotland campaign hopes to encourage visitors to take city breaks in Edinburgh before Hogmanay.

Tourism chiefs hope to beat the effects of the credit crunch by targeting affluent young professionals who can still afford at least two holidays a year.

They say that when people tighten their budgets that holidays tend to be one of the last things to go.

The campaign includes a video featuring the slogan "welcome to our life", which will be posted on a range of websites, including Le Routard, France's version of Rough Guide, as well as Expedia and Yahoo in France and Germany.

Among the Edinburgh scenes featured in the video are a lively Royal Mile pub, the Beltane Fire Festival, the launch of the city's Christmas lights and Hogmanay celebrations.

More than 123,000 inserts about Edinburgh are also to be distributed through upmarket magazines Geosaison, described as being similar to National Geographic, Kuitur News and Pranz.

Michael Jarvis, international marketing manager at VisitScotland, said: "By affluent we do not mean purely luxury visitors but it is people who have a reasonable degree of affluence to afford a city break that is a second or third holiday of the year.

"Obviously there is a credit crunch but generally holidays are one of the last things people cut back on.

"At the moment, we're not seeing too much effect on the number of visits we're getting from Europe. (Visits to Edinburgh from) the States have suffered because the exchange rate is not good, but the Euro is buying a lot more than it did a year ago so Scotland has come down in price."

The marketing push specifically targets Germany and France because of the availability of cheap flights to Edinburgh from cities in each country.

It also involves the use of direct mail to promote the city, alongside Glasgow, as city break destinations to over 400,000 European VisitScotland newsletter subscribers.

"In our research, one of the things Edinburgh always scores highly for is its friendly people," said Mr Jarvis.

"People say they love meeting the locals and that is why we use the strapline 'welcome to our life' internationally – it is welcoming people in.

"It doesn't have to be summer to do that and we are trying to promote that there is plenty to enjoy year-round."

Graham Birse, deputy chief executive of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "Any money that can be spent on marketing the city break offer off-peak is welcome and productive for Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland.

"At times like these, you don't curl up into a ball and hope everything goes away. You have to get out there and have confidence in your offer and try to promote that."