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Privacy notice
Last updated: 19 September 2024
Our privacy commitment to you
At VisitAberdeenshire we are committed to respecting your privacy, keeping your data safe and not doing anything with it that you wouldn’t reasonably expect.
This Privacy notice describes how we collect and use your personal information. We’ve updated our Privacy notice and we’ll update it again from time to time when further changes come into effect, so please check back in - you can see the date it was last changed above.
What this privacy notice will tell you:
- The information we collect
- How we will use it
- Where we collect it from
- How long we store it
- Our legal basis for processing your personal data
- Digital services
- Your rights and how you can see, update or delete your personal data
What information do we collect and what do we use it for?
Personal information is any information that can be used to identify you. For example, it can include information such as your name, date of birth, email address, postal address, and telephone number as well as information relating to interests and activities.
We will use your data to:
- Provide you with the services, products or information you asked for
- Send you information about Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire we believe is most relevant to you
- Keep a record of your relationship with us
- Ensure we know how you prefer to be contacted
- To periodically carry out research to establish insights and better understand your preferences
- Understand how we can improve our services or information
- If you enter your details onto our online forms, and you don’t ‘submit’ the form, we will not retain the information that you have entered
- Manage events
Where do we collect your information from?
We collect information in the following ways:
When you give it to us directly: you may give us your information in order to enter one of our competitions and prize draws, sign up to one of our events, use the online itinerary builder, sign up to our newsletter, respond to surveys or communicate with us via the contact web form.
When you give consent to third party organisations to share your personal data with us:
This information depends on your privacy settings and the responses you gave the third party at that time.
Photography and videography
In order to help us promote the region we use a range of images and video. In some instances these might be shared from partner organisations to us. We also commission our own photography and videography which can be downloaded from our Content Hub and be used by industry partners.
Our Digital Services
Cookies
Like most websites, we may use “cookies” to help us make our site – and the way you use it – better. Cookies mean that a website will remember you. They’re small text files that sites transfer to your computer (or phone or tablet). They make interacting with a website faster and easier – for example by automatically filling your name and address in text fields.
We may also use Google Analytics to monitor web traffic, however this data is anonymised and we cannot identify individuals. Our website developer and media buyer also have access to our Google Analytics to help make your web experience better and our adverts more targeted and relevant. You can find out more about Google Analytics here.
Social Media
When you use a social media platform and interact with VisitAberdeenshire, you do so by consenting to the terms and conditions of such platforms. This can include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube. For more information, please see their individual Privacy Notices.
If you use #beautifulABDN, #visitABDN, #madeinABDN, #springABDN, #summerABDN, #autumnABDN, #winterABDN, #ABDNwillwait, #rediscoverABDN, #majesticABDN or any other relevant hashtag on any social media platform it gives us the right to repost and your post may potentially appear within our marketing materials.
What’s on guide
The information included in our What's On Data (www.visitabdn.com/whats-on) has been supplied to VisitAberdeenshire by The List Limited and is subject to changes. Readers are advised to check with the venue or event organiser before relying in any way on the details published here. VisitAberdeenshire and The List Limited are unable to accept responsibility for any loss or liability arising from any errors, omissions or inaccuracies in these listings.
My ABDN
You can build your own personal itinerary on our website through our ‘My ABDN’ itinerary builder. If you would like to save your itineraries and access them at any time, you must create an account on our website. An email address and password are required for account set up. Once you have set up your account, your account details will be stored securely on our content management system (CMS). Please note that we cannot access your password. You can request for your account to be removed from our CMS at any time by contacting info@visitabdn.com.
Building profiles and targeting communications
We use profiling and screening techniques to ensure communications are relevant and timely, and to provide an improved experience for those who are engaged with us. Profiling also allows us to target our resources effectively, so we don’t waste them, or your time. Understanding your interests and needs helps us to make appropriate requests.
When building a profile we may analyse geographic, demographic and other information relating to you in order to better understand your interests and preferences in order to contact you with the most relevant communications.
In addition, by using cookies and related technologies as described above, we also may permit certain third party companies such as Facebook Pixel to help us tailor advertising that we think may be of interest to users and to collect and use other data about user activities on our Sites and/or Services (e.g., to allow them to tailor ads on third party services).
Facebook may deliver ads that might also place cookies and otherwise track user behaviour. Facebook may use information about user behaviour in order to provide customised advertisements across various services and products. In the course of providing these services, products or placing advertisements, Facebook may place or recognise a unique cookie on your computer and may record information to these cookies based upon your activities on any of our Sites and/or Services and on third party websites.
Our media buyer may set up and deliver adverts on our behalf, also accessing our Facebook pixel, Google Analytics and website cookies.
Facebook uses this cookie information according to their own privacy and security policies which you can find out more about here.
eNewsletters and invites
We send out emails to inspire and let you know about what to do and what’s on in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, including relevant newsletters and event invites. To provide these newsletters, we request contact details including but not limited to - your email address, country, and postcode.
As of 17 September 2019, we have updated our processes to allow us to track and record your full journey with us, this means that we can apply multiple tags to where you have signed up to our newsletters. Our software, Campaign Monitor, will also track your IP address which gives us information on your geographic location data, this helps us to target our newsletters appropriately.
We will only collect this data when we have your consent and retain it on a secure database. We store this data for 5 years after your last communication with us, unless you withdraw consent. If you withdraw consent your email address will be removed from our current mailing list within one month.
We make it easy for you to tell us how you want us to communicate, in a way that suits you. We include information on how to update your preferences or opt out when we send you marketing. If you don’t want to hear from us, that’s OK. Just click unsubscribe or let us know on info@visitabdn.com.
When you unsubscribe from our newsletters, your email address and the date of the unsubscribe will be added to a ‘suppression list’ on Campaign Monitor. Your email address will remain on this ‘suppression list’ indefinitely, as this will prevent VisitAberdeenshire from ever contacting you in error. If you would like your email address to be permanently deleted from Campaign Monitor, then please let us know by emailing info@visitabdn.com.
Market research
In order to understand our consumers better and ensure that our marketing and communications are relevant, we regularly carry out consumer and industry surveys. You may see these pop-up on our website, be promoted on our social media channels, or you may be sent a communication specifically asking you to share your thoughts. If you give us permission to contact you in the future for the purposes of market research via our pop-up survey on our website, please note that we will store your details (email address) for up to and contact you within 18 months of this date. By entering one of our prize draws you agree to be contacted in such ways (please see the below section for more details).
We will never share your data externally and we will only ever subscribe you to our newsletter if you ask us to do so. Your answers are anonymous and will only be used for the purposes of understanding our consumers better and informing our marketing.
Competitions and prize draws
We frequently run competitions and prize draws across our digital channels. Prizes may include travel, accommodation, entry into attractions or festival and event tickets. You can enter these competitions/prize draws through our website or on our social media channels, for example through lead generation adverts. We will retain the information you submitted for three months after the competition/prize draw has closed; during this time we will process any newsletter sign-up data as part of our contract to you and we will contact you for the purposes of market research.
By entering one of our competitions/prize draws you also agree to be contacted for the purposes of market research in relation to the specific campaign the prize draw/competition is associated with. We will contact you for the purposes of market research within ten weeks of the prize draw closing date, and your personal data (email address) will no longer be stored by us after three months of the competition/prize draw closing date. We will never share your data externally and we will only subscribe you to our newsletter if you ask us to do so.
If you enter a competition/prize draw through a lead generation advert on Facebook or Instagram, your information will be stored safely on the platform until the competition/prize draw Facebook auto-deletes the information 90 days after submitted.
On entering our competitions/prize draws you will have the option to also sign-up to our newsletter. Please note, this is not mandatory in order to enter our competitions and you can unsubscribe at any time from our newsletters. We will never share your data unless you opt-in to receiving newsletters from our prize partners. However, there may be the need to share limited personal data with our competition partners for the purposes of the competition only e.g. name for ticket collection.
If you do opt-in to receiving newsletters from our partners, we will have a data sharing agreement in place before sharing your data. Within 24 hours of us sharing the relevant data with our partner they will become the data controller, and therefore they will be responsible for managing your data.
Website
Our website is currently managed by Radiator Digital. We grant Radiator access to any details shared with our website - this may include entries to our prize draws, user account details for our My ABDN tool and user account details for the industry log-in/dashboard. This is only for the purposes of website development and maintenance.
Radiator Digital will not disclose any user information with third parties.
Hotjar
From July 2022, the VisitAberdeenshire website will have a widget installed that will help us better understand our site visitor’s behaviour. This software, known as Hotjar, tracks the user’s mouse behaviour for things like clicks, movements, and scrolls. Hotjar then converts this data into heatmaps, so we have a visual representation of the behaviour.
Please use the links below to learn how Hotjar will use the data in a GDPR-compliant manner:
Right of access
VisitAberdeenshire will be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a 'right of access' request. More information can be found at https://ico.org.uk.
If we do hold information about you, we will:
- Give you a description of it;
- Tell you why we are holding it;
- Tell how long we keep in for and the lawful basis for doing so;
- Tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
- Let you have a copy of the information in an a commonly used electronic format, unless the individual requests otherwise.
Working with us
VisitAberdeenshire is the officially recognised destination management organisation (DMO) for the city of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
Businesses and ‘Membership’ Associations are invited to work in partnership with us on a number of initiatives and at times will be asked to provide some personal information. This is so that we can plan and organise tourism or business to business activities across the region.
With a few exceptions, this information is limited to the kinds of information that can be found on a business card: first name, last name, job title, company/employer name, work address, work email, and work phone number.
We retain this data on a secure database within Really Simple Systems CRM and is in the legitimate interest of both the business and VisitAberdeenshire. The data will be held securely for the duration the business is operational unless otherwise directed by you. If you would like your details removed from our database, please contact us by email to request removal.
Some activities may include workshops, courses and events, trade shows, conferences, associations and product development assistance. Tourism Businesses can also build an online profile on the VisitAberdeenshire website.
We retain activity data on a secure database with most records being securely deleted after the activity has finished. We may retain some data for longer, for example the business name and email address so we can invite the business to similar activities throughout the calendar year or in some cases biennial events. We practice data minimisation and ensure we do not hold data longer than it is required. It is in the legitimate interest to both the business and VisitAberdeenshire.
Advertising Opportunities
From January 2023, businesses will have the opportunity to advertise with VisitAberdeenshire. By booking an Advertising Opportunity, you are consenting to sharing personal details with VisitAberdeenshire that we will keep on record for five years from the date you submit the booking form. After which, all personal details you shared will be destroyed.
For the full Terms & Conditions surrounding Advertising Opportunities with VisitAberdeenshire, click here.
When someone you know refers you to us
On occasion, someone you know, for example friends, family or a business associate, may give us your name and contact details as someone who is likely to be interested in the services VisitAberdeenshire provides.
We take appropriate measures to ensure that the personal information disclosed to us is kept secure, accurate and up to date and kept only for so long as is necessary for the purposes for which it is used.
We will contact you as soon as is practicable to do so and let you know we are processing your data in this way. Our legal basis for processing this data is legitimate interest. If there is no activity and no response forthcoming, we will securely delete your details within one month.
We never sell any of your personal information.
Industry eNewsletters
People will have the choice to sign up to our industry, travel trade,business event and Aberdeen Ambassador NetworkeNewsletters as well as our media mailing list. Most people will sign-up using a corporate email address with some using a personal email address. VisitAberdeenshire treats both sets of emails the same when carrying out direct marketing and will only send you eNewsletters when you have given us your consent.
When you submit a business listing to our website, you will have the option to opt-in to the relevant stakeholder list through our content management system. You can withdraw consent at any time.
If you unsubscribe your email address will be removed from our current mailing list immediately.
Submitting your business
To create a new tourism business listing or edit a live listing on our website you must create a log-in/account. Your business and personal details, including your contact information, are stored securely on our website’s content management system. Please note that we cannot access your password. Once you have created a log-in you can submit new business listings and edit live listings. Any change you make to your listing will be approved manually by a member of the VisitAberdeenshire team. You can also ‘claim’ a live listing on our website; we will accept or reject your request to ‘claim’ the listing. You will receive email notifications when any change has been approved or denied. When you submit your business to our website you will also have the choice to opt-in to our industry eNewsletter. You can withdraw consent at any time.
Submitting your event
We work directly with Data Thistle to populate our what’s on guide. When you choose to submit an event to our website you will be taken to a tailored VisitAberdeenshire form on Data Thistle’s website. Data Thistle provides us with a daily feed of all events taking place in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to populate our guide, including information on those it has already collected. As outlined in the Data Thistle’s terms and conditions here, any personal data provided to Data Thistle for public contact purposes such as ticketing enquiries, bookings and venue information, may be shared with us in our daily feed and may be displayed on our website.
‘Know Your Destination’ Online training modules
To gain access to the online training modules, you must submit your personal details, including your contact information, via our website or through email. These are stored securely for the sole purpose of creating an account for you on Mapal One. We will store these details until deleted or until you request removal. Once your account has been created on Mapal One, you will receive an automated email from the system to create a password. Please note that neither VisitAberdeenshire, nor Mapal One, can access your password.
What information we do share
VisitAberdeenshire work with a number of partner organisations namely, VisitScotland, VisitBritain, P&J Live, Opportunity North East, University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University, Scottish Enterprise and Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce. Our legal basis for processing and sharing this data is legitimate interest.
Our recruitment process
VisitAberdeenshire is the data controller for the information you provide during the recruitment process unless otherwise stated. If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information, please contact us at jobs@visitabdn.com
What will we do with the information you provide to us?
All of the information you provide during the process will only be used for the purpose of progressing your application, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary.
We will not share any of the information you provide during the recruitment process. The information you provide will be held securely by us whether the information is in electronic or physical format.
We will use the contact details you provide to us to contact you to progress your application. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for. Our legal basis for processing this information is legitimate interest.
What information do we ask for, and why?
We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not retain it for longer than three months following the conclusion of the recruitment process. We will then destroy this data confidentially for any unsuccessful candidates.
The information we ask for is used to assess your suitability for employment. You don’t have to provide what we ask for, but it might affect the progression of your application to the next stage if you don’t.
Shortlisting
Our hiring managers shortlist applications for interview. If you are shortlisted for interview you will be required to bring photographic identification usually a passport to confirm your rights to work in the United Kingdom. The information will be retained on file for 3 months following the conclusion of the recruitment process. We will then destroy this data confidentially for any unsuccessful candidates.
Conditional offer
If we make a conditional offer of employment we will ask you for information so that we can carry out pre-employment checks. You must successfully complete pre-employment checks to progress to a final offer. We are required to confirm the identity of our staff, their right to work in the United Kingdom and seek assurance as to their trustworthiness, integrity and reliability.
You will therefore be required to provide:
- Proof of your identity – you will be asked to attend our office with original documents, we will take copies
- We will contact your referees, using the details you provide in your application, directly to obtain references
- We will also ask you to complete a questionnaire about your health. This is to establish your fitness to work. This is done through a data processor (please see below)
If we make a final offer, we will also ask you for the following:
- Bank details – to process salary payments
- Emergency contact details – so we know who to contact in case you have an emergency at work
Use of data processors
Data processors are third parties who provide elements of our recruitment service for us. We have contracts in place with our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do so. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct which would generally be the employment contract duration.
How long is the information retained for?
If you are successful, the information you provide during the application process and employment will be retained by us as part of your employee file for the duration of your employment. The legal basis for this is contractual. The retention period following termination of contract is plus six years. This is based on the six-year time limit within which legal proceedings must be commenced as laid down under the Limitation Act 1980. The lawful basis for this legal obligation.
If you are unsuccessful at any stage of the process, the information you have provided until that point will be retained for three months from the closure of the recruitment process.
Information generated throughout the assessment process, for example interview notes, is retained by us for three months following the closure of the recruitment process.
How we make decisions about recruitment?
Final recruitment decisions are made by hiring managers and members of our recruitment team. All of the information gathered during the application process is taken into account.
You are able to ask about decisions made about your application by speaking to your contact within our recruitment team or by emailing jobs@visitabdn.com
Changes to our privacy notice
We keep our privacy notice under regular review and we will place any updates on this web page. This privacy notice was updated on the 18 August 2023.
How to contact us
Please contact us if you have any questions about our Privacy notice or information we hold about you at info@visitabdn.com, on +44(0)1224 900490 or write to us at:
VisitAberdeenshire
c/o P&J Live
East Burn Road
Aberdeen
AB21 9FX