John Lennon: Success that left other countries wondering

THE last Year of Homecoming in 2009 was definitely a success, partly down to the timing of the downturn in 2008, although it was already being planned by then.

Scotland had a year-long campaign ready to roll out and countries like Germany and Spain were left looking at us and wondering how we had done it.

Another important element was that it was really useful in the tourism industry for building new databases of the Scottish diaspora. Ancestral tourism is so big these days. It also allowed the campaign to put its brand on existing events, such as the festivals in Edinburgh. The crucial thing with Homecoming is that it runs throughout the year. The Commonwealth Games will only be a two-week event, but you can link Homecoming to big events like Hogmanay.

If you look at some of the new events, you can see there has been a real effort to use some of the world-class facilities that Scotland now has, in cycling for example. There are obviously some pretty safe options in the programme, like golf events, but it would be stupid to leave them out.

There has clearly been some thought about what should be included in the programme, instead of opening it up to everyone, like Ireland is doing with this year’s “Gathering”.

The other interesting thing is that Homecoming has such strong political support. It’s hard to imagine someone like David Cameron or even Barack Obama getting so involved.

• Professor John Lennon is director of the Moffat Centre at Glasgow Caledonian University.