Located in Glasgow, within Hampden Park Stadium, the Scottish Football Museum offers a wide variety of permanent and temporary exhibitions based around the history of Scottish football. In addition to thousands of historical objects, customers can enjoy a guided tour of the national stadium.
Since 2023, the museum has been using the FareHarbor booking system to manage the online sales of tickets, tour bookings, group packages and gift cards.
The museum’s Chief Executive, Neal Ross took us though the benefits using an online booking system has brought and the experiences they’ve had using one.
Read on to find out why an online booking system can make a real difference.
A tour group at the Scottish Football Museum
© Scottish Football Museum / Tony Gillespie
If you’re considering investing in an online booking system, the Scottish Football Museum offered the following advice.
“Online bookings systems for visitor attractions in 2026 are vital. We could not run our business without one and access to multiple sales channels means that you can access markets that normally would not be available to you.”
Finding an online booking system that met their needs, offered the museum several key benefits.
“Our contact at FareHarbor and all his colleagues use the phrase ‘turning lookers into bookers’. The customer lands on one page and does not need to leave this page to complete the booking. As a result, have seen an increase in bookings using FareHarbor.”
“Admin has been improved greatly as the whole FareHarbor system is diary-focused. All staff have access to the diary, and we also use it to allocate staff to specific tours. The diary is the key operational focus of our business. It is now a vital part of how we deliver tours. An online app allows staff to see what is happening at work that day, before they arrive.”
“The lead page on reporting always shows this year’s data vs last year’s data in graph format, which allows all stakeholders to see how we are performing.”
“We utilise the gift card function and just had a successful gift card campaign in December 2025, selling £8K of gift cards.”
“The system also allows for seamless integration with OTAs. We use Get your Guide and Trip Advisor, and roughly 20% of our sales comes from these channels. Total integration means that OTA’s have access to our availability and prices and bookings are made direct, with no extra administration required from staff.”
A tour of Hampden Park Stadium
© Scottish Football Museum / Tony Gillespie
Dissatisfied that their previous online booking system, was not offering the functionality or customer experience they needed, the museum began to look for a new system provider in 2023.
When deciding on a new system it’s a good idea to seek out recommendations from peers or any business networks you engage with. This was part of the museum’s decision-making process.
“We reviewed a number of different online platforms, and we consulted with a trusted visitor attraction in our market that were already using FareHarbor. Reviews and recommendations were strong, so we proceeded with FareHarbor.”
The museum found the onboarding process to be very straightforward.
“We were up and running within a couple of weeks. Training was provided for key staff, but the system is very straight forward to use. Support is constant.
“Keeping the calendar up to date with future availabilities requires some work from the bookings team, but this is managed across the team.”
“Our first full year of trading on FareHarbor, showed an increase in visitor numbers of 13.5%. An easier customer journey definitely contributed to this, and seamless access to online travel agents (OTAs) also helped.
“FareHarbor are aligned with our success, if we make bookings, they make turnover, so any issues are always dealt with promptly.”
With customers looking to book their tourism experiences online, choosing the best system for their needs and yours is vital.
Find out more about the benefits of using an online booking system, the costs involved and other factors you should consider when choosing a system provider.
