Photo used to advertise Scottish travel removed after it appears to show bus in China

"The pilot campaign, advertising cheap bus travel across the Scottish Highlands and Islands, went viral on social media when eagle-eyed users noticed features such as green road barriers that don't exist in Scotland."

"Members of the public suggested that the pictures instead appeared to be of a similarly mountainous region in the Changbaishan National Nature Reserve, thousands of miles away, along the border of China and South Korea."

"Transport Scotland confirmed that the campaign had included incorrect images provided by an external marketing agency, which have since been removed from all communications."

"The images, promoting a 2 bus fare cap across all of the Highlands and islands from 23 March, appeared across social media as well as transport websites including for Stagecoach and Citylink."

The Scottish government retracted an advertisement promoting a Highland bus travel campaign due to the use of incorrect images. The images, which went viral on social media, depicted features not found in Scotland, leading to public scrutiny. Users identified the images as belonging to the Changbaishan National Nature Reserve in China. Transport Scotland confirmed that the erroneous images were provided by an external marketing agency and have since been removed from all communications related to the campaign, which advertised a bus fare cap across the Highlands and Islands.

Read at www.independent.co.uk