Chamber and committees

Scotland can only maintain its comparative advantage if all sectors of the tourism industry work together to ensure the delivery of a truly first class visitor experience. Scotland currently has a comparative advantage in sectors like food and drink, active pursuits like golf and mountain biking, built/natural heritage, culture/creativity and business tourism. However, this list is not exhaustive and we work closely with the industry and our public sector partners to monitor consumer trends and to identify and harness the potential of new and emerging tourism opportunities such as ancestral and marine tourism.

VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise are working closely with the industry and partners to boost current activity and also identify new and emerging opportunities to maximise the economic and other benefits of all aspects of tourism to Scotland, this includes ancestral, eco, outdoor activity, food and drink and cultural aspects.

Ancestral tourism is a key focus within VisitScotland’s brand portfolio with annual investment in ancestral themed campaigns, targeted e-communications, PR and a dedicated website, www.ancestralscotland.com along with a training package and welcome scheme for businesses – “The Ancestral Tourism Welcome Scheme”.

Ancestral is likely to be an underpinning theme of Homecoming 2014. An Ancestral Tourism Steering Group has been brought together, with representation from across the sector to develop the new National Framework for Ancestral Tourism.

Cultural messages are woven through VisitScotland’s core marketing campaigns and press activity including the new year-round domestic Surprise Yourself campaign, the European Meet the Scots campaign, the long-haul I am a Scot campaign, and My Scotland campaign activity with national media. Cultural activity features in the TV advert, national and local websites, things to see and do guides, and e-newsletters to consumers. VisitScotland Information Centres promote cultural activities in their area.

The cultural messages in all marketing activity will be greatly expanded during 2012 to maximise the opportunities offered by the Year of Creative Scotland and the Scottish events in the Cultural Olympiad including Open Weekend, Big Dance, and Forest Pitch. A new TV ad, PR activity, travel trade activity, websites and sales missions will position Scotland as a creatively vibrant country and a world-class cultural tourism destination.

VisitScotland and partners are working to take advantage of the Olympic and Paralympic games overlapping with the Edinburgh’s Festivals, in particular pursuing opportunities for extensive positive media coverage to increase the impact, attendance and worldwide visibility of the festivals.

VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise are working closely with the industry and partners to boost current activity and also identify new and emerging opportunities to maximise the economic and other benefits of all aspects of tourism to Scotland, this includes ancestral, eco, outdoor activity, food and drink and cultural aspects.

Work continues to build on the legacy of the 2010 Year of Food and Drink, through Scottish Enterprise’s support for local tourism destination groups and through the “Experiencing Scotland” project which encourage key tourism businesses to use Scottish produce profitably. Food and Drink continues to feature in VisitScotland’s campaign activity and VisitScotland recently launched Appetite for Adventure, a guide that matches the best places to eat with outdoor adventures.

VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise are working closely with the industry and partners to boost current activity and also identify new and emerging opportunities to maximise the economic and other benefits of all aspects of tourism to Scotland, this includes ancestral, eco, outdoor activity, food and drink and cultural aspects.

2011 is the Year of Active Scotland, one of a series of themed years leading to Year of Homecoming 2014. Throughout the year a programme of events managed by EventScotland, and supported by a PR and marketing campaign led by VisitScotland, are raising the profile of Scotland as an active country and an active holiday destination. Our Enterprise agencies continue to support the development of tourism around mountain biking and through company and destination groups, (support for tourism) around walking, cycling and adventure tourism.

VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise are working closely with the industry and partners to boost current activity and also identify new and emerging opportunities to maximise the economic and other benefits of all aspects of tourism to Scotland, this includes ancestral, eco, outdoor activity, food and drink and cultural aspects.

Cultural messages are woven through VisitScotland’s core marketing campaigns and press activity including the new year-round domestic Surprise Yourself campaign, the Meet the Scots campaign and My Scotland. The cultural messages in all marketing activity will be greatly expanded during 2012 to maximise the opportunities offered by the Year of Creative Scotland and the Scottish events in the Cultural Olympiad. This activity will position Scotland as a creatively vibrant country and as a world-class cultural tourism destination.

Currently VisitScotland does not provide an official forecast in tourism numbers or revenue for Scotland. A forecast of inbound tourism is published and updated by VisitBritain, however, providing a short and longer term picture of tourism trips and value for the UK. As a general measure these figures can also be applied to Scotland.

Respondents reported generally similar numbers of UK visitors between this spring season and last.

These forecasts are dependent on normal trading circumstances prevailing and do not factor in unexpected shocks caused by terrorism, health scares or other crises.

Details on the above forecasts can be found at:

http://www.visitbritain.org/insightsandstatistics/trendsandforecasts/forecasts.aspx .

VisitScotland does produce several “Seasonal Snapshots” annually, giving anecdotal evidence from the industry on how the tourist season is progressing, and their thoughts on the coming months. The 2011 Spring/Summer Snapshot showed over 50% of respondents rated the 2011 spring season as either “good” or “excellent”, with 66% of respondents either “quite confident” or “very confident” about the coming summer season.

Full details of the snapshot can be found at:

http://www.visitscotland.org/research_and_statistics/trends_and_insights/seasonal_snapshot.aspx.

VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise are working closely with the industry and partners to boost current activity and also identify new and emerging opportunities to maximise the economic and other benefits of all aspects of tourism to Scotland, this includes ancestral, eco, outdoor activity, food and drink and cultural aspects.

VisitScotland and partners continually promote Scotland as a place of outstanding natural beauty with a landscape and biodiversity to enjoy responsibly, through extensive international, national and local marketing campaigns. The Year of Natural Scotland in 2013, a Homecoming Legacy year, will turn the spotlight onto our natural assets aiming to further enhance our reputation in this area.

VisitScotland’s extensive successful international and domestic campaigns and its work with private and public sector partners across tourism, focus on drawing visitors to experience all that Scotland has to offer. Over the next few years we will build further momentum, continuing to raise the profile of Scotland through a programme of focus years, highlighting some of our greatest assets (2011 Year of Active Scotland, 2012 Year of Creative Scotland, 2013, Year of Natural Scotland), leading up to 2014 when Scotland will welcome the world with the Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup and our Homecoming celebrations.

The following table shows the approved funding per head of population in each Regional Proposal Assessment Committee (RPAC) region. It should be noted that certain regions, particularly Clyde and Forth, contain large urban areas; therefore rural development funding per capita is consequentially lower.

Population figures are from Mid-2010 Population Estimates Scotland, published on 27 April 2011 by the General Registers of Scotland:

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files2/stats/population-estimates/mid-2010/mid-year-pop-est-2010.pdf.

Details of which councils are in each RPAC area are available on the Rural Priorities website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/SRDP/RuralPriorities/WhatRegion.