Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-01880

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to develop ancestral 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.

Question reference: S4W-01881

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to promote eco-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.

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.

Question reference: S4W-01882

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to promote outdoor activity related 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.

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.

Question reference: S4W-01887

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures tourists are made aware of cultural activity at (a) local and (b) national levels.

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.

Question reference: S4W-01886

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will it take to promote the big invitation for tourists initiative that was outlined in the SNP manifesto.

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.

Question reference: S4W-01884

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to promote cultural 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.

Question reference: S4W-02024

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 5 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much Scotland Rural Development Programme rural priorities funding was or has been awarded per head of population in each project assessment area in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011.

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.

Approved Funding (£) Per Capita

RPAC Region	Population	2008	2009	2010	2011	Total
Argyll	89,200	44.13	152.51	80.37	44.76	321.77
Ayrshire	366,860	7.73	22.31	19.98	18.13	68.15
Borders	112,870	44.70	146.19	170.14	27.14	388.18
Clyde Valley	1765,770	0.69	2.26	5.53	2.17	10.65
Dumfries and Galloway	148,190	18.67	181.07	178.84	93.57	472.15
Forth	1495,620	2.36	11.81	7.77	3.36	25.31
Grampian	550,620	27.21	83.42	45.31	14.48	170.41
Highland	221,630	22.83	184.27	134.13	44.92	386.16
Northern Isles	42,510	86.43	281.40	173.08	25.08	565.99
Outer Hebrides	26,190	10.60	160.85	76.82	11.94	260.21
Tayside	402,640	14.19	43.16	30.75	11.20	99.30

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.

Question reference: S4W-02023

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 31 August 2011

The following table shows the number of approved cases per year. This includes cases where the offer of a contract has been rejected by the applicant, and cases where the applicant has not yet returned a signed contract.

RPAC Region	2008	2009	2010	2011	Total
Argyll	75	235	143	27	480
Ayrshire	45	150	98	66	359
Borders	76	259	149	59	543
Clyde	14	63	92	39	208
Dumfries and Galloway	60	344	214	137	755
Forth	45	188	130	49	412
Grampian	250	703	391	76	1,420
Highland	70	435	327	81	913
Northern Isles	76	205	112	14	407
Outer Hebrides	9	90	56	5	160
Tayside	82	279	175	48	584
Total	802	2,951	1,887	601	6,241

Question reference: S4W-02017

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 29 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to publish proposals for a land fund before the end of 2011.

Question reference: S4W-02021

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what average percentage of the full project costs in each project assessment committee area was or has been made up by Scotland Rural Development Programme grant in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011.

Chamber and committees