Edinburgh - Scottish tourism industry stands in good stead in the 2015 Year of Food and Drink and expects “further opportunity” as the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design begins, Scottish Tourism Minister said.
Fergus Ewing said “the forthcoming Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design offers a further opportunity to showcase what Scotland has to offer, with the official program of events an excellent starting point from which to explore the huge wealth of trips and experiences linked to this wide-ranging theme.”
Overseas and domestic visitors to Scotland rose by seven percent to over 15.5 million in the year to the end of June 2015, official figures showed.
As the Year of Food & Drink ends, visitors consider trying local food to be one of the top activities, 66 percent think that the quality of food is important when choosing Scotland as a destination and more than 1 000 tourism businesses have received the Taste Our Best accreditation, which ensures visitors eat quality ingredients of Scottish provenance, said a Scottish government press release. The industry is adapting to an increase in the number of visitors coming in the colder months, increasing from 4.7 million trips between October 2008 and March 2009 to 5.7 million in the same period in 2014/2015, it added.
The marine tourism market is worth 360 million pounds and the industry is taking steps to grow this to 450 million pounds by 2020 through the Marine Tourism Strategy.
There is further success in Scotland as a destination for business tourism, with the 2 million-pound Conference Bid Fund delivering a gross return of up to 200 million pounds, as well as a series of major events bringing many more visitors to Scotland, with significant investment by public, private and third sectors in tourist attractions, venues, hotels and accommodation.
Tourism is of vital importance to the Scottish economy. Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around 12 billion pounds of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around 6 billion pounds, about 5 percent, to Scottish Gross Domestic Product.
Xinhua