Q&A with Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of tourism body VisitScotland.
What is the target for growing revenue from Scottish tourism?
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism was worth £11.6 billion to the Scottish economy. Whilst recovery was always going to take time, especially given the new economic challenges, there is plenty of reason for optimism, with some markets back or even above pre-pandemic levels.
The events of the past few years have afforded us an opportunity to reset tourism in a sustainable way, and ensure its growth benefits both visitors and communities.
We want to build on these shoots of recovery and support the responsible growth of our industry.
This includes regional and seasonal spread, and attracting higher value visitors who stay longer and spend more. Our marketing, funding and business support activities are all designed to ensure a quality experience for visitors.
How big is the industry today, compared with pre-Covid times?
International demand is strong. Priority markets such as America and France have bounced back quicker and stronger than expected. International passenger survey figures for 2022 show there were 3.2 million visits to Scotland by overseas visitors, compared to 3.46m over the same period in 2019.
With no restrictions on international travel last year, visits to Scotland were just 7% lower than pre-pandemic, however, the total spend increased. Anecdotally, we are hearing from businesses that international interest in Scotland has remained strong.
Recovery of the domestic market has been impacted by recent cost of living challenges for businesses and visitors. While UK visitors are still enjoying staycations, what we are now seeing are changes to behaviours and spending priorities, with shorter trips, different accommodation options or less disposable income for experiences or dining options.
What is encouraging is that according to our Consumer Sentiment Tracker, the intention is there. There is an opportunity for VisitScotland to turn that intention into bookings by highlighting the range of options available in Scotland to suit every budget.
Air connectivity plays a key role in bringing people in but how do we grow the network amid mounting concerns about the impact of aviation on climate change?
This is one of the more challenging aspects of growing responsible tourism. As an island, we rely on good connectivity. We know that making it as easy as possible for people to come here makes Scotland a more enticing destination, attracting more visitors. Air routes are also important for business connectivity and the transfer of goods.
Scotland is playing a significant part in the development of low emission electric and hydrogen flight. In the short term, the airline industry continues to address emissions and, with continuing improvement and new fleets coming on stream, aircraft serving Scotland continue to demonstrate reductions in their emissions.
But that work will mean little if the tourism industry does not reduce emissions on the ground. The importance of it doing all it can to be the most sustainable and responsible industry it can be is the driver of Outlook 2030 (Scotland’s sustainable tourism blueprint) and our responsible tourism strategy, which includes supporting and inspiring businesses and visitors to be part of the solution to the climate emergency.
Visitors are becoming mindful of their impact on the world around them. Our marketing offers a host of inspiring content and advice to help minimise trip emissions, and encouragw regional and seasonal spread.
We are working with tourism businesses and events to help them on their sustainable journey by encouraging climate action planning, increasing their green credentials and creating products and experiences that are inclusive and sustainable.
Through our work with the travel trade, we are making sure tour operators and travel agents who sell Scotland to their clients are seeing the wealth of sustainable practices and products Scotland has to offer. Our aim is to make responsible tourism the norm.
What does the data for 2022 tell you?
The figures are hugely encouraging, demonstrating a clear demand for Scotland.
There were new record periods in both July-September and October-December for spend by international visitors, resulting in a new January-December record of £3.2 billion, up by almost quarter on 2019 (24%).
In terms of domestic visitors, the latest Great Britain Tourism Survey figures for 2022 show UK residents took 13.5 million overnight trips in Scotland, with 40.9 million nights and £3.4 billion spent overall.
Figures for the first quarter of 2023 show lower trips (2.7 million), nights (6.9 million) and spend (£641 million) in Scotland, compared with Q1 2022. Office for National Statistics international passenger survey figures show 572,000 international visits were made to Scotland during the first three months of 2023 – an increase of 29% on Q1 of 2019, with spend of £359 million up 71%.
These figures are a reminder that tourism remains in a period of recovery. Our industry is still feeling the effects of the pandemic on visitor behaviour, while the cost of living and last-minute bookings are presenting new challenges to the domestic market.
However, there are positive signs for Scottish tourism overall. International visits are strong – even higher than pre-pandemic levels – and UK holidaymakers are consistently noting Scotland as a preferred UK destination.
What are the priority markets for VisitScotland and what new approaches are there to lure visitors in?
North America remains Scotland’s most important international market in terms of visitor spend, while 2022 marked the second highest number of trips by visitors from France in more than a decade.
We know visitors from these markets stay longer and spend more. Many have an affinity to Scotland. The current favourable exchange rate, coupled with strong pent-up demand has seen these markets recover far quicker than expected from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
North America, Europe and, of course, the UK still remain priority markets for us, as they have done for a number of years. What has changed is the way people access their inspirational content and plan their trips. Our marketing, which is very much insight-led, reflects this.
With responsible tourism at the heart of everything we do, we want our visitors to travel out of season, stay longer, visit lesser-known areas, experience more while in Scotland and make sustainable choices. We are incredibly lucky that Scotland has such a diverse and vibrant tourism and events industry, and we share this through our marketing activity, working closely with industry to share insight and trends, and helping businesses to develop and grow their offering in line with what visitors expect and want from their holiday experiences.
What is VisitScotland Connect?
VisitScotland Connect is our flagship travel trade event. The event was borne out of our desire to create an experience connecting trade-ready Scottish tourism businesses directly with international buyers.
Ultimately, VisitScotland Connect allows us to do all of that under one roof. It’s a vital part of our efforts to grow Scotland’s share of global travel in a sustainable way and to support Scottish businesses.
Our first VisitScotland Connect took place at P&J Live in Aberdeen in April. It introduced our new workshop format connecting buyers and suppliers through one-to-one meetings. Over the course of two days, we helped 175 tourism businesses connect with more than 250 tour operators and travel agents from 23 countries.
We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees highlighting its importance for businesses to generate future income and establish new contacts in international markets.
We have already started working on our plans for the return of the event next year.
I am very pleased to share that it will return to P&J Live in Aberdeen on April 17-18.
Supporting our responsible tourism ambitions, the event will offer a platform for Scottish suppliers to highlight the fantastic work being done here, with buyers experiencing this first-hand through familiarisation trips which will showcase sustainable and public transport options, including a partnership with ScotRail to offer train travel to participants at the event.
Eligible businesses can register to attend the event at visitscotland.eventsair.com/visitscotlandconnect/