Tracing roots worth £300m to Scotland

Published on Thursday 1 June 2006 01:14

THE value of ancestral tourism in Scotland is set to double in the next five years to more than £300 million, according to VisitScotland.

At present 250,000 trips per year are made by international visitors tracing their Scottish roots, an industry which is worth 153 million to the Scottish economy.

Alan Rankin, the chief executive of Scottish Tourism Forum, said: "The biggest plus point of ancestral tourism is that it takes overseas tourists to virtually every single part of Scotland. It's clearly a market that has a huge potential with overseas Scots, not just in North America but across the world."

A spokesman for VisitScotland said: "There are 55 million people in the world with Scottish ancestry and we estimate there are between 11-15 million Americans with Scottish roots.

"Scotland has such a distinct identity as a nation. When you go overseas you are more acutely aware of it. With ancestral tourism that interest kicks in at a certain stage of life. Mid-fifties is the average age of the ancestral tourist.

"Scotland's archives are quite exceptional and go back to the 13th century. From the 15th century onwards there are well-archived documents, many of which are now searchable online."

Bill Lawson, a consultant genealogist for Co Leis Thu? (Who do you belong to?) at the Seallam museum in Harris, said: "As people get more able to fly around the world it makes a difference.

"A lot of families have lost their own inheritance, their own knowledge of their own background and they see other nations in their countries keeping their history alive."