Brave words, but poor return from Scottish tourism says Labour

By SCOTT MACNAB
Published on 22/06/2012 01:58

Scotland’s tourism industry is failing to fully cash in on the “once in a lifetime” provided by the London Olympics, MSPs have been told.

The next few years will see an expected boom in visitors, with the release of the Disney/Pixar cartoon movie Brave providing an estimated £140 million windfall for the industry.

Tourism is worth about £4.4 billion a year to Scotland and recent figures showed a rise in overnight stays despite the recession.

But Labour tourism spokeswoman Rhoda Grant said yesterday that a recent strategy was “silent” on the flagship SNP target to boost tourism in Scotland by 50 per cent by 2016.

She told MSPs this is the year of Creative Scotland and the London Olympics, as well as the release of Brave.

“There are so many opportunities with this year, with next year having the Year of Natural Scotland.

“Then there’s 2014 and the Year of Homecoming, the Ryder Cup, the Commonwealth Games. It’s a once of a lifetime opportunity to build our industry and achieve the 2016 targets.

“The reception that the Olympic torch received as it travelled through Scotland showed there is the potential to make the most of the London Olympics. However, I somehow feel we’ve not made the most of that opportunity.”

She added: “With an industry and government moving towards growth, there is an unprecedented opportunity provided by the winning years for our tourism industry to grow and make a contribution to our economy.”

Tourism minister Fergus Ewing insisted said that the release of Brave could provide a major boost for the industry.

He added: “The chair of VisitScotland recently said that if they were to commission a movie, we could not ask for more than Brave.”

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