Staycations boom sees Scotland play host to 15.7m visits

The increase in domestic visitors comes as a small fall was recorded in the number of international tourists visiting Scotland in 2011, compared with the previous year.

There was about 15.7 million visits to Scotland last year, up 9 per cent on 2010. Spending by visitors topped £4.5 billion during this period, up 14 per cent on the previous year.

The booming level of staycations, attributed in part to the financial downturn, was welcomed by the tourism industry last night.

• Read the latest tourism statistics

Stephen Leckie, chairman of industry body the Scottish Tourism Alliance, said: “There’s a realisation that Scotland is open for business. Tourism is good and it’s nice to have a daycation or a staycation in Scotland. You don’t have to bother with the air passenger duty and the expense of the car parks and airport delays.

“You can just dart up the road and enjoy Scotland after a couple of hours drive.”

Mr Leckie, who is also chief executive of Crieff Hydro, said quality is crucial to future development of the sector.

He added: “What do we want Scottish tourism to be? A destination for a high-quality, value for money, memorable customer experience, delivered by skilled and passionate people.

“The more businesses in tourism that realise that, the better it will be for them financially.”

British visits to Scotland increased by 10 per cent, while spending grew by 20 per cent, a survey by UK tourist boards suggests.

Separate official figures for overseas visits show a 1 per cent drop over the year, but a 2 per cent rise in spending. The drop in visitors was offset by a 15 per cent increase from North America.

• View the latest overseas figures

Most tourism businesses in Scotland are made up of small guest houses and B&Bs with fewer than nine employees.

However, Colin Borland of the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland said many still face a challenging future. “Although visitor numbers and overall spend is up, many Scottish tourism businesses are having to work a lot harder to stay viable,” he warned.

“Rising overheads – such as the cost of fuel and the spiralling cost of utilities – are putting real pressure on many small tourism businesses’ margins.”

Confederation of British Industry Scotland policy executive Andrew Dyce said: “The rise in visitor numbers and the increase in spending will no doubt have helped buoy businesses in what has been – and remains – a difficult time across all sectors.”

Tourism minister Fergus Ewing, who is in North America for Scotland Week celebrations, said the figures show resilience in the industry. He added: “The 9 per cent increase in visitors to Scotland shows growth in one of our key sectors and is good news for Scotland’s wider economy, especially in the current global economic climate.

“These figures are a reflection of the hard work being done by Scotland’s tourism industry and of the innovative marketing campaigns VisitScotland has created, both at home and overseas.”

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: “For every £1 we invest more than £20 comes back into the Scottish economy. No other industry delivers such a return in such a short time-frame.

“These results are, of course, also testament to the hard work and dedication of the Scottish tourism industry and it’s great to see that even against challenging economic times globally, Scottish tourism continues to thrive.”

The overall figures take in national statistics on overseas travel and tourism, and a Great Britain Tourism Survey for 2011.

Rhoda Grant, Scottish Labour’s tourism spokeswoman, welcomed the figures.

She said: “With money that little tighter I am pleased that people are exploring opportunities to have their annual holiday here in Scotland. While it is great news that we are attracting more visitors from North America, we cannot rest on our laurels and we need to keep marketing and selling Scotland to the world so that more and more people get to see what we have to offer.”

Conservative communities spokeswoman Annabel Goldie called for greater accessibility for the islands to boost the sector.

“Staycations are very much the order of the day,” Ms Goldie said. “I raised this issue in the Scottish Parliament a few weeks ago to ensure that the Scottish Government made sure the islands were as accessible as possible for people in Scotland and the UK.”

Liberal Democrat enterprise spokesman Tavish Scott said the figures showed the folly of the recent hike in business rates which hit the industry. “The tourism industry relies on a vast number of small businesses delivering a quality service,” he said.