European visitors flock to Scotland '“ despite drop in numbers to rest of UK

Scotland has bucked the trend by attracting a fifth more visitors from Europe, while the rest of the UK saw a drop in the number of tourists from the continent.

Official figures found that the number of European visitors to Scotland rose by 22 per cent in the year to the end of September. Picture: Getty

Official figures found that the number of European visitors to Scotland rose by 22 per cent in the year to the end of September, while the UK as a whole reported a 7 per cent drop.

In the same period, spending by European visitors in Scotland also registered an increase of 7 per cent, jumping from £1.08 billion to £1.15Bn.

Meanwhile, there was a 14.3 per cent increase in worldwide overseas overnight visits to Scotland – from 3.1 million to 3.5 million – and a 3.3 per cent increase in overseas tourism expenditure north of the Border.

Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “I am pleased that Scotland’s tourism industry continues to perform strongly, despite the challenges posed by Brexit. The sector continues to attract an increasing number of visitors from the EU and beyond, who come to enjoy our varied heritage and breath-taking natural landscapes – outperforming the UK in attracting overseas visitors.

“Our tourism industry is of vital importance to the Scottish economy. As visitors continue to come to Scotland, spending more time in the country and travelling to more destinations, this is a welcome boost for tourism businesses across all of Scotland. “

She added: “European and international visitors are a huge asset to our tourism sector, economy and wider wellbeing. As set out in our recent discussion paper, all the scenarios point to Brexit – and the end of free movement of people – having a damaging effect on the recruitment and retention of EU staff in the tourism sector. We will do all we can to ensure European visitors can continue to travel to Scotland freely and provide the certainty that people and businesses want.”

Over the 12 months to September 2018, there was a 5.4 per cent fall in overseas overnight visits to the UK, and a 7.9 per cent fall in overseas tourism expenditure in the UK, compared to the previous 12 months.

Meanwhile, London, which accounts for around half of all foreign trips to the UK, welcomed 750,000 fewer visitors from European Union countries, while the overall number of overseas visits to the capital fell almost one million, from 15.24 million to 14.22 million over the period.

Scotland’s national tourism body, VisitScotland, refused to comment on the figures.