More Scots are enjoying the great outdoors

VISITS to Scotland's great outdoors was worth £2.5 billion to the Scottish economy last year, new figures have shown.

According to the Scottish Recreational Survey, 48 per cent of Scottish adults visited the outdoors for leisure or recreation at least once a week in 2010.

This is up 2 per cent on 2009 and 4 per cent on 2006.

Walking is the most popular outdoor activity, representing 73 per cent of visits, followed by family outings (8 per cent) and cycling/mountain biking (5 per cent).

Richard Davison from Scottish Natural Heritage said: "We believe our work on encouraging more people to visit the outdoors and the excellent work being done by local authorities and many others is helping to inspire people to get outdoors.

"Even in towns and cities, people have great opportunities to explore green places near to home and enjoy good local path networks."