Analysis: The signs are positive for another good year ahead for tourism

Scotland’s tourist offering is hugely important in terms of our economy and in terms of the number of jobs it supports.

That is why the evidence revealed this week that visitor numbers and spend increased in 2011 is extremely welcome.

On top of this, our own Scottish Chambers of Commerce Quarterly Business Survey has found that tourist businesses in Scotland have reported a further increase in bookings and sales at the beginning of 2012.

The signs are positive for another good year ahead.

The experience of the past five years has shown just how resilient and adaptive our tourist industry is. The recession of 2008-09 has had an extremely damaging effect on many businesses across Scotland, but our tourist sector reacted quickly. It adapted to the downturn in visitors from overseas by successfully targeting the domestic market and this strategy has paid dividends, with domestic tourist numbers in Scotland having risen by 10 per cent last year.

Crucially, for the industry, not only are tourists coming to Scotland but they are spending more, with a 20 per cent rise in spending by “staycationers” and a 14 per cent rise by all overnight visitors.

In terms of spend in our economy, it is also encouraging that North American visitor numbers increased by 15 per cent last year and we have been picking up indications from our tourism members that interest from the American market has been increasing this year too.

The Scottish economy must play to its strengths and in terms of our tourist offering, we have a very strong hand.

However, we can and must do more to support our tourist industry. There are a number of areas where policy makers can respond. The UK government has recognised the value in reducing VAT to 5 per cent for ski lifts, so it should extend this by implementing a general reduction in VAT for tourist accommodation and visitor attractions, as the majority of our EU neighbours have done. It should also devolve air passenger duty to the Scottish Parliament to enable it to fund a new air route marketing scheme aimed at bringing more direct air services to Scotland. And it must respond to the demands of modern tourists by making wireless and mobile broadband available throughout Scotland.

Scotland has a world-class tourism industry. It’s time we invested the resources necessary to make it world leading.

• Garry Clark is head of policy and public affairs at the Scottish Chambers of Commerce