Innovation is key to selling Scotland

ACCORDING to Scottish Development International, the tourism industry in Scotland provides 200,000 jobs, generates £4.9 billion per year or about 5 per cent of GDP and supports some 27,000 businesses. Tourism matters.

So the plans by VisitScotland to launch a 5 million "guerrilla" marketing campaign to boost tourist numbers and spending by more than 100 million this year are welcome, particularly at a time of economic difficulty for the country.

The plans, disclosed by Mike Cantlay, new chairman of VisitScotland in an interview with this newspaper today show that the new head of our tourism body is at least thinking imaginatively about the short term.

However, Mr Cantlay is also honest enough to concede that Scotland has a problem in terms of the amount it spends on destination marketing. We spend between $1 million to $2 million in the US. But the average US state spends $30 million.

In the current climate, closing that gap is all but impossible. It would not be right for taxpayers' money to be used when vital services face cuts and the private sector is unlikely to be able to find such a sum.

Having got off to a positive start, Mr Cantlay must find innovative ways of selling Scotland; reinvigorate VisitScotland, an organisation which has many critics; and improve the service which Scotland gives to tourists to make it a more attractive destination.