Letter: Tourism failure

AS THE Catholic Church attempts to build on the legacy of the first papal visit for 28 years, it is scarcely credible that Visit-Scotland, the national tourism agency, has no specific plans to market Scotland on the back of unrivalled coverage that saw a billion television viewers tune into the Pope's visit north of the Border (your report, 18 September).

According to the agency's visitor attraction monitor, tourist visits to places of worship in 2009 were 1.5 million, up by 10 per cent on 2008, and clearly far more needs to be done in order to secure more long- lasting spin-offs from a papal visit that was a huge success and which positioned Scotland firmly in the global media spotlight.

ALEX ORR

Leamington Terrace

Edinburgh