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Meeting of the Parliament 21 June 2012

21 Jun 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Visitor Economy

Ewing, Fergus SNP Inverness and Nairn Watch on SPTV

It is only 15 weeks since we last debated tourism in the chamber. As the minister with responsibility for tourism, I am delighted to be in a position so soon to report much progress.

One benefit of bringing members back to the topic so early is that the key contributions of tourism are fresh in all our minds and I do not need to labour them. The visitor economy contributes over £4 billion of gross value added to the Scottish economy every year. It impacts on many sectors—food and drink, transport, agriculture and retail—and on all areas of the country, urban and rural. Tourism is truly a national industry. It enhances our reputation worldwide and helps us to attract inward investment. The opportunities over the next few years are unsurpassed, and we are hosting globally important events such as the 2014 Ryder cup and the Commonwealth games.

Since we last spoke on tourism much has been achieved. We have seen the full-year tourism figures for 2011. I commend tourism businesses across the country for achieving a 9 per cent increase in overnight visitor numbers in challenging economic circumstances. Overnight spend is at its highest since 2007. Day-visitor statistics also look good. Day-visitor data for Scotland was produced for the first time in 2011 and showed that 134 million day-tourist trips were taken in Scotland.

In March, recognising the contribution of business visitors, we launched the conference bid fund, which made £2 million available over three years to strengthen bids to bring major conferences to Scotland. In only four months the bid fund, which has received matching contributions from Glasgow City Council, has supported Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and its partners to the tune of £213,500 to compete successfully against other cities, including big hitters such as Tokyo and San Francisco, and bring seven new conferences to Scotland since March.

In all, 16,900 extra delegates will visit Scotland, which will bring an expected economic impact of £27 million. That is a return of £63 for every single pound invested from the bid fund. I hope that all members will pay tribute to all those involved in Glasgow City Council, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and to all their partners and colleagues and celebrate what appears to be the start of something quite exciting with the bid fund. I would be grateful for suggestions from members about how we can extend the benefits of that fund to all parts of Scotland. I would like to see all our cities and all parts of Scotland benefit. I have asked VisitScotland to work with all other destinations to ensure similar success across Scotland.

Since March, we have seen the winning years become a reality. Last week, huge crowds turned out to see the Olympic torch and stunning images of the torch in Scotland were broadcast far and wide.

On Monday, the world had its first opportunity to see Scotland as depicted in the Disney Pixar film “Brave”, when it premièred in Los Angeles. The First Minister was invited. I am not at all miffed that, as tourism minister, my invitation was not in the post.

The red carpet will be rolled out here in Edinburgh when the European première of “Brave” takes place at the end of the month. There will be screenings of the film at a special event in Inverness the following day, to which I have been invited. I hope that Rhoda Grant and David Stewart will also be invited. If not—

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Meeting of the Parliament 21 June 2012

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