Hansard

I highlight the importance of marine and coastal tourism to Scotland because of the variety of opportunities that it offers across the country. Marine tourism encompasses the manifold ways in which we enjoy our magnificent coast and the sea. It encompasses sailing, yachting and swimming. It includes beautiful beaches, such as the white sands of Morar on the west coast or Dalmore on the Isle of Lewis, which is near to and the preferred beach of Katie Morag, and the two beaches of Nairn in my constituency entitled—not surprisingly—east and west. It includes cruise liners, small motor-powered boats, canoeists, kayakers, divers and ferry passengers. It covers coastal communities and businesses; it also covers numerous activities, such as sea angling, marine wildlife watching, day boat trips, motor boating, coastal rowing, surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing and waterskiing. I have no doubt that members will regale us with many more activities during the debate.

Each of those activities adds to the distinctiveness of Scotland’s magnificent coastline and attracts many tourists each year. The Scottish Government wishes to encourage that further. We support the work of the Scottish marine tourism development group, which aims to maximise the visitor offering and experience and the economic impact of marine tourism.

The industry-led strategic framework “Awakening the Giant: A Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Marine Tourism Sector” was launched on 5 March. The action plan that it will deliver has brought together an enormous coalition of the aquatic enthusiastic, and we have much to be enthusiastic about.

Scotland has a long and distinguished association with the sea. I am assured that our sea area is six times the land mass of Scotland—more than 460,000 km2—and our national marine plan is the first such statutory plan in the United Kingdom. As Lewis Macdonald’s amendment—which we will support—notes, the vision in that plan is for seas that are clean, healthy, safe, productive and diverse. That will help us to attract visitors from around the world as well as from closer to home.

A huge amount of work was done across stakeholders and the industry before the marine tourism framework was launched, and it is appropriate to acknowledge the work of the very active cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament as well as the unstinting work of its convener, Stuart McMillan, in driving that work forward. On 20 May, he and I enjoyed the hospitality that was offered by Port Edgar marina to publicise the work of the annual European Union maritime day. We both immediately recognised this year’s maritime day theme of using ports and coasts as gateways to wider marine-based opportunities as an approach that we already encourage in Scotland.

We should never forget that marine tourists spend not just on their activity—for example, sailing—but on food and drink; on entertainment, including onshore excursions and activities; and on retail, including nautical and chandlery supplies. I am sure that many a great night is had ashore.

The debate that Kenny Gibson secured in March highlighted the work on coastal and marine tourism that is being undertaken by Arran, which shows how an integrated approach to marketing can help to market all that a destination has to offer. Arran is marketed as one of the cold-water islands, and I can assure members that that is the correct name for it. I discovered that for myself when I dived off Corrie pier in 1976—an experience that I have not managed to forget since.

The marine national plan aims to open up coastal areas further for tourism and shows that we have many great assets and unique selling points that help us with marine tourism. The Caledonian canal is foremost among those, and we worked with Scottish Canals to maximise the tourism value from the 1,200 vessels that transited the canal last year. That links with the Great Glen way, which is growing in reputation as a must-do long walk like the West Highland way, the Speyside way and the Hebridean way, which I hope to open formally when I am on holiday in Lewis in a few weeks’ time—hasten the day.

In a recent members’ business debate, Dave Thompson highlighted those linkages. We aim to link the land with the sea and to link marine tourism with land-based development. That means building more marinas with more moorings and many fine restaurants to cater for our visitors who sail the west coast as well as those who participate in competitions in the east, those who navigate our inland waters and those who transit around our coasts from the Scandic markets. There is a huge potential market in Scandinavia and other countries as well as closer to home among our friends in Holland, for example.

The Scottish Government is working closely with Cruise Scotland and VisitScotland to continue to grow the cruise sector, which is a huge market. The United Kingdom Chamber of Shipping estimates that the average cruise passenger is worth £74 to the local economy—I think that means that they spend £74 in the local economy. Over the past four years, the number of passengers has increased by more than 150,000 to over 400,000, with more than 450 vessels docking on our shores in 2015. There are particular increases in the numbers of passengers who arrive in ports such as Greenock, Kirkwall, Stornoway and Edinburgh. That shows enormous success for an industry that is truly global in reach. We supported Cruise Scotland attending the inaugural European cruise tourism dialogue symposium in Brussels in March this year.

An on-going issue remains the effect that the unconsulted-on face-to-document passport checks are having on the cruise industry. Furthermore, the unwelcome and on-going uncertainty about costs means that our smaller ports are wary of considering how they might attract smaller vessels, which could serve the more specialist niche markets, such as wildlife cruises, history and heritage.

The Scottish Government shall continue to press the UK Government on the issue. I am pleased to note that Tracey Crouch MP, the new UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism and Heritage, was a member of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee when it recognised the key role of visas in tourism. The committee’s March 2015 “Tourism” report recognised the need that

“Border Force staffing levels are maintained at levels that can meet the demand posed by what we hope will be increasing numbers of tourists.”

The strategic framework seeks to maximise the opportunities to grow marine tourism by providing a framework under which all the elements of the marine tourism sector can grow. As part of that, I encourage everyone involved, especially local authorities and the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority, to work with all in the tourism industry to encourage imaginative linkages across Scotland that highlight all that Scotland’s coasts have to offer, whether viewed from the land or the sea.

I confirm that I will accept the amendment in Lewis Macdonald’s name.

I move,

That the Parliament recognises the contribution that marine tourism makes to Scotland and the Scottish economy; acknowledges the efforts made by the Scottish Government and its agencies to encourage marine tourism alongside the physical benefits of participating in sport, and urges them to continue those efforts; further acknowledges the objectives and policies for marine tourism and recreation as set out in Scotland’s National Marine Plan, adopted in March 2015; highlights the potential for destinations creating strategic linkages and expanding market opportunities; acknowledges the efforts of the Scottish Marine Tourism Development Group in its engagement with stakeholders around the strategic framework for Scotland’s marine tourism sector, Awakening the Giant, and encourages local authorities and other key stakeholders to engage in the consultation process.