Scotland's Economy

  • World Tourism Day

    27th September 2012 by

    Today is World Tourism Day and I am delighted to lend my support. Organised by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). 2012 is a year in which we are likely to see 1 billion global tourist arrivals and this is expected to rise to 1.8 billion by 2030.

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  • Scotland’s food champions

    24th May 2012 by

    Tourism and food and drink are both key sectors when it comes to growing Scotland’s economy and the Scottish Food Champions initiative, which I have announced today, will bring the two together.

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  • Update from Tourism Week

    9th March 2012 by

    We're now half way through Tourism Week, which winds up next Tuesday, and there has already been some very good work done to promote the industry. Most of all, I've been impressed by the ambition and drive in the sector and that is is extremely important as we look to build on the success that we have already had in attracting visitors to Scotland.

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  • Scottish Tourism Week

    2nd March 2012 by

    This week VisitScotland is getting involved in Scottish Tourism Week which offers an exciting programme of events focusing on the Scottish tourism industry. Scottish Tourism Week takes place every year pushing tourism very much into the spotlight of stakeholders throughout the country.

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  • Tourism – the next generation

    2nd March 2012 by

    Tourism is very important for the Scottish economy and we need a constant supply of fresh talent to maintain the excellent worldwide reputation that we have in the hospitality sector.

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  • Scotland Visitor Survey

    30th January 2012 by

    VisitScotland has just published their Scotland Visitor Survey, which shows 98% of visitors to Scotland are likely to recommend the country to others, and a further 84% planning to make a return trip in the next five years.

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  • Dark Sky Observatory

    27th January 2012 by

    I travelled to Dalmelington today to join Cath Seeds and Mark Gibson in celebrating the start of work on the Dark Sky Observatory – a wonderful new project which will create a visitor attraction for buzzing stargazers and astronomers in Britain’s only dark sky park. The Galloway Forest Park area enjoys some of the darkest...

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  • Tourism figures

    12th January 2012 by

    Great news that the number of visitors to Scotland has risen by eight per cent in the first nine months of this year according to the latest statistics which were published today as I opened Edinburgh's newest hotel.

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  • Tourism in Dumfries and Galloway

    5th December 2011 by

    There are some very exciting times ahead for tourism in Scotland. We're starting off in 2012 with Year of Creative Scotland, Brave and the Olympics, going into 2013 and Year of Natural Scotland, and finishing in 2014 with the Year of Homecoming, Ryder Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

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  • Brave

    18th November 2011 by

    The full length trailer for Brave has been released, giving us a flavour of what I expect will be the biggest cinematic opportunity to showcase Scotland since Braveheart.

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