Scotland has bumper tourist summer

Monday, January 18, 2010

Scotland enjoyed a strong summer for tourism, outperforming the rest of the UK.

Between July and September last year visitors to the country spent £540m - £38m more than the same period in 2008.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed a 25 per cent boost in visitors from North America and a 43 per cent increase in visits from other countries outside Europe and North America.

Tourists stayed 8,935,000 nights in Scotland compared to 7,734,000 during the same quarter in 2008.

Minister for Tourism Jim Mather said the boost in tourism was down to the successful Homecoming Scotland campaign.

He said: "Tourism is crucial to Scotland's economic wellbeing and these figures are an excellent indication of the Scottish tourism industry's hard work and resilience in the face of a global economic downturn.

"These figures underline the success of Homecoming 2009 which proved to be an exceptional year with hundreds of events being heavily promoted throughout the world. During these three key months, Scotland saw huge support from overseas visitors who experienced all that our fantastic country has to offer."

The UK as a whole experienced a six per cent increase in visitors from North America and a 1 per cent increase from other countries outside Europe and North America between July and September 2009 compared to the same quarter in 2008.

Culloden House Hotel in Inverness is one business which benefited from increased visitor numbers. General Manager, Stephen Davies, said: "From the end of January to the last weekend in July we've made around £71,000 as a direct result of the Homecoming campaign.

"Guests have mainly come from Canada and the Australasia markets, many coming back 'home' to trace their roots. At 28 rooms, we're a fairly small hotel, but we've reaped big rewards from Homecoming 2009."