Strategy
Chief Executive's Statement
Scotland's tourism industry - Scottish Tourism plc - is more confident than it has ever been. It has made a significant recovery and is competing very well, with particularly good growth in international markets.
But tourism is an extremely competitive market. And the bottom line is that we have a lot to do. We're not on a natural trajectory to achieve 50% growth in tourism revenues for the Scottish economy by 2015.
We need to build on the themes identified in the Tourism Framework for Change. But the key to making the essential step change is to focus much more closely on activities that will directly impact on revenue generation.
We need to develop a national plan that goes beyond strategic direction and quantifies activities in key areas, allocates responsibility for their delivery and measures progress.
We need a plan that joins up new inward investment, expansion of existing businesses, improvement in transport infrastructure and investment in skills and training. That needs to be linked to increased marketing to raise our voice in a very crowded global communications environment.
VisitScotland's role is central, working with our industry partners and through closer alliance with the Enterprise networks and local government. We're now looking to closer alignment with our customers - primarily our visitors, but also tourism businesses - and with all stakeholders across Scotland.
Underpinning all this is sustainability. In tourism, we're privileged to be the guardians of an industry that depends entirely on our natural landscape, our culture, our history. And in everything we do, we must consider the impact on the environment and on our society to make sure that it's sustainable.
Expansion in the industry will, however, benefit the wider interests of Scotland, underlying the fact that tourism is really everyone's business.
