Our tourism and events sector is a cornerstone of the Scottish economy. But dig a little deeper and the impacts aren’t just tourism, events and what visitors spend, but the wider economy built around the visitor experience. It’s the immense ripple effect the sector generates across the country.
Scotland’s tourism businesses are a significant economic driver, accounting for one in 11 Scottish businesses and over 245,000 jobs. But tourism and events have a much wider supply chain, supporting many other sectors across Scotland, including food and drink, transport, and construction.
In 2023, visitor spending contributed £10.8 billion to Scotland’s economy, equivalent to 6% of total economic output. This spend sustains communities across the country, stimulates investment, creates jobs, enhances Scotland’s global reputation, and boosts visitors’ and our own health and wellbeing.
At VisitScotland, our core purpose is clear: to drive the visitor economy, growing its value in Scotland. This growth can create more opportunities for businesses and communities to thrive, helping make Scotland an even better place to visit, do business, work, study and live.
Business development continues to be a focus for us. And an important part of this is supporting businesses to deliver world-class, memorable, sustainable experiences. I believe if we work to truly understand the needs of business owners, sectors and destinations, we can best help their contribution to growing the visitor economy.
In recent months, we’ve been reviewing our approach to business support and advice to ensure we support the sector in a way that works for them. By delivering a year-round programme of free-to-access support, we will reach more businesses, helping them grow and connect with new audiences.
Our new Business Support Hub will help businesses to diversify, innovate and internationalise. This dedicated digital platform will include guidance on topics we know are important to businesses, like meeting customer expectations, responding to consumer trends and managing digital channels. It will also offer advice on tourism-specific topics such as internationalisation, working with the travel trade and routes to market.
As well as helping businesses understand these routes to market, we provide platforms to help them connect with travel intermediaries, such as tour operators and travel agents. With more than half of international visitors booking via an intermediary of some kind, this can provide a lucrative source of business.
Earlier this month we hosted VisitScotland Connect at the P&J Live in Aberdeen. The event saw more than 240 trade-ready Scottish businesses, including accommodation, experiences and attractions, connect with over 250 buyers from 23 countries who plan inspirational Scotland trips for their clients. This was a valuable opportunity for Scottish businesses to showcase destinations, experiences and products that can be included in travel itineraries being sold around the world for 2026 and 2027.
Our work with the events sector is an important focus for us as we continue to support and promote Scotland’s position as the perfect stage for events, in line with the national strategy. The coming months will once again see Scotland hosting an enviable portfolio of events and festivals. Some highlights include Orkney 2025 Island Games, the 2025 ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open in Troon, the Genesis Scottish Open in East Lothian, The Tall Ships Races in Aberdeen, the Edinburgh Festivals and the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow.
Our pipeline of future events is also strong with the Commonwealth Games 2026, Tour de France Grand Départ 2027, and UEFA EURO 2028 all set to take place in Scotland in the coming years. These events will support thousands of jobs, both directly within the events industry itself as well as wider sectors from hospitality to transport.
I look forward to continuing our work with businesses to develop new products and visitor experiences, reaching new audiences. By working together we’ll drive growth in the value of the visitor economy – a goal which stands to benefit not just tourism and events sector, but businesses and communities across the country.
