Scottish tourism statistics 2006
Tourism statistics for 2006 show strong growth in the volume and value of international tourism to Scotland. Scotland has also maintained its share of the domestic tourism market in a challenging year, which has seen the number of UK visitors holidaying at home decrease across the UK.
Building on dramatic growth over the last few years, the revenue from international tourism to Scotland increased by 17 per cent to £1.4 billion in 2006. The number of international visitors also increased by 12 per cent to 2.6 million.
The value of UK visitors to Scotland decreased by 10 per cent to £2.7 billion in 2006. The number of UK visitors to Scotland decreased by 11 per cent to 13.3 million in 2006. This is a trend which is shared across the UK and has been influenced by economic factors including increasing fuel prices and interest rates. However, Scotland’s share of the UK market has remained steady at 13 per cent of revenue in 2006 and 2005.
The combined effect of growth in international visitors and decline in domestic means that in effect, the strong recovery since 2001 has levelled off in 2006. The total value of tourism to Scotland decreased by around 2 per cent in 2006 to £4.1 billion. The total number of visitors decreased to 16 million.
The number of visitors to Scottish visitor attractions increased by 6 per cent in 2006, while occupancy levels remained steady, with hotel room occupancy remaining at 63 per cent for the second year.
Independent research carried out by George Street Research for national tourism organisation VisitScotland shows optimism among Scottish tourism businesses is high with a net positive shift in the industry’s general level of optimism compared with 2006. In May 2007 over 40 per cent of businesses were found to be more optimistic in terms of the general business situation for both their sector and own business, compared to last year. The season to April 2007 was viewed favourably by the majority of businesses, with 44 per cent describing it as either ‘very good’ or ‘quite good’, compared to 30 per cent saying ‘average’.
For more information, go to Current Position Summary 2006
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