Scots set cautious target for tourism

Scottish tourism bosses have set conservative revenue targets for the year 2000 in a strategy plan announced this week by the Scottish tourism minister, Lord James Douglas-Hamilton.

The Scottish Tourism Co-ordinating Group, which includes the Scottish Tourist Board (STB), the Scottish Office and Scottish Enterprise, hopes to increase the amount spent by tourists from £2bin 1993 to £2.3b (before inflation) by the end of the century.

It hopes to do this through better co-ordination across the industry. Working groups are being set up to address issues such as transport, events and the problem of attracting tourists outside the summer season.

The revenue targets are set against a general trend over recent years of less tourist money being spent in Scotland. Early indications are that 1994 will again show a decline in income.

By comparison, the UK as a whole has seen an increase in revenue over the past decade.

The STB said the decline in Scotland was due to a reliance on income from English tourists, which has fallen as more choose to go abroad. A new marketing campaign has targeted the English this year.

The Scottish revenue targets are in stark contrast to those for Britain as a whole.

The BTA wants expenditure by tourists to rise by 50% by the year 2000 to reach £13.7b.

Commenting on the Scottish target for tourism, a BTA spokesman said: "This is a modest target and we would hope they would exceed it."

The Scottish revenue targets also aim to increase the number of bed nights by 7% by the year 2000.