Scotland’s distinct, varied and vibrant offering is what attracts visitors from across the world. It's why place and destination development go hand-in-hand with our market development activity. We need to help ensure:
all areas of the country feel the benefits of tourism and events
communities feel comfortable and capable of welcoming visitors
Working closely with a wide range of businesses and organisations, we aim to grow Scotland’s visitor economy. We work with the tourism and events industry to deliver the aspirations and objectives of both the Scotland Outlook 2030 and Scotland the Perfect Stage 2024-2035 strategies.
To do this, we work with industry, destination and sector organisations and other public and private partners to shape the local visitor economy, maximising its benefits in line with the unique needs and opportunities of each destination. This ensures we’re delivering for communities in every part of Scotland, supporting livelihoods and sustaining local services.
£32.4 million
event development programmes NEI
75
Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) projects supported
£15 million
additional investment leveraged through RTIF
£600 million
invested across 30 Growth Deal projects
These are examples of investment, there’s also significant private investment that flows through the visitor economy.
Our focus is very much on collaborative working with the right people, businesses, and organisations to support the delivery of:
major tourism and event investment
infrastructure that benefits communities and supports the visitor experience
destination, regional and national tourism and events policy
local, regional, and national growth ambitions
By working together, we want Scotland to be recognised globally as a leading sustainable tourism destination.
We can’t deliver our stated purpose of driving the visitor economy and growing its value to Scotland on our own.
At a national level, we support the work of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group and the Event Industry Advisory Group. This is to ensure our collective efforts are delivering on the ambitions set out in Scotland Outlook 2030 and Scotland the Perfect Stage.
Through our work with industry and community partners, we seek to distribute the economic and social benefits of tourism and events across Scotland, ensuring that the experiences and the welcome offered by industry and communities in destinations meet visitor expectations.
We encourage and support a range of partners to help them to raise performance, invest, improve quality, and engage with the digital economy. In addition, we work with the industry across Scotland to lead, influence, and support destination development.
A partnership approach to achieving the appropriate infrastructure to support the visitor economy is an important focus, allowing issues of quality, sustainability, inclusivity and capacity to be addressed and ultimately delivering against Scotland’s target of net zero by 2045.
Our focus on place see’s us working closely with destination and regional stakeholders, including Regional Economic Partnerships (REPs) and local authorities.
Through insights, strategy development and delivery, we work with partners to define the needs and opportunities for regional visitor economies and their role in supporting wider economic growth in line with National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET).
Find out more about our work in partnershipProductive businesses and regions are captured as a key programme of action within the Scottish Government's National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET). There are currently eight Regional Economic Partnerships and 12 City Region and Growth Deals in Scotland. These play a key role in developing a regional vision for delivery of NSET.
Regional Economic Partnerships (REPs) bring together regional interests, focusing and aligning resources, sharing knowledge, and identifying new plans to accelerate inclusive economic growth at a local, regional, and national level. They are collaborations of local government, the private sector, education and skills providers, our enterprise and skills agencies, and the third sector.
Read more on the Scottish Hub for Regional Economic Development.
City Region Deals are packages of funding agreed between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and local partners. They are designed to bring about long-term strategic approaches to improving regional economies, aiming to help harness additional investment, create new jobs and accelerate inclusive economic growth.
Read more on the Scottish Government website.
Regional Growth Deals are agreements between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and local government designed to bring about long-term strategic approaches to improving regional economies.
Read more on the Scottish Government website.
We provide insight, data, trends, and information from the perspective of the visitor economy, which can help regional economies develop their regional strategies. These can be either wider economic strategies or specifically tourism strategies.
We also input and help shape the thinking on key investments and projects at various stages. Recent examples include the Perth Museum and Inverness Castle.
Our role is to:
highlight opportunities for regional visitor economies to align with the unique needs and opportunities of each destination
ensure the needs of future visitors are understood
influence future thinking
support economic prosperity in all regions of Scotland
We’re working closely with regional partnerships and city and growth deals to ensure that we maximise the potential value of the visitor economy in these areas. We work with destination management organisations and local authorities to encourage regional spread and attract higher value visits.
We engage with destinations and communities to develop tourism in responsible and inclusive ways and promote regional and seasonal spread. This supports issues around over demand and visitor management.
We recognise there is a careful balance to strike. With increasing pressures facing some destinations we work with destinations to share insight, disperse visitors, promote responsible behaviour and identify opportunities for additional infrastructure which can alleviate pressure on honey pot areas.
Working with destinations and communities, we advise, support and promote visitor and event experiences which deliver regional and seasonal spread. And we work with the industry to showcase the truly unique experiences Scotland offers and the businesses behind them, who are primed to welcome visitors throughout the year.
Since 2018, we have developed and delivered the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) on behalf of the Scottish Government.
The fund has improved the visitor experience in rural parts of Scotland, helping address pressure on local infrastructure or any negative impacts on communities by providing additional facilities such as toilets, parking and motorhome facilities.
Grant funding totalling £20 million has been awarded to 75 projects across rural Scotland since the start of the fund. An additional £15 million investment has been leveraged through RTIF since its inception.
With ongoing investment, we continue to deliver the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund in close collaboration with local partners to identify and complete strategic projects that further improve infrastructure, enhance visitor satisfaction and encourage increased visitor spend into our rural communities.
Read more on projects RTIF has supportedWe're working to make Scotland the Perfect Stage for events. With partners, our aim is to raise Scotland's reputation as a world leading events destination.
We work in partnership with the events sector to produce a portfolio of events and festivals which includes supporting regional events and attracting internationally significant events to Scotland. This approach develops and sustains a broad and balanced programme that delivers significant, lasting impacts.
Events have positive economic, social, and cultural impacts across the country throughout the year. Economically, they support thousands of jobs. This is both directly within the events industry and the communities in which events take place, as well as wider sectors including hospitality and tourism.
We support and help develop a strong and dynamic events industry for Scotland by:
attracting, bidding for, and securing major sporting, cultural and business events for Scotland
helping to develop a diverse portfolio of events
providing funding opportunities, guidance, access to resources and insight, along with other support
Through our partnership working, Scotland has hosted some of the world’s biggest events, including:
2023 UCI Cycling World Championships
The Open Championships
COP26
UEFA EURO 2020
The 2019 Solheim Cup
2018 European Championships
The 2014 Ryder Cup
2014 Commonwealth Games
MTV EMAs 2014
Find out more about sporting and cultural events that we are supporting through our EventScotland funding programme in 2025 and beyond.
Visit our supported events page
