Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group | update

What is the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group?

The Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group (ILG) provides strategic direction to drive Scotland’s ambition to be a world leader in 21st century tourism.

The group provides strategic leadership to help grow the visitor economy and champions the national tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, a key component of the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET).

As the group nears its two-year anniversary, we thought it would be good to give you an update on recent activity.

Latest meeting round-up

The latest meeting was held on 2 October. The group’s Co-Chair Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Business, joined the meeting. Discussion included:

• An update on work to create a tracker to monitor the progress of Scotland Outlook 2030
• A discussion on the Fair Work Inquiry and the ILG-related recommendations
• A deep-dive into the “Proud & Valued People” mission – the Tourism and Hospitality ILG focuses on five “mission” areas to achieve the ambitions of Scotland Outlook 2030. This session looked at “Proud & Valued People” including data, evidence, insight, background and case studies related to the mission.
• A reflection on the first Industry Leadership Group Symposium (more on that in the next section)
• An update on the background and approach to the Rural Delivery Plan from Scottish Government Rural team

Minutes for the October meeting will be published when they are approved by the Tourism and Hospitality ILG members at the next meeting in January.

Industry Leadership Group Symposium 2024

The Tourism and Hospitality ILG was involved in Scotland’s first Industry Leadership Group Symposium, which took place on 25 September at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC).

The day long programme included a combination of presentations and videos that gave insight into the priorities and focus for Scotland’s 15 key business sectors – all of which have an Industry Leadership Group to represent them.

It also featured presentations and panel discussions with politicians and business leaders from across Scotland’s economy.

The conference offered the chance for industry to take part in a ‘strategic think tank’ and to network with business leaders from a variety of sectors, including government.

The core purpose of the symposium was to:

• Enhance knowledge: exchange information with fellow ILG sectors
• Showcase best practice/innovative thinking: sharing knowledge across sectors
• Collaborate: create a network across the ILG sectors
• Identify clear actions: what can the industry do for itself and working collectively, towards maximising and unlocking potential

At the event, the Tourism and Hospitality ILG shared the following video on the sectoral strategy Scotland Outlook 2030 and the work of the group.