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.

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

As the group recently held its first meeting of 2025, we thought it would be good to give you an update on recent activity.

Latest meeting round-up

The latest meeting was held on 29 January. The group’s Co-Chair Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Business, joined the meeting. He thanked the group for their leadership role and ongoing work to support tourism and hospitality particularly via the ILG ‘missions’.

The group focuses on five cross-cutting mission areas to achieve the ambitions of Scotland Outlook 2030. 

The meeting included a focus on rail, as part of the Sustainable Transport mission. Representatives joined from Transport Scotland, Scottish Rail Holdings, Caledonian Sleeper and ScotRail. This session was an opportunity to discuss how collaboratively the industry can maximise opportunities of rail developments in Scotland and the role of rail within the visitor economy, particularly in the context of net zero.

Other items discussed included:

• An update on the Scotland Outlook 2030 tracker: the tracker is being developed by Scottish Government and VisitScotland, with strategic input and oversight of the ILG. It will allow industry, sector groups and others to understand Scotland’s progress against key indicators measuring the success of the strategy.
• Updates on work going on across each of the mission areas: Net Zero Acceleration, Technology to Enable, Proud and Valued People and Community Led Tourism.
• The forward plan for the group and upcoming engagements around Scottish Tourism Month.

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

Recruitment for new members

The ILG is currently looking for people working in the industry to help influence and grow the future of tourism in Scotland.

Expressions of interest to join the ILG are being welcomed from any individual who is committed and passionate about the future of tourism and hospitality in Scotland and can demonstrate that they have the right skills, knowledge, and experience to act as “champion” of the national tourism strategy.

There is an open process for interested parties to submit an expression of interest in joining the ILG. Members will join as individuals, bringing their skills experience and sector knowledge to the group. 

Members will be invited to join the ILG on a voluntary basis and the group is expected to convene at least four times a year, with the first meeting taking place 14 May. 

If you’re interested, take a look at the full recruitment pack on the vacancies section of our website.

Background

The ILG is a network of individuals from across the public, private and the third sector. Together, they have knowledge and experience of destinations, sectors and businesses spanning Scotland, the UK and across the globe. 

The ILG co-chaired by Richard Lochhead, Minister for Business, and Marc Crothall, Chief Executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance. Judy Rae, of OnFife Cultural Trust, is vice-chair.  

This group helps to drive recovery and sustainable growth across both tourism and hospitality in the long term. It also supports work to grow the value and enhance the benefits of tourism across Scotland.