This case study is part of our visitor economy series, showcasing the widespread benefits of tourism and events in Scotland.
We spoke to Kat Brogan from Mercat Tours to hear more about how the visitor economy helps to improve the lives of people in Scotland.
Mercat was born in a local Edinburgh classroom by my dad, a history teacher, who believes ‘History is a damn good story. What it needs is a damn good telling!’. It was his passion for history and the visitor’s desire to connect with the sites and stories of our beautiful city that led to the foundation of Mercat Tours on 1 July 1985.
Every Mercat tour is a storytelling experience which explores the rich and varied past of Edinburgh, and Scotland. We believe in making meaningful connections for our visitors using the very human craft of storytelling and have developed tours on literary history, the Enlightenment, Talking Statues and whisky heritage.
Across four decades we've now grown to become the highest-awarded walking tour company with the largest portfolio of storytelling experiences in the country. We've established exclusive partnerships with premium heritage attractions in the city allowing us to provide diverse five-star experiences guaranteed, year round to trade and visitors.
As a local, independent family business we remain rooted in our community and have thrived by investing in our remarkable team, building business partnerships and nurturing lasting connections with our visitors.
Visitors on the Hidden Underground tour. Credit: Mercat Tours
Partnerships with like-minded businesses are the foundation of Mercat’s success. For example, we have formal partnerships with the premium heritage attractions in the city including Edinburgh Castle, National Museum of Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland and Palace of Holyroodhouse. These joint ventures result in new products which secure shared growth and support living wage jobs in the city.
We've already developed close partnerships with Edinburgh World Heritage, the Storytelling Centre and City of Literature and delivered projects such as the ‘Talking Statues’ tour. Our ideal would be to work even more closely to enhance visitors’ and locals’ experience of this remarkable UNESCO world heritage site.
As the first UK B-Corp visitor attraction, we have a responsibility to work hard and encourage others to preserve our environment and heritage through B-Corp’s principles for ethical growth.
We volunteer considerable time to local projects such as Co-Chairing the City of Edinburgh’s cross-sectoral Fair Work Action Group, to champion fair work ideals and support local schools. This showcases the wonderful careers young people can have in tourism.
As a local, independent family business we've thrived because of the loyalty of our local community. We know that locals recommend Mercat first to their friends and family, possibly because they remember being taught history by dad back in the 1970s/80s/90s!
As a living wage employer our locals know that we are an ethical, responsible business and our many awards speak for themselves. We offer high quality five-star tours every time.
Most notably, we launched our award-winning ‘Our Stories, Your City’ in partnership with the Grassmarket Community Project in 2022 which uses Mercat’s storytelling to reconnect vulnerable locals who have been cut off from their city and stories.
The project has been so compelling and resulted in such a large amount of donations we’ve since launched phase two and three. They'll benefit local school children suffering from the cost of living and ‘New Scots’ supported by The Welcoming charity to make Scotland their home.
These partnerships activate Mercat’s values that good business does good and is one reason by we were the first UK attraction to achieve B-Corp accreditation in 2024.
The Mercat team celebrating receiving B-Corp status. Credit: Mercat Tours
The visitor economy shares resources with almost every sector in Scotland, supports diverse jobs across the country and provides vital tax revenues which supports our public services. By understanding the common priorities and cross-sectoral collaboration there lies the opportunity to maximise the impact of planning and investment, turbo-charged by tourism’s contribution.
Tourism businesses offer world-leading, high-quality experiences delivered by proud and passionate people who care deeply about preserving Scotland’s heritage and landscape to be enjoyed responsibly.
On a powerfully human level tourism boosts a sense of place and identity in an increasingly digital world which needs us to remember the joy of being connected to landscapes, people and the past.
