Travel to Scotland
Travel to Scotland continued to be dominated by car travel for UK visitors and by air travel for international visitors.
Edinburgh and Glasgow were the main gateway cities for those arriving by air, with a smaller proportion arriving at Inverness or Aberdeen airports. For UK visitors, there were some differences regionally. Those from Greater London and the South East also used plane and train connections to Scotland.
7 in 10 European visitors travelled by air and the majority of these came on a direct flight into Edinburgh. Dutch visitors, however, were more likely than other markets to be travelling by car and ferry to Scotland.
For long haul visitors, 8 in 10 visitors travelled to Scotland by air, with more travelling on an indirect flight (48%) than directly (35%).
Travel within Scotland
Car travel still dominated travel around Scotland. 69% of all visitors used a car on their trip in Scotland in 2023.
However, there was also a significant proportion who are using public transport. Almost half of visitors in Scotland claimed to use some form of public transport on their trip within Scotland (49%). This rose to 66% for European and long haul visitors.
This was also higher for those travelling within an urban location (or as part of touring around Scotland) compared with those staying more in rural or coastal locations.
There were also differences by lifestage. Pre-nesters were more likely to travel by public transport driven by environmental concerns, cost, and not having access to a car.
In 2023, the majority of visitors who were using a car were using a petrol or diesel vehicle (84%). Although 12% were using hybrid vehicles, only 2% were driving pure electric vehicles for travelling around Scotland.
Train travel may also be seen as part of the trip experience. 27% of visitors stated that they chose public transport as they felt it would enhance their holiday.
Satisfaction
Satisfaction with public transport was high. Visitors were generally very satisfied with their experience. In particular, the reliability of public transport and the ability to reach their destination were rated in the top two boxes by the majority, while no aspects were rated as dissatisfactory.
Ratings provided by European visitors tended to be lower than for UK and long haul visitors, particularly value for money.
Reasons for choosing public transport included that it was:
- easier to get to places
- more cost-effective
- more environmentally friendly
Reasons given for not choosing public transport included:
- lack of flexibility
- that it was difficult and inconvenient for some to use i.e., due to luggage or impractical with the people in the travel party
Mentions were also made around the infrequency of services and length of time it would take. Overseas visitors were more likely to mention "not being practical with luggage" as a barrier.
The small minority of people who drove an electric car during their trip were generally moderately satisfied with the charging infrastructure. On average, the availability and reliability of charging points in Scotland was scored just less than 7 out of 10.
