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VisitScotland / Luigi Di Pasquale

Responsible tourism

Insights into the visitor economy

It is vital that we rebuild Scotland's visitor economy in a responsible and inclusive way. This is to ensure that our industry thrives and that tourism enriches our communities. In this section, you can find research undertaken with our communities and visitors in Scotland. It explores people's attitudes towards travelling more sustainably and adopting sustainable holiday behaviours. It also delves into the perceived role of tourism on climate change and the impact of tourism on communities.

Visitor views on responsible tourism

In 2023, we commissioned the Scotland Visitor Survey to gather insight on visitor attitudes and behaviours. The scope of the survey was leisure overnight visitors only. Information on the background, methodology, and key highlights are available on our main visitor survey page.

Browse the Scotland Visitor Survey 2023.

Visitors to Scotland were asked about their attitudes towards environmental practices in Scotland and the impact of tourism. The research also looked at different types of accommodation and transport used within Scotland, including accommodation with environmental accreditation, electric cars and public transport.

Scotland Visitor Survey 2023 - responsible tourism

Published October 2024

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Actionable insight

33% of visitors to Scotland said they were encouraged to behave in a responsible way when here. 26% said they were very satisfied with the environmental practices they saw, rising to 65% who were satisfied to some extent.

Sustainability and responsible travel are not always front of mind for consumers taking a holiday or short break and this may affect how they respond to the questions within the Scotland Visitor Survey. When asked about environmental practices they saw, 15% of visitors stated unsure.
 

 

To boost the top visitor satisfaction scores with  environmental practices (scoring 9 or 10 out of 10 on a 10 point scale), it is vital that tourism businesses showcase the environmental practices they have put in place to visitors and demonstrate how individual actions can make a difference. Be factual and back up sustainable claims with tangible proof. Share evidence of any responsible tourism practices.

Read more on Scotland residents' views on tourism

Scotland residents' views on the role of tourism

We studied how Scotland residents feel about the Scottish tourism industry, and the role of tourism in their local area.

3 min read

Read More

Scotland residents' views on responsible tourism

We studied how Scotland residents feel about climate change, and explored the sustainable behaviours that they may adopt when on holiday in the future.

4 min read

Read More

We are dedicated to protect our planet for future generations. This means keeping tourism both sustainable and responsible. Read more about our commitment in our Destination Net Zero climate action plan.

Read our climate action plan

Our research supports wider work underway with local communities. This will help visitors enjoy Scotland responsibly.

You can find further information on this work by reading our responsible visitor guide for businesses.

Browse our responsible visitor guide