Talking-up Scotland

(c) thedrinksbusiness.com (Why is there a pagoda on the sign?)

As tourism continues to surge after 2017’s peak year, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) expects further growth in it’s the Whisky tourism sector. See this from Insider today:

‘With a record 1.7 million visitors from across the world travelling to more than 40 distillery visitor centres in 2016, whisky tourists are playing an increasingly important and valuable role in Scottish tourism, equalling the importance of visitors to well-established tourist attractions like the National Museum of Scotland and Edinburgh Castle, Scotland’s two most-visited attractions.’

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/bumper-year-ahead-whisky-tourism-12100878

This looks like further evidence that the weak pound only partly explains the boom in Scotland’s tourism. We already know of the existing ‘Outlander’ and probable ‘Bruce’ effects:

‘BLOODY HELL Robert the Bruce movie Outlaw King will feature some of the bloodiest battle scenes in cinema history’, put Braveheart in the shade and boost tourism like Outlander.

but there is other evidence that it’s the inherent quality of our attractions playing a big part:

Glasgow wins two first places in global tourism awards and comes 4th out of 50!

As Scottish Tourism soars, Outer Hebrides to become major centre of marine tourism with funds mostly from SNP-led Scottish government

‘Scotland enjoys tourism boost thanks to interest in Gaelic’

All of these and other reports here (search ‘tourism’ for more) are needed to explain why the weak pound has not resulted in a comparable boom elsewhere in the UK

Tourism spending in Scotland surges ahead of UK figure