The future of Scotland's international tourism markets

Abstract

This paper explains the rationale behind a tourism marketing strategy prepared for Scotland, as an example of a small-nation destination. In 1985, a typical international tourist to Scotland would have been be described as ‘American, over-50 and interested in heritage’, whereas today the typical tourist is ‘European, under-35 and interested in culture’. The change can be explained within the context of global tourism trends, which provide an insightful explanation of this transformation. Looking to the future, the prospects up to 2025 are assessed in this paper, based upon future trends and UN WTO projections. Is that future to be based upon arrivals from North America, European or the Rest of the World? Whatever the scenario, a strategy is presented that captures the essence of Scotland's international tourism expectations based upon key drivers and market prospects. In a highly competitive market, Scotland should focus on markets that it can win and that can contribute towards the industry's ambition to grow the economic value of tourism by 50% by the year 2015 through strong branding and a focused marketing proposition.