Dumfries and Galloway’s Galloway Forest Park centres, Dumfries town centre regeneration project and the Kirkcudbright Art Gallery project set to benefit from a £400m region-wide tourism investment.
The Regions tourism industry stands to benefit from a share of a national investment of over £16 billion over the next three years, a joint initiative between VisitScotland and its key local and national partners has revealed.
The updated Tourism Development Framework, first published in 2013, aims to highlight the importance of the visitor economy within the wider investment and infrastructure plans of local and national agencies. The Framework is closely aligned to and supports the contributions of the industry-led “Tourism Scotland 2020” strategy.
The £16 billion figure represents overall public and private sector investment in major infrastructure projects being delivered across the country that are expected to have an impact on the visitor economy and support tourism growth.
Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop said:
“Tourism is one of Scotland’s most important industries with its benefits and impacts reaching many other sectors of the Scottish economy. The Tourism Development Framework has identified £16 billion of major projects being delivered across Scotland that will have a positive impact for our visitors, ensuring they can be better connected and have the best possible experience while they’re here – with clear benefits for the visitor economy. I look forward to continuing to work with partners to ensure our tourism industry reaches its full potential and ambition.”
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said:
“The visitor economy in Scotland supports many jobs across the country and is often the cornerstone of local economies. Realising its growth potential to 2020 through the planning system is an important opportunity to grasp, especially in our challenging economic climate. This National Tourism Development Framework refresh sets out actions to support sustainable growth in the visitor economy to 2020.
“The Framework focuses on every single part of the visitor journey from arrival to departure. Good internet connectivity, smooth roads, informative signage and urban improvement projects are just a few of the hugely important pieces that join together to ensure our visitors have the best experience possible while in Scotland, no matter where they go.
“We are excited by the level of investment in Scotland’s tourism future and aim to ensure this close working between local authorities and planning departments continues, creating real opportunities and benefits for many years to come.”
COSLA Spokesperson for Development, Economy and Sustainability, Cllr Stephen Hagan said:
“COSLA welcomes the refresh of the National Tourism Development Framework which highlights current investment in the visitor economy across Scotland. Tourism and its positive impact on local economic development plays a vital role in improving outcomes for local communities. Despite a period of uncertainty following the EU referendum I’m heartened to see that a variety of local projects and initiatives are being taken forward in order to raise the profile of the tourism sector which remains of crucial importance to the Scottish economy.”
The National Tourism Development Framework for Scotland can be downloaded at:
http://www.visitscotland.org/what_we_do/tourism_development_plan.aspx
