This year's Homecoming celebrations will be one of the "biggest family reunions" ever staged in the world, enterprise minister Jim Mather said today.
This year's Homecoming celebrations will be one of the "biggest family reunions" ever staged in the world, enterprise minister Jim Mather said today.
He issued an open invitation to anyone with either family links or an "affinity" with Scotland to visit this year and join the celebrations.
And the falling value of the pound could help boost the event, he said.
More than 300 events are planned kicking off on the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth later this month and running to St Andrew's Day.
"We're inviting the diaspora and affinity Scots throughout the world to celebrate our shared heritage by joining us this year for one of the biggest family reunions the world has ever seen," Mr Mather said.
"This is an open invitation where people across the world can declare themselves to be family members.
"We're inviting anyone with either an ancestral or an affinity link to Scotland to come this year."
Mr Mather said the latter group was was pretty much limitless.
He told fellow MSPs today that the official launch of Homecoming 2009 was just 16 days away.
As well as Burns, the events will also celebrate golf, whisky, innovation and cultural heritage, with events including the biggest clan gathering in the world in Edinburgh in the summer.
"The programme is ready to run and we have wind in our sails," Mr Mather added.
"Even currency weakness is a strength as far as the year of Homecoming is concerned."
Mr Mather said if the Homecoming celebrations were not in the pipeline, there would be a need to "invent" them to boost tourism and the wider economy.
Labour's Lewis Macdonald said the timing of the Homecoming celebrations were "fortuitous".
He added: "It is a long time since a boost to economic activity was quite so urgently needed."
He said the celebrations will have a "global reach" for families who have emigrated in centuries past, as well as those who have visited in recent years.
"The issue for debate today is not whether Homecoming is a good idea for 2009," Mr Mather said.
"But whether it is being promoted effectively, how significant a role it can play in sustaining the Scottish economy, and what more can be done to secure the best possible outcomes in 2009 and to ensure a significant legacy for the future."
Labour's amendment voiced concern today over the withdrawal of adult apprenticeships in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
"I hope the minister can go further today and guarantee that these modern apprenticeships will be available again in the future," Mr Macdonald said.
The former minister also said the £5 million of government funding to support the Homecoming calendar of events had been branded a "pretty modest" contribution by VisitScotland.
"It is not the scale of funding that might be expected, if Homecoming was being given its full potential weight as an engine of economic growth," he said.
Tory MSP Gavin Brown described Homecoming as a "hugely exciting initiative" with its programme of 101 official events and many more unofficial events.
And he said: "It has the potential to have an economic impact. 2009 is going to be a tough year, but with the additional unique selling point of Homecoming I think we have at least the possibility of bringing more tourists to Scotland and spending greater money within Scotland.
"It's critical that that happens because 218,000 people in Scotland rely upon tourism for their very income and livelihood."
But The Conservative said a "far bigger prize" than this would be if Scotland could forge stronger links with the 25 million people across the world who had a connection with the country.
"If we can connect to them properly and engage with them on a longer term basis, its excellent news for Scotland as a whole," he argued.
"It's good news for our economy and it's even better news for our tourist trade."
For this to happen he said Homecoming must be more than just a series of events, but a "process of engaging over time" with ex-pat Scots and people of Scottish descent.
Mr Brown asked: "The world is watching. We have to look at the bigger picture here."
Liberal Democrat Iain Smith stressed the importance of everyone working together to make Homecoming a success.
But he added: "Homecoming must be more than a branding exercise, more than what just doing what we would be doing anyway but calling it a 'Homecoming event'."
And he said while the government had included Homecoming in its six-point programme for the economy, ministers had not yet made clear all the actions they would be taking.
He told MSPs: "We all want Homecoming to be a success. But the government needs to be clearer about what it is doing to promote that success, what its targets are and how these will be measured."
Mr Smith also pointed out that "perversely the present economic crisis presents a massive opportunity for Scotland".
He pointed out the value of the pound against both the US dollar and the euro made coming to Scotland better value for overseas visitors.
And he said that the credit crunch meant many Britons would be holidaying in the UK.
Mr Smith stressed the importance of promoting Scotland as "the value for money destination of choice for 2009".
Margaret Curran, Labour MSP for Glasgow Baillieston, welcomed the debate and said the Homecoming had been "devised and directed" under the previous Labour administration.
"Let me take the opportunity to Jack McConnell who as First Minister was deeply committed to this project," she said.
The Homecoming was "a great event and a fantastic opportunity" but Labour had "one or two questions" about how it was been managed by the SNP, including the budget allocated to it.
Roseanna Cunningham, SNP MSP for Perth, accused Labour of nit-picking.
She went on to urge MSPs to follow her example by writing to overseas communities named after towns in their constituencies to promote the Homecoming.
"I have written to Perths around the world and had responses already from Tasmania and New York State, and these people are coming," she said.
Ms Cunningham also appealed to critics to "get over yourselves.
"Stop sneering, stop applying some kind of snobby metropolitan approach to this Homecoming.
"This is going to be an enormous incentive and it will only be a problem if people turn their mouths down and not up."
Cathy Jamieson, Labour MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, said there had been some "missed opportunities".
"While the the First Minister might be urging acceptance of the euro, visitors to Alloway will find it impossible spend a penny because the local toilets have been closed by the council - right across from the Burns Heritage Centre," she said.
Cuts were also threatened in other areas, and while there was a new primary school in Alloway, residents were "pretty dismayed" at the state of the local roads.
Another Ayrshire MSP, the SNP's Willie Coffey, criticised "gloom merchants" and said Homecoming events would be "a perfect showcase for Scotland".
"When was the last time anybody had a party and invited the whole world?" said Mr Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun.
