THE number of tourists coming to Scotland has hit a six-year high as figures show visitors approaching a peak last seen in 2008.
Tourism chiefs welcomed the statistics, which cover the first six months of the year, and said that efforts to market Scotland around the world as a destination for holidaymakers have paid off.
The amount of money spent by visitors fell slightly compared to 2013 as tourists cut back spending. However, 2014 could still be on course to break spending records as the figures did not include data from the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow or the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.
Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said new air routes had brought increased traffic in the past two years while Homecoming Scotland had sparked interest from the Scottish diaspora.
He said: "The events, activity and worldwide attention in 2014 has taken Scotland's profile and reputation to great heights and we are determined to make the most of this for the future."
Overall, there were more than 1,118,000 visitors from January to June, up 16 per cent on the same period in 2013 and the highest for six years.
The biggest growth came in the number of business travellers, with more 238,000 visits recorded, an increase of 41 per cent.
Holiday visits rose nine per cent to 497,000, while the amount spent on people visiting friends and family hit a record £163 million.
The figures showed the overseas market remains vital to Scotland's tourism industry, with the largest number of visitors coming from America, followed by Germany,
Trips from these two markets also brought in the highest amount of tourist spending, with expenditure from US visitors up 42 per cent to £127m and £64m spent by those from Germany.
Spending by Chinese visitors reached a record £20m, while the number of holidaymakers from Scotland's other major tourism markets, including the Republic Of Ireland and Norway, were also up compared to the first six months of last year.
Visits from the Republic of Ireland grew 46 per cent to 79,000, while the number from Norway rose 67 per cent to 67,000, also the highest ever.
The amount spent during visits to Scotland was £575m - higher than any other year apart from the £620m spent in 2013.
Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing said: "These figures show the Year of Homecoming in 2014 is providing a unique opportunity to encourage more and more visitors to come and enjoy Scotland."
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