MORE than 4,000 new jobs are expected to be created in the tourism industry in the Scottish capital as visits rise by a third in the next four years.
Tourism chiefs will making the most of specific events such as the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh festivals next year and tapping emerging markets like China, areas like accessible tourism and the youth travel market to add £500 million on on the amount spent each year by visitors.
It is announced as part of the Edinburgh 2020 Tourism Strategy review, designed to help steer the industry, which shows that Edinburgh’s tourism sector continues to grow and is on track to swell visitor spend to £1.5 billion each year by 2020.
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The review includes an analysis of tourism sector performance over the last four years, consultation with key stakeholders and tourism businesses and a review of the strategic priorities.
It found the number of visits to Edinburgh has increased by 580,000, from 3.27 million in 2010 to 3.85 million in 2015 and visitor spend has grown by £300 million per year, from £1,015 million to £1,318 million.
That increase in visitor spend supports an additional 3,822 jobs, with ten new hotels built, creating an additional 1,400 rooms, with 2,000 more in development.
It also found Edinburgh continues to act as “the gateway to Scotland”, with 18 per cent growth in international trips.
Plans for the next four years include attracting additional visitors during the January to March period, and encouraging visitors to explore beyond the Old Town.
Building on the city’s success in the Meeting, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions market, reflecting the high level of delegate spend at business events.
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Edinburgh International Conference Centre said last month it is on course to achieve a record year with a performance that underlines the value of business tourism to Scotland.
The flagship complex expects to generate £51.5 million economic benefit for the city this year as booming delegate numbers fuel demand for services ranging from hotel accommodation to taxi rides.
Andrew Kerr, Edinburgh City Council chief executive and chair of the strategy group which is also made up of businesses and tourism groups that commissioned the report, said: “This review tells us that the city continues to offer visitors from all over the world a fantastic experience, based on our amazing history and heritage, festivals and events and world class visitor attractions.
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"But it also makes it clear that we can’t take our foot of the pedal and we need to build on our success to ensure that we achieve the ambitious targets set out for 2020.”
Robin Worsnop, chair of the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group, said: “The positive performance of the tourism sector is great news for the city and the review gives us a clear focus on how to continue to drive growth going forward.
"The year 2017 is a great opportunity as we celebrate the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology, plus the 250th Anniversary of the New Town and the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festivals.
"There are also exciting new markets identified – we’re already focusing on the rapid growth in the Chinese visitor market, and encouraging the tourism sector to develop products and services for other fast growing markets such as accessible tourism and the youth travel market.”
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