Industry experts have told MSPs border controls in the event of a so-called hard Brexit would make tourists and businesses "feel unwelcome".

Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald asked a panel of industry leaders giving evidence to a Scottish Parliament committee if there is an acceptable alternative to the EU rule allowing unlimited free movement of citizens within the bloc.

He said: "The UK Government seems very unsympathetic to business and to all the other arguments in favour of freedom of movement.

"If the UK Government does not reflect what you've all said and what many other witnesses have said about freedom of movement being critical going forward, is there a second best, is there another outcome that UK ministers might show some evidence of being interested in that would protect the vital interests that your sectors have in relation to freedom of movement?

"Or is it simply the case that if the UK Government turns its back on the free movement then the game's a bogey as far as the economy is concerned?"

Tim Reardon, UK Chamber of Shipping policy director, told Holyrood's Culture, Tourism and Europe and External Relations Committee: "Is there a second best to making someone feel unwelcome when they get here? I don't think so."

He told MSPs that European shipping firms had been successfully encouraged to set up operations in the UK and had brought some staff with them.

He said: "There really isn't a second best to telling these people you've got to go home again or that the next generation can't come through. It's a very, very tough sell to say to inward investors we want your money but we don't want you. It simply won't wash.

"There has to be a risk that that segment of our business - at the moment generating wealth, generating employment, supporting service businesses - will feel unwelcome if they are unable to renew their staff."

He added: "In a tourism market, the issue is simply that people should be able to come here easily and they should feel that they are welcome to Britain when they get here. As often as not, a visitor's only interaction with the UK state is the border control and that is the point where they are either made to feel welcome or not on arrival."

Edinburgh University Professor Gordon Masterton, former president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, told the committee it is "difficult to think of a second best" and he warned business may go elsewhere.

David Branch, from Annan-based boiler firm Cochran UK, said much of the company's trade is outside the EU with countries such as Bangladesh and China.

He told MSPs: "It's much easier for me to get visas to go there than we make it for them to come here. We're not very welcoming before they get here, never mind when they get to the border control."