IN recent weeks we’ve seen reports of record numbers of tourists visiting historic sites across Scotland thanks to the TV production ‘Outlander’, sporting fans descending on Glasgow for the European Athletics Indoor Championships and the ‘V&A effect’ helping to boost visitor numbers in Dundee and Angus.

Without a doubt Scotland’s wonderful landscapes, rich history, major events and culture continue to captivate visitors from home and abroad and tourism continues to be one of our most important industries.

As we enter Scottish Tourism Month, there is an opportunity to celebrate and promote the industry and all that it has to offer. The Scottish Tourism Alliance has coordinated a series of events and activities to show the enormous contribution the industry makes to our economy and reinforce the message that ‘tourism is everyone’s business’.

Tourism is one of our key growth sectors, employing approximately 206,000 people, around one in 12 Scottish jobs while spending by overnight and day visitors contributed around £8 billion to our GDP.

As we are rapidly approaching the UK’s exit from the EU, now more than ever it is crucial that we protect this sector and the thousands working in it, and promote Scotland as a welcoming country which is open for business.

The EU Exit will have a devastating impact on Scotland’s economy – especially on our tourism sector. The Prime Minister’s deal will cause major, lasting damage to jobs, and a recent report by the Scottish Government’s Chief Economist found a ‘No Deal’ Brexit has the potential for GDP to fall by up to 7%.

For tourism, where over 11% of those working in the sector are from the EU – it is clear that the end of free movement of people can seriously affect the recruitment and retention of EU staff.

EU citizens are not only huge contributors to the industry and Scotland’s economy, they are our friends, our colleagues, our neighbours and in many cases our family. The Scottish Government’s position is absolute – freedom of movement has enriched Scotland and should be allowed to continue. The UK Government’s focus on dramatically cutting immigration will be economically catastrophic for Scotland and does not reflect our needs.

The Scottish Government will always stand up for the rights of EU citizens. In recent months we have successfully lobbied to ensure they would not have to pay a fee to retain rights, broadly similar to those they already have, by applying for settled status in the UK. We have already committed £800,000 to Citizens Advice Scotland to provide advice and support to EU citizens in Scotland affected by changes in the immigration rules.

The impact of the EU exit on tourism goes beyond the workforce. The EU currently accounts for six out of Scotland’s ten key visitor markets and around 38% of our overseas visitors.

It is regretfully the case that the majority of the powers in these areas are reserved to Westminster, however the Scottish Government will continue to do all we can to ensure European visitors can continue to travel to Scotland freely and provide the certainty that people and businesses want.

In the meantime we are continuing to strengthen our ties with our neighbours in Europe and priority countries around the world, by expanding our network of innovation and investment hubs. Just last month the First Minister officially opened new hubs in Paris and Ottawa, and these offices will work to promote Scotland as an attractive place to invest, visit, work and live.

Scotland Is Now is building a unified campaign positioning Scotland as a place that people will want to live, work, study, visit and do business in. This campaign has now reached over 56 million people with more than 126 million plays of our videos.

In these uncertain times the Scottish Government, working with VisitScotland, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, will do all it can to help the industry continue to grow sustainably.

Despite those challenges I am pleased the tourism industry has shown its ingenuity at identifying and pursing new opportunities, such as taking advantage of Scotland’s great outdoors by promoting adventure and activity tourism, and working to capitalise on the success of our growing screen sector.

I mentioned we are already seeing the benefits of the ‘Outlander effect’ with locations where the series was filmed reporting record visitor numbers, and we would expect to see this trend continue with the release of Netflix’s Outlaw King and the new Mary Queen of Scots film which was filmed in locations including Glencoe, East Lothian and West Lothian.

And adventure tourism is continuing to build its popularity in Scotland. This is an exciting area for the Scottish Government as a focus on adventure also has benefits for physical and mental health, education and the environment.

While increasing visitor numbers is of course welcome it is important that we have the infrastructure in place to accommodate the demand.

This is why, at the invitation of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, we facilitated a national discussion on a tourism tax, which, for the first time, brought together leaders and representatives from the tourism sector and local government across Scotland to build a shared appreciation of the complex issues and challenges in this area.

Some local authorities have called on the Scottish Government to give them the powers to introduce a tourism tax to help them meet pressures and develop their areas’ offers and recently the Green Party specified these powers as part of their agreement to support the Scottish Government Budget

We are absolutely committed to working with industry and local authority partners to ensure any proposals benefit our tourism sector as we must ensure that we do all we can to support and strengthen Scotland’s reputation as a warm, open and welcoming destination. The Scottish Government will consult in 2019 on the principles of a locally determined tax, and will legislate thereafter and only then will local authorities decide whether they want to use this power or not.

Our £6 million Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund has been designed to support the sustainable growth of the industry, so that the services and facilities visitors and local communities need, are provided. I was pleased to announce the first round of funding for the scheme to help support the creation of additional parking at Glenfinnan, and make improvements to facilities at other iconic sights like the Old Man of Storr and Cairngorms National Park.

There is no doubt at all that from quirky glamping to exhilarating adventure sport, our tourism offer is constantly evolving. And as Tourism Secretary I am committed to continuing to work to protect and support the sustainable growth of the industry as it creates jobs, boost the local and national economy and builds on Scotland’s strong international reputation.

FIONA HYSLOP

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs