Assessing the economic impacts of nature based tourism in Scotland

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• More visitors enjoy the landscape than take part in any individual activity using the natural environment. However, the evidence is not clear about how many visitors take a touring holiday to enjoy the landscapes and scenery of Scotland without also engaging in some of the individual pursuits. Even if the scenery is the main motivation for the trip and general sightseeing is the main activity undertaken, it is possible, and even likely, that the visitor will, during their holiday, also take part in activities such as walking or watching wildlife. Visitors are driven by a complex combination of many motivations and desires. For example, a visitor might want to tour the Highlands to take in the scenery, but they might also want to see a Golden Eagle, to take in the peace and solitude of a distant island, to walk in the hills or to go on a boat trip where they might see dolphins. These factors have meant there is great difficulty in meaningfully estimating the additional economic contribution Scottish landscapes and scenery make to motorised tourism. 71
12 THE NATURAL HERITAGE IN SCOTLAND’S TOURISM MARKETING 12.1 Context The natural heritage has always played a central role in Scottish tourism, going back to Walter Scott and Queen Victoria. Gold and Gold (1995) contended that the dominant historical use, extending to the present day, of Highland imagery, with substantial natural heritage elements, has subsumed much of the potential diverse imagery from the rest of Scotland and now defines much of the Scottish tourism brand. A discussion paper on Scotland’s landscapes produced by Scottish Natural Heritage (2003) states that tourism and many of Scotland’s traditional products use Scotland’s landscapes as a critical part in their marketing. Scotland is famed for its distinct and diverse range of landscapes. Many of these have long been celebrated and recorded in successive schools of painting, and in literature, music and song. Landscapes are in the media spotlight. Advertising, television and films are making increasing use of the unspoiled character of Scotland’s landscapes as a backdrop. Investing in attractive settings is important as attractive landscapes are part of the image used to sell Scotland as a desirable investment location abroad. Primetime television slots occupied by Spring and Autumn Watch, together with programmes like Coast, Countryfile and the Adventure Show draw heavily on nature based images and influence visitors. Following the recent Shetland Diaries presented by film maker Simon King, VisitScotland reported that internet traffic on its Shetland page was up by 800% just after the first broadcast, and Promote Shetland had a four fold increase in traffic on www.shetland.org (Press and Journal, 2010). 12.2 The VisitScotland brand VisitScotland (2001/2002) has carried out extensive brand research to find out why people visit Scotland and what the country represents as a brand. As a result it has distilled the brand into three values: • Enduring - The buildings and architecture, history, culture and tradition; • Dramatic - Dramatic scenery, beautiful light and the drama of the changing weather; • Human - The Scots are seen as down to earth, innovative, solid and dependable, and full of integrity and pride. These values have been adopted as the foundations for all VisitScotland’s marketing. 12.3 Domestic marketing VisitScotland’s marketing in the UK is based around three main seasonal campaigns: • Perfect Day, for the main season from late March to August. The Perfect Day campaign for 2010 was launched on 17 th March and is designed to showcase aspects of Scotland that contribute towards a 'Perfect' holiday experience. Scotland's islands and coasts are the key focus of the campaign, with a wide variety of things to see and do featured, mostly involving the natural heritage. These include island hopping, coastal cuisine, sea kayaking, sailing, coastal walks and relaxing on some of the world's most stunning beaches. Scotland’s natural heritage, wildlife and festivals are also highlights of the campaign alongside 72
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Scottish Natural Heritage Commissio
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COMMISSIONED REPORT Summary Assessi
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7 CYCLING 45 7.1 Mountain biking 45
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List of Tables Page Table 1 - Natur
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1.3 Nature-based tourism For the pu
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market and accounts for 83% of tour
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expenditure during these trips was
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nature site • . Were this spend t
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Team members already held many rele
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2.3.2 Assessing employment and inco
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• Common resources, which are use
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4 FIELD SPORTS The findings from th
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4.2 Deer management The Contributio
Page 27 and 28: Table 11 - Deer Management in Scotl
Page 29 and 30: • Sea angling questions incorpora
Page 31 and 32: 4.6 Other studies • The trips mos
Page 33 and 34: 3. The Economic Impact of Game and
Page 35 and 36: 5 WILDLIFE WATCHING 5.1 Wildlife to
Page 37 and 38: These impacts appear to us to be ov
Page 39 and 40: Wildlife watching Substantial but n
Page 41 and 42: • Abseiling - allows safe descent
Page 43 and 44: Client: HIE, SNH and VisitScotland
Page 45 and 46: those who said they were walking al
Page 47 and 48: oute was estimated to be in the reg
Page 49 and 50: participants, though in terms of vo
Page 51 and 52: Visit Scotland (2009) provides a fi
Page 53 and 54: This evaluation assessed the ultima
Page 55 and 56: For these motivational reasons, Gre
Page 57 and 58: 8 HORSE RIDING 8.1 Equestrian sport
Page 59 and 60: 9 WATERSPORTS Some watersports can
Page 61 and 62: Watersports are defined in this rep
Page 63 and 64: The methodology resulted in small s
Page 65 and 66: 10 NATURE-RELATED SITES AND FACILIT
Page 67 and 68: Forest Table 29 - Mean spend per tr
Page 69 and 70: Scotland’s canals: the economic e
Page 71 and 72: once displacement is allowed for -
Page 73 and 74: explore the issues they saw as bein
Page 75 and 76: Recent visitor surveys in Orkney (A
Page 77: Table 45 - UK visitor activities un
Page 81 and 82: 12.4 International marketing Intern
Page 83 and 84: Scotland’s NNR Magical Places Ama
Page 85 and 86: 13 PAN-SCOTLAND ANALYSIS 13.1 Reaso
Page 87 and 88: Table 49 - Value of tourism outside
Page 89 and 90: The total of which this contributio
Page 91 and 92: Similarly, it is not possible to sp
Page 93 and 94: Table 52 - Estimated Impacts by act
Page 95 and 96: 14 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESE
Page 97 and 98: Recommendation 4: It would be desir
Page 99 and 100: George Street Research and Jones Ec
Page 101 and 102: Press and Journal. 2010. Tourists g
Page 103 and 104: Appendix A: Categories of Natural H
Page 105 and 106: • (Mixed - 19%) The types of walk
Page 107 and 108: Cycling Segments Scott Porter’s 2
Page 109 and 110: aqua / snorkelling) or on longer ho
Page 111 and 112: Appendix B - Methodological Notes 1
Page 113: www.snh.gov.uk © Scottish Natural
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