Insight Department: Scotland The key facts on tourism in 2016 · 2018-07-18 · INSIGHT DEPARTMENT: THE KEY FACTS ON TOURISM IN 2016 1 • In 2016 just under 14.5 million overnight

September 2017

Insight Department: ScotlandThe key facts on tourism in 2016

INSIGHT DEPARTMENT: THE KEY FACTS ON TOURISM IN 2016

1

• In 2016 just under 14.5 million overnight tourism trips were undertaken in Scotland.

• In 2016, GB overnight visitors took 11.5 million overnight visits to Scotland.

• International visitors made 2.75 million overnight trips to Scotland and spent £1.9 billion in 2016.

• In 2016, the USA was Scotland’s largest international market, whilst England was Scotland’s largest domestic market

• ‘Holidays’ were the most popular type of trip by both domestic and international markets in 2016.

International inbound visits performed strongly in 2016, increasing by 6% on visitor numbers in 2015. International inbound spend also showed increases of 9.1%. The largest increases were seen in the VFR market which grew by 30% in 2016. International business visitors fell by almost 5% in 2016, whilst holiday visitors increased marginally by just over 1%. North American visitors showed the largest increase, with visitors from USA increasing by 10% and visitors from Canada increasing by 52%. Overall countries within the EU15 showed a decrease in 2016 compared to 2015.

Tourism day visits showed a large increase on 2015 figures. Domestic day visits in 2016 reached over 142 million, a growth of 14.5%. Day visit spend increased by 23.5% to £4.9billion in 2016.

GB resident overnight visits decreased in both volume and value in 2016. The biggest decreases were experienced in January, June, July and August.

Executive Summary & Background Information


2

Introduction

This report provides a summary of statistics on tourism in Scotland, including the volume and value of tourism in Scotland and information on our major markets. It gathers information from a suite of tourism monitors managed by the Insight Department, VisitScotland and from other national statistics and commissioned research.

These include:

• Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS) 2016

• International Passenger Survey (IPS) 2016

• Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey 2016

• Moffat Centre Visitor Attraction Monitor 2016

• VisitScotland’s GB Day Visits Survey 2016

• Scottish Annual Business Statistics 2014 (SABS): Sustainable Tourism by Local Authority Area 2009-2014 (http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00484162.pdf)

• Northern Ireland Statistical and Research Agency (NISRA) 2016

StatisticsThis report presents statistical insight on the volume and value of domestic and international tourism in Scotland. For the years to 2011 the focus of the statutory tourism monitor for domestic overnight tourism was recording the resident population of the United Kingdom to destinations within the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Since 2011, the scope changed to only cover the resident populations of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and trips within these jurisdictions. Northern Ireland data is now collected in a separate survey by Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

In this publication, percentage figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding. As with all surveys the data at sub-levels are based on smaller sample sizes and therefore incur a larger margin of statistical error reducing data reliability.

More …Further details and the latest statistics for the year to date can be found on our website visitscotland.org in the Research and Statistics section.

GBTS 2016 Spend DataThe late publication of spend data for the 2016 survey is due to a delay in implementing a new data processing programme, which has required significantly more time than originally anticipated by the research agency responsible (TNS).

Work on data processing for the expenditure estimate is still underway, and we will publish expenditure data for the full year as soon as this is finalised.

ContentThe report is divided in the following sections:A. Tourism in ScotlandB. GB Tourism in ScotlandC. Overseas Tourism in Scotland


3

Tourism in Scotland

1. Volume of tourism in Scotland

Country of Residence Trips 2016 (m)

% of total

Nights 2016 (m)

% of total

Spend 2016 (£m)

% of Total

Scotland 5.46 38% 15 25% 1,053 22%

England 5.8 40% 22.68 37% 1,775 37%

Wales 0.25 2% 1.2 2% 69 1%

Total GB Tourism 11.5 80% 38.9 64% 2,897 60%

Northern Ireland 0.2 1% 0.77 1% 87 2%

Total Overseas Tourism 2.75 19% 21.2 35% 1,850 38%

Total 14.45 100% 60.87 100% 4,834 100%

Sources: GBTS/NISRA/IPS

Fact: 38% of tourism trips are by Scottish residents

2. Volume of tourism in Scotland

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Sustainable Tourism

Employees 190,700 183,400 185,100 181,500 211,200 196,000

Gross Value Added (£m) 2,594.3 2,767.5 2,904.1 2,845.8 3,227.7 3,466.4

Total Economy

Employees 2,523,100 2,435,300 2,472,600 2,428,400 2,461,100 2,540,200

Gross Value Added (£m)* 8,1096.4 8,0957.2 8,6008.4 8,4564 9,3119.6 8,7571.7

Source: Scottish Annual Business Survey, 2014; Scottish Government Growth Sector Statistics Database, 2015 *The definition of sustainable tourism represents the SIC07 industry classifications for tourism used within the Scottish Government’s growth sector.

Definitions1. A tourist trip is defined as a stay of one or more nights away from home for holidays, visits

to friends or relatives, business and conference trips or any other purpose except such as boarding education or semi-permanent employment.

2. Tourist nights are those spent away from home using any type of accommodation or in transit on a tourist trip.

3. Tourist expenditure is spending incurred while away from home on a tourist trip and advance payments for such items as fares and accommodation. For overseas visitors’ statistics, the cost of travel to the destination is excluded. In this factsheet, expenditure is in 2015 prices.


4

3. Average length of stay in 2016 4. Time of visit to Scotland 2016

Jan - Mar (%) Apr - Jun (%) Jul - Sep (%) Oct - Dec (%)

Total Domestic (GB) Trips 22% 27% 28% 24%

Total Overseas Trips 15% 26% 40% 19%

Source: GBTS, 2016; IPS, 2016

Country of Residence Length of Stay (nights) Spend Per Trip (£) Spend Per Night (£)

Scotland 2.7 192 71

England 3.9 306 78

Wales 4.8 277 58

Total GB Tourism 3.4 252 74

Northern Ireland 3.8 434 114

Total Overseas Tourism 7.7 673 87

Total 4.2 345 82

Source: GBTS/IPS/NISRA

Trip characteristicsThe average length of a trip by our overseas visitors is around eight nights. Trips by GB visitors tend to be shorter, on average around three nights for people from within Scotland and four nights for people from the rest of GB.

“The months of July to September are the most popular for holidays in Scotland amongst both GB and overseas visitor.”


5

5. Monthly accommodation occupancy

2016 Hotel(% Room Occupancy)

Guest House/B&B(% Room Occupancy)

Self- Catering (% of Unit Occupancy)

Hostel (% Bed Occupancy)

Touring Caravan & Camping Park (% Pitch Occupancy)

January 51 12 25 34 n/a

February 60 19 34 37 n/a

March 63 25 34 55 n/a

April 68 34 50 59 25

May 75 53 53 67 41

June 81 61 63 69 50

July 83 66 75 77 55

August 87 69 81 82 62

September 83 60 63 73 44

October 76 37 58 55 25

November 66 26 29 37 n/a

December 58 15 26 37 n/a

Annual Average 71 42 48 57 44

Source: Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey (SAOS)

Occupancy SurveyThe Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey (SAOS) depends on the participation of Scottish tourism businesses.

Businesses which provide VisitScotland with their occupancy data benefit from monthly reports on occupancy for their sector and region. If you would like to participate, please contact [email protected]


6

6. Visitor attractions

The Visitor Attraction Monitor is solely owned and distributed by Glasgow Caledonian University Moffat Centre. If you are interested in participating in the accompanying survey or subscribing to the publication, please email [email protected].

Top 10 Free Admission Attractions 2016 2015 % 16/15

National Museum of Scotland 1,810,948 1,567,310 16%

Scottish National Gallery 1,544,069 1,377,710 12%

Loch Lomond Shores 1,316,656 1,252,107 5%

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum 1,259,318 1,261,552 0%

Riverside Museum 1,259,042 1,131,899 11%

St Giles' Catherdral 1,171,793 1,108,842 6%

Gretna Green Famous Blacksmith's Shop 794,543 775,868 2%

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 790,050 836,755 -6%

National War Museum 678,982 601,074 13%

Gallery of Modern Art 646,567 591,943 9%

Only attractions which permitted publication of data are included. *Visits data estimated. Source: Moffat Centre (2016): Scottish Visitor Attraction Monitor Report 2016, Caledonian Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University.

More informationThe Visitor Attraction Monitor is produced by the Moffat Centre at Glasgow Caledonian University www.moffatcentre.com

Top 10 Paid Admission Attractions 2016 2015 % 16/15

Edinburgh Castle 1,778,548

1,568,508 13%

Edinburgh Bus Tours 604,846

552,006 10%

Edinburgh Zoo 574,175

633,351 -9%

Stirling Castle 481,970

458,932 5%

Urquhart Castle 396,397

348,691 14%

Royal Yacht Britannia 348,272

308,906 13%

Scotch Whisky Hertiage Centre 331,747

302,946 10%

Glasgow Science Centre 326,181

302,709 8%

Scottish Seabird Centre 268,096

262,996 2%

Glenfinnan Monument 251,181

187,437 34%


7

Trips (millions) Average nights per tripAverage Spend Per

Trip (£)

2014 12.51 3.32 229

2015 12 3.44 273

2016 11.5 3.38 252

7. Trends in GB visitors to Scotland 2014 – 2016

Source: GBTS 2014-2016

Trips (millions) Average nights (millions) per trip % 16/15 Spend (millions)

m % m % £m %

Holidays 5.929 51% 21.379 55% 1676 58%

Business 1.912 17% 4.659 12% 592 20%

VFR 3.037 26% 11.248 29% 523 18%

Total 11.514 100% 38.876 100% 2897 100%

8. Volume of tourism from GB

Source: GBTS 2016“People from within GB account for the majority of tourism in Scotland.”


8

9. Volume of tourism from GB

Car (62%)

Train (17%)

Coach Tour (2%)

Plane (9%)

Regular Bus/Coach Service (4%)

Motorhome/Campervan (1%)

Other (5%)

Transport

Source: GBTS 2016 (Transport used on longest part of journey)

Bed & Breakfast/Guest House

Caravan or Camping

Friends

Self-catering

Relatives

Hotel/Motel/Guest House

Visits (000s)

5283

2242

1319

1092

1016

648

Accommodation Type

10. Accommodation used by GB tourists

Source: GBTS 2016

The quality of facilities and the quality of service have a major bearing on our visitor satisfaction. The majority of GB tourists stay in serviced accommodation, including hotels, motels, and guest houses.


9

11. Demographics of GB holiday visitors to Scotland 2016

16-24 (8%)

25-34 (16%)

35-44 (20%)

45-54 (20%)

55-64 (18%)

65+ (17%)

Age of visitors to Scotland

Source: GBTS, 2016

12. Top Activities on day trips

Activity number of trips (m) % of total day trips

Visiting friends or family 44.4 31%

Going out for a meal 36.2 25%

Undertaking outdoor activities 29.5 21%

Going on a night out 20.1 14%

General day out 19.2 14%

Total day visits 142 100%

Source: GBDVS, 2016


10

Overseas tourism

Trips Spend Nights

000s % £m % 000s %

USA 451 16% 510 28% 4,109 19%

Germany 355 13% 212 11% 2,725 13%

France 152 6% 75 4% 1,160 5%

Canada 149 5% 130 7% 1,370 6%

Poland 138 5% 20 1% 885 4%

Australia 132 5% 102 6% 1,354 6%

Italy 123 4% 92 5% 901 4%

Netherlands 115 4% 62 3% 884 4%

Irish Republic 96 3% 25 1% 295 1%

Sweden 89 3% 43 2% 372 2%

Rest of World 948 35% 579 31% 7,174 34%

Total 2747 100% 1850 100% 21,229 100%

Source: IPS

13. Origin of international visitors

Overseas residents in 2016 accounted for 19% of all tourism trips taken in Scotland but 38% of total visitor spend. They are therefore a valuable component of the visitor economy. The USA, Germany, France, and Canada are long-time major markets for Scotland. The last few years have seen growth from Italy and Poland.


11

14. Volume and value of international visitors

Trips Nights Spend

m % m % £m %

Holiday 1.47 54% 10.17 48% 1178 64%

VFR 0.78 28% 7.12 34% 349 19%

Business 0.41 15% 1.55 7% 204 11%

Other 0.047 2% 0.22 1% 32 2%

Study 0.034 1% 2.16 10% 87 5%

Total 2.747 100% 21.23 100% 1850 100%

Source: IPS, 2016

15. Demographics of international visitors

0-15 (2%)

16-24 (13%)

25-34 (21%)

35-44 (19%)

45-54 (21%)

55-64 (16%)

65+ (9%)Source: IPS, 2016

CONTACT US

Insight DepartmentVisitScotlandOcean Point One94 Ocean DriveEdinburgh EH6 6JH

0131 472 [email protected]

September 2017

visitscotland.com visitscotland.org

All photographs ©VisitScotland unless otherwise stated. VisitScotland has published this report in good faith to update stakeholders on its activity. VisitScotland has taken all reasonable steps to confirm the information contained in the publication is correct. However, VisitScotland does not warrant or assume any legal liability for the accuracy of any information disclosed and accepts no responsibility for any errors or omissions.

Documents

Insight Department: Scotland The key facts on tourism in 2016 · 2018-07-18 · INSIGHT DEPARTMENT: THE KEY FACTS ON TOURISM IN 2016 1 • In 2016 just under 14.5 million overnight