The Scottish Government

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Building a Better Scotland

TOURISM, CULTURE AND SPORT

To enhance everyone's quality of life in Scotland through widening participation in sport and culture and building on a successful and sustainable tourism sector to create jobs and opportunity across Scotland

Tourism, culture and sport have a crucial role to play in building vibrant, confident and healthy communities.

Tourism

Tourism supports nearly 200,000 jobs in Scotland, contributing 4 billion a year to the economy. It is also a vital source of income and jobs for many communities, including many in rural areas. We are determined to provide strong support to one of the major employment sectors in Scotland by:

• continuing to invest in the quality of the Scottish tourism product, and in marketing it successfully to potential visitors, in order to make Scotland a "must visit" destination;
• conserving Scotland's historic landmarks for both tourists and the Scottish people - generating and sustaining jobs, supporting local communities; and
• supporting and bidding for world class sporting and cultural events, such as the successful bid for Ryder Cup 2014 - generating tourism and jobs for Scotland, and giving Scots the opportunity to take part in world class events.

Culture

Our culture and heritage are central to how we see ourselves and how others see us. We are determined to promote the widest possible participation in cultural life in Scotland, bringing real benefits for communities and individuals. We are:

• promoting cultural activities in deprived communities in Scotland - generating self-confidence and economic benefits and the chance to learn new skills;
• supporting Gaelic language and culture - helping to strengthen and maintain the Gaelic community;
• supporting the widest possible range of cultural and heritage activities - giving everybody access to a better quality of life; and
• improving the provision of cultural activity in schools - investing in the future self-confidence, skills and creativity of our children.

Sport

We are committed to generating wider opportunities to participate in sport - particularly in schools, amongst under-represented communities and in deprived areas. The benefits of wider participation in sport and physical activity have been demonstrated to improve health, develop self-confidence and skills, and improve quality of life. Recognising those benefits, we will:

• continue to invest in the Sport 21 agenda - making sport widely available to all; and
• support the provision of sport in schools - giving children a healthy start in life, improving their health and their opportunities later in life.

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

What we will do

To secure the real benefits that wider participation in tourism, culture and sport will bring for all Scots, over the Spending Review period we will:

• increase in each year (1/2/3 million) the money spent on marketing Scotland as a tourist destination for both Scots and visitors - promoting Scotland around the world with benefits for tourism, and also for jobs and exports;
• increase by 2.5 million in 2004-05 and 4.7 million in 2005-06 our direct funding of Historic Scotland, who look after some of Scotland's top historical landmarks, including world class attractions such as Edinburgh Castle and Skara Brae - sustaining jobs, generating economic benefits across the country;
• support a new Major Events Strategy to be launched later this year aimed at making Scotland one of the top major events venues in the world by 2015 - promoting Scotland as a world class location;
• provide the resources to support the costs of stadiums and other related work necessary if the joint Scotland/Ireland bid for Euro 2008 is successful - a tremendous opportunity to attract additional visitors to Scotland and to put Scotland on the global stage;
• increase our support (0/3.85/6.95 million) for cultural activities across Scotland - to widen participation, particularly in deprived areas, and to foster world class activity;
• make an additional 1/1/1.5 million available for Gaelic-medium education and for the new Gaelic Development Agency/Bòrd Gàidhlig na h-Alba - supporting a vibrant Gaelic culture;
• provide continuing funding to the School Cultural Co-ordinator Programme - improving the quality of children and young people's education and improving their skills and creativity;
• support music tuition for children - to widen access and improve their quality of life;
• support a School Sports Development Officer in every secondary school (0/4/4 million) - increasing participation in school sport and links with the community, improving our young people's health and self-confidence - as part of our wider cross-cutting initiative to improve public health;
• expand the Active Primary School Programme (2/6/8 million) - involving children in sport from a young age, improving their health and opportunities in later life - as part of our wider cross-cutting initiative to improve public health;
• provide support for a national indoor sports facility - helping to build on Scotland's sporting achievements;
• support the development of world class Scottish sports people as role models for our children, and as a source of national pride; and
• give all children the opportunity to play golf by the age of nine, and work with the SFA to provide additional support for the development of youth football.

Spending Plans

Note
1. The Euro 2008 funding is held within the central contingencies fund and will be released to the Tourism, Culture and Sport portfolio if the joint Scotland/Ireland bid for the Euro 2008 Championship is successful. The resources for mounting the Euro 2008 bid are being met from the 2002-03 baseline funding shown above.

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