The Scottish Government

REVIEW of FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SCOTLAND

Report to Scottish Ministers

Key Points

• Making a good First Impression on overseas visitors is the responsibility of all Scots: Scottish Ministers have a duty to take the lead.
• Many ports of entry to Scotland offer good standards of service to arriving visitors: but there should be a higher level of ambition - to be with the best in their international class.
• There are some disappointing exceptions. Facilities to attract and welcome cruise ship business are poor or non-existent. Scotland must act, or risk being left behind as the international cruise market grows.
• Efforts to project a sense of Scotland at arrival points have been half-hearted and inconsistent. The Scottish Executive should support imaginative work to brand Scotland at points of entry. The Saltire should be flown at border crossing points.
• Onward transport links from Scotland's international gateways are not up to standards internationally or in the rest of the UK. Scottish Ministers should work to accelerate provision of rail links to Edinburgh and Glasgow airports.
• The G8 Summit in July 2005 is an unparalleled chance to make a good First Impression. Scotland must meet the challenge.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Scotland needs to encourage visitors to return to Scotland: for leisure, business and to live and work here. Developments in the international travel industry are increasing the opportunity and the need to make sure that Scotland makes a good first impression.

2. The review looked at points of entry to Scotland by private car, bus, air and sea; and compared them with counterparts in England and overseas. The review looked at key issues including customer service, internal and external environments, projecting a "sense of Scotland", provision of information, and quality onward transport facilities.

3. Welcoming visitors is everyone's business. Scottish Ministers need to take the lead, working with VisitScotland to make sure that all those meeting new arrivals from overseas demonstrate a warm and helpful welcome to Scotland.

4. There are four specific actions Scotland should take to welcome visitors to the G8 Summit in July 2005: to provide good arrival facilities, targeted welcomes, tailored information services, and to dress gateways and cities.

5. In general Scotland's gateways are up to the standards of good overseas counterparts. There are examples of good practice in Scotland which overseas gateways could adopt. But the review did not see gateways in Scotland which were the best of their type internationally. Ministers should work with the industry to develop 20-year
visions for our gateways with the ambition to make them among the world's best.

6. Scotland stands to gain economically from growth in the international cruise market. But facilities and coordination are disappointingly poor. A lead from the capital city should benefit Scotland as whole. Ministers and VisitScotland should support work to improve infrastructure and marketing.

7. Cleanliness and maintenance at Scottish gateways was generally acceptable, but litterpick-up at road border crossings and on railway tracks needs to be improved. The Scottish Executive and Scottish Parliament should work with BAA Scotland to examine the possible need for VIP facilities.

8. There are good examples outside Scotland of ways in which ports can project a sense of place using culture, architecture, signage and other tools. Work to project Scotland has not been sustained or consistent enough. Flagpoles have been installed at the A1 border crossing, for example, but no flags are flown routinely. They should be, and more generally the Scottish Executive should support long-term efforts to project a sense of Scotland and help to overcome ambivalence about the right image to project.

9. VisitScotland should help improve provision of information en route to Scotland. Gateways should make better use of technology and people to promote Scotland and to provide information and welcomes tailored to particular audiences.

10. The absence of onward rail links from Scottish airports puts us behind other European and British cities. Plans for rail links for Glasgow and Edinburgh airports have been mooted for years. Scottish Ministers now need to make sure they are realised.

INTRODUCTION

Scotland's First Minister, the Rt Hon Jack McConnell MSP, has called for Scotland to be a country that welcomes international partners - those who visit Scotland for pleasure, those who come here for business or education; and those who come here to live and work. The Scottish Executive has encouraged more such partners to come to Scotland. In February 2004 the Executive published its "New Scots" report, outlining steps towards tackling population decline in Scotland. One of these steps was a commitment to making sure that the first impressions Scotland makes on those arriving here are as good as possible. The report quoted the First Minister:

"We must give greater attention to the first impressions people have of Scotland when they come here. Whether they are business travellers, migrants, students or tourists, the first impression of Scotland is important. We are by nature a hospitable people. Our hospitality should be clearly reflected in our ports, airports, bus and rail stations. We need to raise our game to the very best in the world - let us be proud of our cities and country and get that across immediately people arrive."

First Minister, Jack McConnell,
The Challenge of Growth, February 2003

The report announced a review of First Impressions of Scotland. In August 2004, the First Minister asked Councillor Eric Milligan to carry out the review and to make recommendations on all aspects of improving the welcome to Scotland.

The remit was to review how Scotland presents itself at points of entry by air, sea, rail and
road. Topics for investigation included:

• Standards of customer service;
• Internal and external environments;
• Contribution to projecting a "sense of Scotland", displaying its distinctiveness through arts, culture and other tools;
• Provision of information and customer help;
• Quality of public and private transport facilities;
• Identifying best practice and applying it more widely.

The review was to assess present standards and examples of best practice in Scotland to compare them with other countries and to make proposals for short- and long-term actions to enhance First Impressions of Scotland.

In interpreting his remit, Councillor Milligan identified a key aim as being to challenge all those who welcome visitors to Scotland to improve their performance. The review was not intended to criticise particular operators nor individual managers.

In carrying out his review Councillor Milligan was supported by officials from the Scottish
Executive's International Division.

I - WHAT ARE FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND WHY DO THEY MATTER?

A. Arrivals in Scotland

1. The "New Scots" report set out the importance of attracting in-migration to Scotland. A stable population is needed to maintain our economy, public services and cultural life. Every new arrival in Scotland adds to the economic activity on which Scotland depends, as well as to our diverse culture and continuing tradition of openness and hospitality. These are things from which all Scots benefit. Scotland's aim should be for our visitors to extend their stay, to make repeat visits and ultimately to come here as new Scots - to live, to work or to study.

2. The opportunities to promote this aim are tremendous. In 2003, more than 10 million people visited Scotland from the rest of the UK or from overseas. In total, tourism was worth £4.4 billion to Scotland's economy, making it one of our largest business sectors.

3. Nearly all visitors to Scotland pass through one of our international gateways. The demand on those gateways is expected to grow substantially in coming years. The Aviation White Paper published by the UK Government in December 2003, for example, predicts that traffic through Scotland's airports will increase from around 20 million
passengers per year to close to 50 million by 2030. It is predicted that by the same year more than half the people travelling through Scottish airports will be visitors from elsewhere.

4. The Scottish Executive's Tourism Framework for Action recognises that Scotland's visitors are changing. They are more discerning and demanding, and increasingly seeking memorable and high-quality experiences. People are also taking shorter, more frequent holidays. The number of short trips made to the UK increased over the five years to 2003, while the number of longer trips fell. Shorter travel to more destinations means more first-time visits to Scotland. While the opportunities to make a good First Impression are increasing, so is the importance of doing so. In a shorter visit there is less opportunity to broaden and deepen, or even to correct, initial impressions. The quality of the first welcome to Scotland is even more important.

B. International Gateways

5. Most visitors arriving in Scotland do so by road. Around 60% of visitors arrive by private car, having crossed the Scottish-English border mostly at Gretna or Berwick Upon Tweed. Another 16% end their journeys at bus or railway stations in our main cities. Airports accounted for 3.1 million visitors in 2003. The remainder arrived by sea - by ferry or on cruise ships. The review team visited key gateways in each category, 17 gateways in total. These were:

• Car: border crossings on the A74 at Gretna and the A1 at Berwick-Upon-Tweed;
• Bus: Buchanan Bus Station, Glasgow and Edinburgh Bus Station;
• Rail: Glasgow Central Station and Edinburgh Waverley Station;
• Air: airports at Prestwick, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh;
• Sea: ports at Inverclyde, Lerwick, Invergordon, Aberdeen, Dundee, Rosyth
  and Leith.

Conversations were held with Ministers and officials at the Scottish Executive, including the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, Tom McCabe, and the Minister for Transport, Nicol Stephen. The team also met the chairman of VisitScotland, Peter Lederer, the Managing Director of Scottish Airports, Donal Dowds, and the Group Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Fred Goodwin.

7. The review team made visits outside Scotland to compare our points of entry with others'. The gateways chosen were comparable to Scotland's, or served routes important to Scotland, or were recommended to the team as good examples. These visits were:

• England: Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Airports, including linked rail and tube stations; Paddington, Waterloo and Victoria rail stations; Victoria Coach Station; Dover ferry and cruise ship terminals;
• Ireland: Dublin Airport; Dublin Busaras; Connolly Station; Dublin Tourism; Ports of Dublin and Dún Laoghaire;
• Germany: Frankfurt Tourism; Frankfurt ICE rail station; Frankfurt and Stuttgart Airports;
• Denmark: Copenhagen Tourist Information Office; Denmark's Tourist Authority; Copenhagen Central Station; Vesterbrogade Rail Station; Port of Copenhagen and Cruise Ship Tourist Center; Copenhagen Airport;
• Netherlands: Schiphol Airport; DFDS Seaways Ijmuiden; Amsterdam Central Station; Amsterdam Tourist Office;
• United States: John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty International Airports; New York Cruise Terminal;
• Canada: Toronto Pearson International Airport.

8. The review team also met officials of tourist organisations whose responsibilities included development of their country's initial welcome to outside visitors. These bodies included Wonderful Copenhagen (Denmark), Bord Failte (Ireland), Tourism Toronto (Canada) and Frankfurt Tourism (Germany).

9. At site visits the review team followed routes through points of entry likely to be taken by arriving travellers, and observed key points affecting the arrival experience:

• Customer service: was there attention to customer satisfaction? efficiency of passenger and luggage systems; presence and visibility of customer care staff; cooperation between organisations to serve customers well; were language and disability skills clearly announced to customers? standards of food service;
• Internal and external environments: were they welcoming and relaxing? were buildings memorable and attractive? planned developments; standards of quality and cleanliness; facilities to accommodate VIPs; the visual environment surrounding the point of entry;
• Projecting a sense of place: efforts to create a sense of arrival; what image of the country or region was portrayed, and was this affected by commercial advertising used within the port or terminal? use of arts and culture;
• Provision of information: quality of information signage; availability of information, including in foreign languages; use of technology;
• Quality of onward transport facilities: what facilities were available? was there coherent and centralised information on onward journeys? did the quality of onward transport facilities match the standard of initial arrival?

II - HOW DOES SCOTLAND COMPARE?

The review found that standards at Scotland's gateways and provision of visitor information generally stood comparison with those elsewhere. In specific areas, detailed in the sections which follow, individual Scottish facilities had achieved best practice, which points of entry in other countries could emulate.

Disappointingly, given the First Minister's call for Scotland to raise its game to the very best in the world, the review saw no gateways in Scotland which were the best in their international class. There are areas where standards in Scotland need to be improved, either because opportunities are being missed or because gateways are falling short of standards at similar facilities overseas. In these areas, which are also set out below, work is needed to ensure that Scotland fulfils its potential in welcoming visitors.

A. Customer Service

1. While all Scottish ports of entry claimed to be customer-focussed, there was an uneven approach to finding out about customer satisfaction. Some gateway operators checked customer views systematically and set ambitious targets for improvements. Others had no system in place for gauging satisfaction, and worked on the basis of anecdotal evidence. The team found examples of clearer priority on customer satisfaction overseas. The three
airports visited in North America, for example, regularly published lists of their top ten most frequent customer complaints - and the action that was being taken to tackle them.

2. Several operators in Scotland pointed out that there were many different companies and organisations having direct contact with arriving visitors. They stressed the importance of developing a consistent customer-focused approach by all staff within a port-of-entry terminal. The review team were told that Scotland did better than other countries in some respects: security and Immigration Service officers, for example, were said to be more friendly and open to passengers than were some of their overseas analogues. Operators stressed however that particularly where security was involved it was important to recognise that all such passenger contacts reflected on Scotland.

3. Scottish airports reported few delays caused by lack of runway capacity. Projections suggest rapid growth in passenger numbers and aircraft movements at several Scottish airports however. Operators stressed the importance to the future capacity of Scottish airports of the proposals made in the Aviation White Paper to respond to this growth.

4. Scottish airports set timed targets for the delivery of bags to the carousel. Aberdeen airport, for example, has the objective that the first bag should be delivered no later than 15 minutes after arrival of the aircraft at its stance, with the last bag due by 25 minutes. The review team was told that this target was met between 89% and 96% of the time, with one handling company achieving 100%. The team noted however that JFK Airport in New York aimed for delivery of baggage within 5 minutes of the arrival of an aircraft at its stance, and aimed to enable all passengers to leave the terminal, with their luggage, within 19 minutes.

5. The review found that Scottish airports lacked day-to-day control over baggage handling, which was mainly a contractual matter, regulated by European competition law, between airlines and ground handling companies. The review team was told that fierce competition between handling companies left little operating margin to invest in
equipment or to cope with delays to flight arrivals, and so led to delays to bags. The team noted however that in some other parts of the European Union, airports themselves handled arriving customers' baggage.

6. Many gateways, in Scotland and elsewhere, encourage use of their terminals as meeting and lingering points, for non-travellers as well as for passengers. The team was told that shops and cafés at Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley railway stations were part of this strategy to increase dwell times, for example. But these facilities did not match the large and high quality restaurants in some European airports and railway stations. Particularly good examples were seen at airports in Amsterdam and Frankfurt and at the railway station in Copenhagen. The team saw no comparable examples at Scotland's international gateways.

7. The team reviewed Scotland's facilities for welcoming cruise ships and found serious problems, as well as opportunities (see below).

B. Quality of Environment

1. The review team saw striking and impressive gateway buildings in its visits outside Scotland: high quality and memorable design at Copenhagen's airport, railway station and new ferry terminal; an impressive conversion of railway buildings to create Cruise Terminal One at the Port of Dover; the innovative architecture of Stansted Airport and the new passenger bridge at Gatwick Airport's Pier 6. Paddington Station in London had been imaginatively redeveloped, providing shopping and eating facilities to encourage longer dwell times.

2. There were few remarkable or memorable gateway buildings in Scotland however. In many cases original buildings had been added to piecemeal, responding to incremental growth rather than with a long-term vision. The location and physical surroundings of some existing facilities made it difficult to undertake a thorough renewal. The team noted a few positive examples, such as the frontage of Edinburgh's new bus station, which harmonised well with its surroundings. The central concourse at Glasgow Central Station was impressive, though let down by poor maintenance of some of the buildings around it. But in most instances gateway building design did not live up to the standards of the best overseas counterparts, or of the best buildings, new and old, elsewhere in Scotland.

3. The review team observed cleanliness and maintenance standards at arrival facilities in Scotland. Most were as good as or better than analogues elsewhere. At railway stations standards were less good, however, with accumulations of dirt and litter, particularly on rail tracks, and evidence of long intervals between repainting and cleaning. Arrangements for cleaning tracks of litter, which was immediately noticeable to arriving passengers, were inconsistent from station to station. In one case the team were told that litter was removed only every six months. This contrasted with the stated philosophy of the German Railway system, which took pride in its stations' being spotless". The team noted the increased responsibility for railway infrastructure to be devolved to Scottish Ministers under the railways bill, and the hope that this would enable needed improvements to be taken forward rapidly to railway stations.

International Cruises

The international cruise market is growing rapidly. The total worldwide demand for cruises grew from 6,500,000 passengers in 1996 to 13,000,000 passengers in 2004. Future growth rates are predicted to be similar. On-shore expenditure by passengers and crew on a 1250-passenger vessel are suggested to reach £130,000 in a port call. A study for the Port of Dublin estimated that 54 cruise liners calling there in 2003 sustained 227 local jobs and ontributed over £21 million to the local economy. Scotland is well placed to benefit from this market, serving cruises both around Scotland and to Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea.

Other countries are making the most of this growth. The team found that in a number of overseas gateways including Copenhagen and Amsterdam, facilities for welcoming passengers of large ships were being upgraded or had recently been so. Copenhagen, which expected to receive over 350,000 cruise ship passengers in 2005, had created the "Cruise Copenhagen Network" to maximise the appeal of the city. In New York the Mayor's office had allocated public funds for developing cruise ship facilities on Manhattan and in Brooklyn. In Dover two dedicated cruise terminals had been created, at a total cost of £28 million.

It was clear that Scotland, however, was underperforming. One port operator in the north of Scotland stressed that Edinburgh should be leading the way, as capital city. Yet while Copenhagen, for example, received 264 cruise dockings in 2004, Leith and Rosyth together received only 40, and Scotland as a whole only 219. Many gateways in Scotland and overseas stressed that the greatest economic benefit to an area was derived when a cruise "turned round" - started or finished - in its port.

The team found that some ports in Scotland had worked to welcome cruise business. It was impressed by efforts of the Inverclyde Tourist Group, for example, which had initiated a welcome event for each cruise ship arriving there and was taking steps to coordinate Scotland's work to attract more cruise ships in the future. The Port of Invergordon explained its efforts to welcome arriving cruise ships with music and dance performances at the quayside. Kirkwall was commended to the team as an example of good performance in Scotland.

The team found that the infrastructure to support cruise visits in Scotland, however, was poor. Rather than leading the way, Edinburgh's cruise facilities at Leith were particularly disappointing. Although the team was told that Forth Ports was examining the possibility of creating a new cruise berth beyond the lock gates, the present terminal was found to be old, small and shabby, with no information desk or other facilities for passengers. No link was made
with the nearby Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre or with the Royal Yacht Britannia. The infrastructure at most other ports was scarcely better. At Invergordon, where 40 cruises called each year, there was no terminal building, nor any facility to x-ray baggage, meaning that it had to be searched by hand. Even at Rosyth, cruise passengers did not make use of facilities at the new ferry passenger terminal. One cruise operator met by the review team described difficulties in obtaining information about Scotland's facilities for cruise ships, and about the particular port at which his ship had docked.

Port operators said that Scotland as a whole had not marketed itself sufficiently well to cruise lines. The "Cruise Scotland" umbrella organisation no longer functioned. There was a need for a better appreciation of the benefits to Scotland from cruise ship business, central leadership from VisitScotland in developing the cruise business, and greater coordination among ports in marketing Scotland.

4. Local authorities and gateway operators have a particular responsibility for ensuring as far as possible that the environment seen by arriving visitors in Scotland makes a good first impression. Although historical decisions may have a major impact, large- and smallscale improvements can still be made. A new infrastructure project can enhance the first impressions given to arriving visitors: an example is the Middelgrunden wind farm, the world's largest, sited dramatically under the approach to Copenhagen airport where it is visible to all arriving visitors.

5. Litter and other rubbish too often spoils views of rural or urban Scotland around the gateway. The team was surprised to be told that at the A1 border crossing near Berwick- Upon-Tweed, for example, the company responsible for maintaining the road was required to collect litter only once every year. Improvements to the street environment can be made through shared efforts: the team noted possible cooperation between Scottish
Enterprise and Edinburgh Airport, for example, which aims to improve and maintain the Eastfield Road approach to the Airport.

6. The team also asked operators about facilities for accommodating VIPs (see below).

VIP Facilities

The creation of the Scottish Parliament and the growing profile of Scotland in Europe and internationally is leading to a growing number of VIP visitors to Scotland. The team saw VIP facilities at Heathrow Airport and noted that these were in part the responsibility of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It was surprised to find that there were no similar facilities at airports in Scotland. Temporary facilities were having to be created, for example, to accommodate the arrival of world leaders at Edinburgh Airport for the G8 Summit in July 2005. Airport operators expressed the view that more permanent facilities could be valuable in the longer term.

The team concluded that the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament should work with facility operators to gauge the need for VIP facilities at ports of entry in Scotland, noting that these should not necessarily be confined to the capital city, and should ensure that accommodation and systems are put in place which reflected well on Scotland in welcoming its most important overseas visitors.

C. Sense of Place

1. A key part of creating a memorable First Impression is to project a sense of arrival in Scotland, distinguishing it from arrivals in other countries.

2. The team found many examples of such efforts outside Scotland. Some were incorporated in building design. Part of Stuttgart airport, for example, included architectural elements created to reflect the airport's location as gateway to the Black Forest. Dublin Airport included in its shopping area a recreation of an early 20th Century Dublin street scene. The Airport's gate for United States departures and arrivals included extensive displays on the influence of the Irish diaspora in North America. There were also numerous panels in one of the airport terminals celebrating Ireland's literary heritage. At the Port of Dublin, a competition had been launched for a new site-specific artwork at the Port entrance.

3. At Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands the review team saw an implant of the internationally famous Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. This was a high quality gallery including around two dozen paintings and drawings by Dutch artists from the 17th Century and later. The gallery was open to arriving and departing passengers. As well as providing a working advertisement for the Rijksmuseum and Dutch art, and an outlet for the Museum shop, the gallery structure itself was an impressive projection of Dutch design.

4. In Canada and the United States, gateways capitalised on international familiarity with the national flag to provide an effective sense of arrival and of place. Vancouver Airport in Canada was mentioned by several gateway operators as another good example of use of high quality art and culture to project a national and regional heritage.

5. The team noted that the use of bilingual signs at points of entry, in English and a national language, helped reinforce the sense of arrival in a particular place. Such an approach needed to be carefully applied to avoid creating confusion, however.

6. Elsewhere in the UK, the team was particularly struck by the imaginative use of temporary hoarding space at Paddington Station in London, where work by a Cornish artist had been used to brighten ugly walls as well as to provide an artistic link with destinations served by the Station. There was also some traditional Scottish design at the London Heathrow departure gates used by British Airways' flights to Scotland. The team saw opportunities for Scottish branding also to be used at other departure points for Scotland, such as at King's Cross or Euston rail stations.

7. The team found that many gateways in Scotland had made an effort to project a sense of place, of Scotland or of the area local to the gateway. Examples included the "Welcome to Scotland" roundabout at Glasgow Airport, the "Wincher's Stance" statue at Buchanan Bus Station, and photographic displays of Scotland in arrival corridors at Aberdeen airport. BAA's airports were using a wide range of techniques to give character to their buildings, and these were in part linked to their local surroundings. The team heard how some cruise ships were welcomed into port by musical or dance performances at the quayside - this seemed to happen more often in Scotland than overseas. During the Edinburgh Festival in 2004, Waverley Station and Edinburgh Airport had both allowed
some Fringe acts to perform in their terminals.

8. The officials of overseas tourism organisations with whom the team met showed a consistent warm regard for Scotland and an appreciation of its distinctive attractions as a visitor destination.The managers of most Scottish gateways also acknowledged the strength of Scotland's international identity and agreed that it could and should be
celebrated at their points of entry. There were often local histories, cultures and figures that their gateway could also celebrate to help develop a distinct local identity as part of Scotland's. But no operator was satisfied with the efforts made, which were either not sufficiently conspicuous or consistent or did not make full use of the opportunities, facilities and space available.

9. There were numerous examples in which one-off efforts to promote Scotland at an entry point had not been followed-up, or not developed, or had been allowed to drop because of other issues deemed to limit the scope for promotion. Space on the concourse of Glasgow Central Station, for example, was rarely used for exhibitions or events promoting Scotland: yet the opportunity to use railway stations had clearly been recognised, since
the Scottish Executive had decided to make the magnificently refurbished Grand Central Station in New York the centre of its plans to promote Scotland in New York during 2005's Tartan Week. The team were told of numerous plans to mark better the border crossing points on the A74 and A1, but found that these had not gone forward for reasons ranging from road safety to the need to discourage litter. The gateway village at Gretna was some way from the A74 border crossing itself. Announcements had at one stage consistently been made on trains when they crossed the border, but were now rarely made. The team was told that security and other restrictions limited scope for using the extensive space in baggage halls and immigration areas in UK airports for promotional
efforts, even though passengers tended to linger in those areas. In other European airports, however, wall space near luggage carousels was often used for promoting or providing information about the destination, including about onward travel options.

10. The team noted that many operators acknowledged the opportunity and the need to do more to celebrate a sense of place, but that some had found it difficult to decide how to project Scotland. Some gateways focused on their regional or city identities but did less to put them in a Scottish context. The team noted that the restrucuring of the tourist promotion network in Scotland during 2005 could be helpful in addressing this issue. Some operators noted the popularity among overseas visitors of traditional icons of Scottishness such as tartan, and stressed the importance of celebrating these. Glasgow Airport's "Tartan Plus" shop, for example, was said to be the busiest in the terminal. Other gateway operators were opposed to over-use of what Scottish customers might see as hackneyed images of Scotland. The team was struck by the approach taken at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, however, where an attempt to drop traditional symbols of Holland had been deemed unsuccessful, and a subsequent decision had been taken to make selective but exuberant use of images such as windmills and clogs.

11. The team also noted that choice and quality of commercial advertising at a port of entry could reflect on Scotland: and saw good examples which showed imagination and sensitivity in celebrating Scotland.

D. Information

1. Availability of information at Scottish points of entry often seemed as good as, and in some cases better than, other places. Unsurprisingly, smaller gateways had more limited information facilities. But in some cases where local tourist boards had not established their own information desks efforts had been made to train gateway staff to provide, or to signpost, tourist information.

2. Examples of best practice that the team considered could be replicated included:

• The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates JFK and Newark airports, used the clearest system of information signs seen by the team. These included English-only text, for clarity, but also standard international pictograms and colour-coded signs to assist non-English speaking travellers. In contrast the team saw some poor examples: at one airport overseas, low ceilings meant that signs for arriving passengers, including for the tourist information desk, ere often not visible. At one ferry terminal in Scotland there were no signs for arriving car passengers to indicate that tourist information was available in the foot passenger terminal. At the A74 border crossing at Gretna, a proliferation of road signs created confusion for the new arrival.
• London Underground stations all displayed "local information" maps showing onward transport, street plans and local attractions in a standardised format. The consistency of presentation made it easier for those unfamiliar with the area to find their way around.
• The team saw examples of technology, such as interactive information screens, being installed to supplement in-person information services. The use of such screens helped to ensure that information was kept up to date - which was seen to be a problem at some traditional information boards in Scotland. Large video screens or
  video walls attracted passengers' attention and could be used for relaying travel news or TV broadcasts. At Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, a giant video wall had been positioned opposite the taxi rank outside the terminal building and served the double function of communicating with passengers and staff in an emergency as well as providing routine video-based information and entertainment for waiting passengers. A smaller screen installed at Waverley Station in Edinburgh also had the potential to work well but needed to be used more creatively.
• The team also heard of many instances in Scotland and overseas where passenger service assistants were posted on terminal concourses, an important role since many travellers look for human confirmation that they are going the right way or doing the right thing as they pass through a gateway terminal. In most cases however there were few assistants visible during the team's visit, or their presence and role was not well
  promoted. Exceptions were at railway stations in Glasgow and Edinburgh, where uniformed staff were often to be seen, and at Newark Airport in New York, where they were both seen and their presence and role was well explained to passengers through visual promotions.
• Location of information sources is key. The team saw good examples at European airports, where screens displaying onward travel options and times, and machines offering foreign currency and ticket sales, were available close to luggage carousels. At Stuttgart Airport, a service window had been created at the rear of the tourist information office, allowing staff to sell tickets and provide information to passengers waiting for luggage to arrive in the baggage hall. This contrasted with the UK where, as noted previously, baggage areas tended to be underused for promotion and information. Although live onward transport information was provided in some Scottish gateways - eg in the airport terminal at Prestwick Airport - systems
  remained underdeveloped and were sometimes not clear to arriving passengers.
• Information can be provided at the point of departure or en route. The team was impressed by the free newspaper about the North East of England provided to passengers on the Ijmuiden (Netherlands) to Newcastle ferry, and welcomed the work by the Port of Invergordon to ensure that information on the local area was provided to cruise passengers at the port of call immediately before Invergordon. But information about Scotland at points of departure was not well-developed, and the team was disappointed to note that there was little or no information about Scotland in the daily newsletter circulated to passengers on a cruise ship visited by the team at Rosyth.
• Staff in some information offices, and on-train staff for at least one operator at Glasgow Central station, wore lapel badges indicating facility in a foreign language. Technology allows for provision of information in multiple languages - the team saw multilingual ticket machines in several overseas locations. By contrast, poor technology and building acoustics rendered audio announcements at some Scottish stations incomprehensible even to native speakers.
• Buchanan Bus Station made use of Braille and audio information services for passengers with visual mpairments.
• Mainline railway stations in Europe posted information about the order of carriages in scheduled trains, making it easier for travellers unfamiliar with the service to find their carriage quickly. This is particularly important where travellers are carrying heavy baggage. The team rarely saw equivalent information posted at Scottish
  stations.
• Several gateway operators and others, in Scotland and overseas, stressed the importance of personal contacts in creating good First Impressions. One underlined their particular importance in creating a "boomerang effect": the sense that a member of staff or a member of the public had gone out of their way to be helpful to an arriving visitor was significant in influencing visitors to make a return visit to Scotland. The Tourism Attitudes Survey 2004 reported that only 31% of visitors said people in Scotland had gone out of their way to be helpful.
• In Amsterdam, a postcard placed on the pillow of arriving hotel guests promoted information websites about things to see and do in the Netherlands. The postcard was signed by the Minister for Foreign Trade and also celebrated the 2004 Dutch Presidency of the EU.

E. Onward Transport

1. The team found that many gateways, in Scotland and elsewhere, aimed to increase the proportion of passengers using public transport for their onward journeys. In Scotland the highest proportion of passengers using public transport for airport access - around 30% - are travelling to or from Glasgow Prestwick Airport. On average only 14% of passengers for other key airports in Scotland arrive or depart using public transport. Heathrow Airport, by comparison, aims to increase the proportion of air passengers using public transport to 40% by 2007.

2. Airport rail links, either terminating within the terminal building or with a covered pedestrian connection to it, were standard at most large European airports, and for the three London airports visited by the team. At Manchester Airport, a dedicated transport interchange is open 24 hours a day, linking trains, coaches and buses into one building, which also provides currency exchange and retail and catering outlets. New York's airports were aiming to catch up with their European counterparts in this respect. Prestwick was the only Scottish airport visited by the team that had a rail link, and although the team was told of work towards the creation of rail links also to Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports, progress seemed to be painfully slow. The team welcomed the arrangement by Strathclyde Passenger Transport allowing half price rail travel between Prestwick Airport and other stations in Scotland.

3. The review team travelled on several airport links in Scotland and elsewhere and found that sharing onward transport services between airport and local use was possible, but that such sharing had to be arranged in a way which did not compromise the reliability of the airport service. It was also clear that the quality of onward transport should aim to match or exceed the quality of the arrival transport, in both service and accommodation standards. The team found that trains and buses needed to be adapted for airport use, creating more information services and more space for luggage. The train link serving Frankfurt airport, and London's Heathrow Express, both of which include design serving customers with large amounts of luggage, were good examples. The team also noted in this connection the success of the "100" express bus serving Edinburgh airport. There were less successful examples too, however: at one local railway station in Scotland visited by the team neither accommodation nor information services had been designed to cater for passengers transferring from the nearby international ferry terminal.

4. Management of taxi services at out-of-town gateways was often found to be problematic. At some ferry ports and cruise liner terminals in Scotland it seemed to be difficult to ensure that enough taxis were available at the right times for arriving passengers. Out-ofdate licensing arrangements for some taxi fleets had made it difficult to operate a modern and efficient taxi service from ports of entry. The team was told that a solution had been
identified to the problems with the much-criticised taxi service at Edinburgh Airport, and that arrangements were being made with the taxi trade and the local authority to ensure long-term improvement. Services were clearer and seemed to work better at gateways where licensing arrangements were rigorously enforced including by police intervention. At Glasgow Airport, for example, there were few reported complaints about the taxi service. The presence of taxi dispatchers - seen at some gateways outside Scotland - helped to discourage touts and to provide guidance and reassurance to arriving passengers, particularly where a range of taxi options was available, such as in New York where passengers were able to choose been taxi, cab share and minibus services. The
team noted the recent introduction of "taxi-buses", following fixed routes, at some UK airports.

5. The team noted the recent relocation of hire cars to the front of the terminal at Glasgow Airport, which helped reduce the need for passengers to travel off the airport site to pick up their vehicles.

6. The team asked about facilities for automatic baggage forwarding to a final destination. It was confirmed that this was valued by passengers, and had been very popular when operated for example for passengers arriving from the United States to join a ship at the Port of Dover, or in transferring passengers between Frankfurt and Stuttgart airports. Security regulations made it difficult to make such arrangements regularly, however.

III - RECOMMENDATIONS

General

• All Scots represent Scotland to arriving visitors and should take responsibility for making
  a good impression. Overseas visitors will remember a demonstrative welcome, and will
  talk about their contacts with Scottish people, more than any other aspect of their stay.
  We are all in this together.
• Scottish Ministers must accept the responsibility to set the tone. Their statements and
  their decisions should reflect a "First Impressions culture" - the importance of making
  sure that Scotland makes a good impression on visitors on their arrival in Scotland and
  encourages them to return.
• The Scottish Executive and VisitScotland should work together to publicise the need for
  all Scots to be good ambassadors in their own country.
• VisitScotland should work with others to help develop First Impressions skills through
  training for those having contact with arriving visitors.
• Scottish Ministers and gateway operators should develop 20-year visions for Scotland's
  points of entry to realise the ambition to be among the world's best. The plans should
  ensure that development is for the long-term and not confined to coping with the demands
  of the next 2-3 years, and should encourage the use of inspiring high quality design.
• International gateways should:
  ­
  project a sense of arrival in Scotland as a unique and thriving country, proud of its
  history and confident in its future;
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  ensure that appropriate onward transport facilities are available for arriving
  passengers, offering a choice of road and rail;
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  provide access to tourist information about Scotland and the local area;
  ­
  carry out regular surveys of customer satisfaction and publish the results.
  
• VisitScotland should generate future information about visitors' First Impressions - for
  example through a short questionnaire postcard for completion by arriving hotel guests.
  

G8 Summit, July 2005

In July 2005, Scotland will welcome thousands of influential delegates and journalists for the G8 Summit at Gleneagles. The Scottish Executive, and the local authorities and gateways who will be involved in welcoming these visitors, should work towards the Summit as a major opportunity to make a good First Impression. In particular they should:

• Provide arrival facilities appropriate to the seniority of VIP visitors;
• Provide a targeted welcome for the Summit and the visitors, using signage and video in gateways and dressing major First Impressions routes;
• Provide information services tailored to the needs of delegates and media, including enthusiastic staff to respond to requests for information and help;
• Project a sense of arrival in Scotland using bespoke events and tools mentioned in this report's recommendations.

Customer Service

• The Scottish Executive should commission work to establish existing economic benefits to Scotland from cruise ship business, and to estimate what additional benefits would accrue from greater efforts to attract and welcome cruise passengers.
• The international cruise business is growing rapidly and Scotland should work to benefit from it. Working with VisitScotland, Scottish Ministers should consider providing support to Scotland's ports to develop their cruise business, both in attracting ships to Scotland and developing the necessary facilities to handle them. The Scottish Executive should discuss with Forth Ports the possible benefits for the whole of Scotland to be derived from development of a new cruise terminal berth beyond the lock gates at Leith.
• Ports should take initiatives to work cooperatively with each other and with VisitScotland to attract cruise business to Scotland, for example by ensuring a strong Scottish presence at the annual Cruise Shipping event held in Miami. We must strive to ensure that a large proportion of our cruise business starts and ends here in Scotland.
• The Scottish Executive should examine how European legislation on competition among ground handling agents is interpreted at different airports in Europe.
• Scottish airports and airlines arriving in Scotland should consider whether they can tighten their baggage delivery targets to match the best overseas.

Quality of Environment

• Local authorities should work with gateway operators, landowners and local business and other organisations to take responsibility for the visual impact of the gateway's immediate surroundings on arriving visitors, including by increasing the frequency where necessary of litter collections.
• The Scottish Executive and Scottish Parliament should work with gateway operators to gauge the need for VIP facilities at ports of entry in Scotland and should ensure that accommodation and systems are put in place which reflect well on Scotland in welcoming its most important overseas visitors.

Sense of Place

• Agreement on the right image of Scotland to project at points of entry is long overdue and should be a priority. The Scottish Executive should develop advice and devise official branding for use in projecting Scotland at points of entry, and at points of departure to Scotland, and make it available for use by gateway operators and at road border crossings. Where possible, the branding should also be used at departure points to Scotland and in information provided en route.
• The Saltire should be used as part of the branding to help reinforce the sense of arrival in Scotland, as well as help develop international recognition of the national flag.
• In developing advice on branding, the Scottish Executive should ensure that responsibilities are clearly delineated and resources for maintenance and renewal are clearly identified, so that branding and other elements of the "sense of place" do not become orphaned or fall into disrepair.
• Regional branding should also be encouraged, within a Scottish context. The Scottish Executive should work with local authorities to ensure that national and local branding is consistent.
• The Scottish Executive should work with local authorities, VisitScotland, Enterprise Networks and others to upgrade the welcome at Scotland's two major road crossings to make them impressive and unmissable. At the very least, the national flag should be flown from the existing flag poles at the A1 border crossing, and at the A74 crossing. The border should be physically marked, and existing low-key welcome to Scotland signs should be upgraded to make them bolder and more noticeable. A new physical gateway or large-scale public art should be used to symbolise arrival in Scotland.
• International gateways should project Scotland to arriving passengers using: ­

culture - art, language, literature, music and history. Gateways should use forthcoming celebrations such as the Year of Highland Culture in 2007 and the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns in 2009 - the "Year of Homecoming" - as opportunities to mark these aspects of Scottish culture;

public art: competitions should be used to inspire creative public art contributions for gateways from Scots themselves;
­
design: new gateway developments, redevelopments and expansions should reflect a sense of place and Scotland's tradition of imagination and innovation, and should allow space for exhibitions and cultural performances;
­
traditional symbols of Scotland: gateways should celebrate visitors' expectations of Scotland, and add to them to portray Scotland as it is now;
­
advertising: gateway operators should work with companies to provide appropriate advertising and other images in and around their terminal to create positive Scottish impressions and associations;
­
media: gateway operators should make better use of spaces where arriving passengers linger - particularly in baggage halls, at taxi ranks, security checks and waiting for other forms of onward transport. Free copies of local newspapers could be provided for arriving international passengers. Video screens and video walls should be used,
with subtitles in noisy environments, to provide variety, to address welcome messages in English and other languages to known visitor groups and to provide up-to-date images and messages to celebrate Scotland and Scottish successes;­

welcome signage: international points of entry should use the official branding made vailable by the Scottish Executive. Bilingual English and Gaelic signs should be used where appropriate to emphasise the sense of place.

Information

• International gateways should use enthusiastic people to provide welcomes and information, making them numerous and visible. People from different facilities and transport modes and from the community should be trained together to ensure that welcoming visitors is seen as everyone's business.
• VisitScotland should work with points of entry to ensure that international gateways either have dedicated tourist information desks or that their staff have appropriate training, including language training, to deal with inquiries for tourist information.
• The Scottish Executive, VisitScotland and EventScotland should ensure that ports of entry are notified of major events which will generate significant numbers of visitors or which could be promoted to new arrivals at gateways.
• VisitScotland should ensure that information boards are kept up to date, should explore possible benefits in using technology to provide voice or video links to tourist information offices from gateways which do not have dedicated information desks, and should investigate the possibility of providing a free information telephone service for use by overseas visitors while in Scotland.
• Gateway operators should use English-only signs, except where Gaelic is used as suggested above to emphasise a sense of place. Signage should be standardised to be intelligible to visitors who do not speak English. Written explanatory information should be available in other languages on request.

Onward transport

• Scottish Ministers, local authorities and Scottish Airports should accelerate provision of rail links to Glasgow and Edinburgh airports to bring these gateways up to the standard of European counterparts. Rail links should be supplemented by high quality bus or tram services.
• VisitScotland should work with transport operators to ensure that information on Scotland is provided to passengers travelling to Scotland at points of departure and en route, and that visitors booking travel to Scotland via its website or telephone line can also book all forms of onward travel from their port of entry.