Tourism is one of the world's biggest and most resilient business sectors. Despite little growth during 2001-2003 because of 9/11 and SARS, tourism bounced back across the world in 2004 with 10% growth. The World Tourism Organisation expects global growth to run at 4-5% a year long term. In Scotland, tourism is also growing, particularly from overseas markets. Hotel room occupancy is at record levels, and tourism is now one of Scotland's most vibrant sectors, helped by an explosion of visitors from European countries.
In 2000, the Scottish Executive published a "New Strategy for Scottish Tourism", and then in 2002 a "Tourism Framework for Action 2002-2005". Good progress has been made against the aims in these documents, but it's now time for another look at what the market's telling us. But this document isn't just another government strategy, it's the result of real collaboration with the private sector throughout 2005. It takes a fresh look at what's happening in tourism markets, both globally and in Scotland, and how the tourism market might change over the next decade. It sets out what tourism and hospitality businesses, related sectors like transport and retail, and the public sector agencies which support them, need to do to keep Scottish tourism growing sustainably in that changing market. And it stresses that we can't stand still - unless we grow our tourism sector, we'll lose it to the competition.
A document like this can't predict exactly what Scottish tourism will look like in 10 years time, just as the 2000 Strategy could not have predicted the immense impact of September 11 a year later. But this Framework for Change uses the research about what's happening on the ground now to map out some developments that are very likely to take place. It emphasises the need for business leadership and entrepreneurial attitudes, for product development and innovation which focuses on the customer, for building the capability of our people. That's how we will give every one of our visitors to Scotland a welcome that will exceed their high expectations - and turn each one of them into a lifetime ambassador for Scotland. We want Scotland to be one of the world's foremost tourism destinations by 2015. That's our ambition, and we want it to motivate everyone in Scotland, because tourism is everyone's business. We hope you'll find something in this document that will give you ideas about how your business or organisation can contribute even more to the continuing success of one of Scotland's most important business sectors.
3. These are the things which we have to do very well indeed just to avoid losing market share to the international competition. Major destinations across the world are promoting themselves in similar ways; offering similar products; and targeting similar markets including youth, seniors, city-breakers and business tourists. To grow, we have to do even more.
7. The criticisms most commonly mentioned were the weather, prices/exchange rate and quality of accommodation, with many comments on the need to improve the quality of the food in eating places generally.
10. Across the leisure tourism market, the following reasons to visit (product segments) have been identified by VisitScotland as meeting visitor demands while playing to Scotland's strengths, and are the primary focus for VisitScotland marketing activities :-
11. The growth of the last 3 years in international visitors mustn't lull us into a false sense of security. Our visitors like us and what we offer them. But the market is changing. Any analysis of how markets are changing will highlight trends which aren't always applicable, e.g. the strong growth of the short break market doesn't mean that no-one will come to Scotland any more for 2 or 3 week holidays. But VisitScotland's consumer research shows persistent change trends. It confirms that today's travellers want:-
12. Other key trends identified by VisitScotland are the increasing prevalence of late booking, which is related to a rising use of the internet for looking and booking; and a strong trend towards shorter breaks (because of limited time available, greater choice of destination) is driving the increasing popularity of city breaks. From these trends, the main types of break which this research indicates will be in increasing demand in future are those linked to:-
13. Of course, some visitors want to experience more than one of these in a single trip. And many also want a truly authentic experience, e.g. wildlife watching or ancestral tourism, where Scotland is a global leader. It is these consumer insights which are currently driving the shape of VisitScotland's current marketing campaigns, tapping increasingly successfully into rising consumer demand in these areas.
14. Building on these trends, VisitScotland has done a lot of scenario planning work. This paints a picture of what Scottish tourism could look like in 2015. It describes a sector with a focus on leisure short-break tourism which will grow strongly based on meeting rising consumer expectations with confidence. Business tourism will also be a strong growth sector. Competition for visitors will be stiff, and visitors will expect a warm welcome and can-do attitude everywhere they go. They are likely to be increasingly time-pressured with expectations that their experience will be smooth and any problems sorted quickly. The vast majority of visitors will live within a 3 hour travelling distance of their final destination in Scotland. Easy booking and good access will be crucial. Visitors will want self-discovery and chances to try new things, and will be ever better travelled and more sophisticated, with an interest in culture and the arts, high and low brow. They will be looking for rich opportunities to experience authentic Scotland, and will be turned off by any hint of a tourist trap. Population changes will means more older visitors, and this will also have an impact on the workforce. The pool of younger talent will reduce, and more of our workforce will be born outside Scotland. However the ageing population also presents an opportunity through experienced, enthusiastic second careerists and grey entrepreneurs.
15. This picture suggests that the main opportunities for growth could come more from the UK market, along with Europe and North America. That doesn't mean that the long stay or long haul leisure markets will disappear. VisitScotland estimate that the volume of the Chinese market will quadruple by 2010, but it's important to keep this in perspective. That increase is from a very low base, most Chinese tourism will be to other destinations in south east Asia, and it will be a very long time, if ever, before the Far Eastern market replaces the North American or European markets.
16. Based on all of this research and scenario planning, significant changes are likely to take place in the Scottish tourism market by 2015:-
Amalgamating these possible changes (none of which is a forecast, rather they flow from extending forward current observed trends and market intelligence), gross tourism revenues would grow to around £7.5bn by 2015 (in 2005 prices) from its current level of around £4.9bn, an increase of just over 50%. The following chart shows what that would mean for overall revenue growth in terms of £bn revenues at 2005 prices):-
18. So changes in spending patterns could look like this:-
21. The remainder of this document sets out under 4 broad headings the changes which all of the stakeholders in Scottish tourism are committed to delivering over the next 10 years. Underpinning all of them is the driving ambition to succeed and prosper in one of the world's most competitive business sectors, the ambition to make Scotland one of the world's foremost visitor destinations by 2015. The central theme is business entrepreneurship, business leadership and a focus on the customer, with the public sector strongly supporting businesses and industry bodies to grow the sector.
1. KNOWING YOUR MARKETWe need to exceed our customer expectations so that they have a great time in Scotland and want to come back - and recommend us to their friends. In order to do that, we need to know who our customers are and what they'll want from us. But we are in a fast-changing and competitive consumer marketplace. Consumer expectations are continually changing. So we need to stay ahead of the game, keep on top of market trends and new developments and be quick to respond with development and enhancement of our own products and services. Only then can we ensure we're always ready to exceed our customers' expectations, however they may change, and so build our reputation as a must-visit, must return destination.
Target 1 - By 2006, the Scottish Executive will establish a Tourism Research Network, involving the industry, culture and heritage organisations, the Enterprise agencies, academics and VisitScotland to ensure that appropriate research takes place, is disseminated appropriately and meaningfully to all stakeholders, and is used to drive innovation and product enhancement.
The Tourism Research Network will set the research agenda to provide the information that's critical for all stakeholders. It will work with tourism businesses and the Scottish Tourism Forum to identify the information that would be most useful for businesses and the best means to get it out to the people who need it. It will benchmark against international best practice in the collection and use of tourism research. And it will work with stakeholders to ensure that research is used to drive product enhancement and development.
But the Network won't have all the answers. While it will be able to provide information about international trends, and trends across Scotland, it won't be able to provide individual businesses with information about their business and customers. The majority of Scotland's visitors might come from the UK, with the US being our biggest international customer, but your business might attract a lot of German visitors. So you need to know not only about national trends, but also about your own business trends. And indeed, the only way the Network will be able to provide useful information about national trends is if businesses gather and share this kind of information about their own businesses and customers. The more businesses and others organisations are willing to collect this kind of information and to share it, the more useful the research findings will be to everyone.
Target 2 - Every tourism business and culture and heritage organisation will collect data from their own customers to help them "know their visitor" - who they are, why they have come and what they want out of their trip - and use this to inform their business strategies.
The Enterprise Agencies will advise businesses how best to collect relevant data and make it meaningful to inform their business strategies. The Scottish Executive will work with the Tourism Research Network and with culture and heritage organisations to ensure that the information they are being asked to provide is consistent.
The Tourism Research Network will also look at whether there is a more useful way to measure how much visitors enjoy their stay than the current 'satisfaction' rating system which does not allow us to understand their views in detail. After all, if our aim is to surprise and delight our visitors, we need to know more than that they were satisfied!
2. EXCEEDING VISITORS' EXPECTATIONS
You now know what your market looks like and what the future market might look like. You know how your business is doing in relation to others across Scotland and internationally. We now need to make sure that everything we do will exceed our visitors' expectations. There are a number of ways to do this - all are important and intertwined.
2.1 Quality of Visitor Experience
Most holiday decisions are influenced by personal recommendation. We want to increase our visitors' propensity to return and to become ambassadors for Scotland, so we need to make sure that the quality of visitor experience that we are offering will surprise and delight. And if people enjoy themselves while they're here, they are also likely to spend more.
This is partly about making sure our hotel bedrooms, visitor attractions, food and shops are all of a high standard and that our visitors experience pleasant, litter free places. Businesses of all kinds, not just the traditional tourism businesses, need to improve the quality of their product to ensure they are staying ahead of what visitors want. Every tourism and related business will be strongly encouraged to become part of VisitScotland's QA schemes, where they will be supported in raising their standards. We want to work towards all businesses participating in the appropriate QA schemes. VisitScotland currently only works with accommodation businesses who participate in the QA scheme. Increasingly the public agencies will only work with businesses in other sectors who participate in the appropriate QA scheme (eg restaurants and other food outlets who are part of EatScotland).
Target 3 - VisitScotland will increase the proportion of businesses in their QA schemes towards 100%, develop and extend QA schemes for more sectors, and ensure that the QA scheme criteria are constantly reviewed to reflect changing and rising consumer expectations.
Target 4 - Pride and Passion will double the number of "Friends" each year, all of whom will make a commitment to improving the visitor experience and to passing on the quality message to others.
Pride and Passion and the Enterprise Networks will support tourism businesses in collecting customer feedback which they can use to continually improve the quality of their product, and the Tourism Research Network will ensure that useful research is provided which allows tourism businesses and others to learn from best practice. (See also "Knowing your market".)
Of course it's not all about what tourism businesses and culture and heritage organisations can do to improve quality. Visitors use many of the same services that are used every day by local people. Local authorities will therefore continue to maintain and improve the quality of local places so that our visitors are pleasantly surprised by all they see.
2.2 People and Skills
But it doesn't matter how clean our streets are, or whether there are fresh flowers in every hotel bedroom if our people working in tourism and its related sectors provide anything less than a warm welcome, a professional service and an authentic experience. Anything less can ruin even the best visitor experience. We need to ensure that everybody working in tourism and its related sectors has the skills and attitude to give visitors a warm welcome and an enjoyable and interesting stay, to add positively to every visitor experience. After all, our visitors say they love the friendliness of the Scottish people. So our ambition is to have the best regarded tourism workforce in the world, with highly skilled managers and leaders who nurture and value their staff. This, in turn, will improve the employee experience which will, in turn, provide a better customer experience - and visitors will be more likely to spend more, and to return.
The Scottish Tourism Forum called a Skills Summit, bringing together the organisations working in people development, training, and education in tourism who have agreed to work together to deliver the ambition. People 1st, the Sector Skills Council, has done some work to identify the key challenges, and as a result all the support organisations have agreed to work together to address three crucial areas - workforce development, leadership/management training, and recruitment/retention.
Target 5 - People 1st will work in partnership with public and private sector organisations to develop and implement a workforce development plan to achieve a more highly skilled workforce by 2006.
A key part of delivering better workforce development will be "100k Welcomes" - a single course being developed by the Enterprise Agencies which will replace a number of others to enhance tourism businesses' productivity and competitiveness. In addition to core customer service skills, we know that there is a shortage of chefs and other staff with key craft skills. People 1st will work with all training providers to ensure that the skills and training opportunities available match what businesses need. People 1st will also work to develop an online "skills passport" which will enable staff to record their skills and qualifications and allow these to be recognised by all tourism employers. [From 2010 the public sector agencies will only work with businesses participating in the skills passport scheme].
Managers and business owners will value training, have the right management and leadership skills and training themselves, and ensure that their staff have the skills they need to provide a high quality service, because they will understand that this is crucial to growing their businesses. Pride and Passion will use peer pressure to sell to tourism businesses the bottom line benefits of staff development and training.
Target 6 - Managers and business owners will increase the take-up of training.
To help business leaders get the training they need, People 1st will work with private and public partners to develop a single programme of leadership and management development to strengthen leadership skills in tourism businesses.
If managers and staff are well trained, they will not only be able to provide a high quality service for visitors. They will have the skills to gather information about their visitors (see "Knowing your market"), to provide effective information and marketing to visitors (see "Marketing your product"), and to do all of this sustainably (see "Being Sustainable").
Management training and staff development is, however, only part of the answer. We need to make tourism the first choice career for talented and motivated people. One way to do that is to ensure our industry nurtures and values its staff. But in addition to that, we need to make sure we take every opportunity to tell people what a good industry it is to work in. Recruitment problems and high staff turnover hurts the bottom line and as the population ages, competition for the best home-grown and international talent will get tougher. The Fresh Talent initiative will encourage more people born outside Scotland to live and work here, and the industry must ensure that tourism can compete for the best staff.
Target 7 - Enterprise Agencies and Springboard Scotland will deliver support for businesses to improve recruitment and retention of staff.
Enthusing people about working in tourism needs to start in schools. Careers Scotland will play a key role in highlighting the career opportunities available in tourism. The Scottish Tourism Forum will support businesses in developing links with schools through the Scottish Executive's Determined to Succeed programme to assist young people to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to work in tourism. Tourism businesses and Springboard Scotland will work with Careers Scotland to support the development of tourism skills in schools and colleges and highlight tourism as a career opportunity.
Finally, we also need to ensure that there is sufficient affordable housing to allow people to live in the areas where they are required to work.
Target 8 - The Scottish Executive will help provide affordable homes in places where they are needed most. This will include £1.2billion of direct investment in affordable housing over 3 years, a shared equity home ownership scheme, and a massive investment programme to address infrastructure shortages.
2.3 Innovation and Product Development
We must think creatively, innovatively and collaboratively to develop new products and enhance existing ones - from accommodation to visitor attractions to eating places - to ensure that they are exceeding our visitors' expectations. And we need to use our research findings to identify the new products which are needed to meet our visitors' changing tastes - for city breaks, for activity breaks, for pampering, for food and drink, for culture and education etc. Visitors will only return if we exceed their expectations first time round. We must therefore ensure that what we're offering is always one step ahead of expectations.
Target 9 - The Tourism Innovation Group and groups of tourism businesses will work with the Enterprise Agencies and VisitScotland to spot emerging trends of visitor needs and progress the product and sectoral development needed to meet them. Culture and heritage organisations will also develop new activities and experiences in response to emerging markets. The result will be an increased propensity to return, and to recommend Scotland as a great destination.
The Enterprise Agencies will deliver tourism innovation programmes to support the Tourism Innovation Group in stimulating higher levels of innovation and product development by groups of businesses, and will provide support for industry and partners to deliver Destination Development and Management Plans for the key tourism destinations.
And the Scottish Executive will improve the planning system to speed up the production of development plans, improve the service provided by planning authorities in processing planning applications, and enhancing the involvement of communities and individuals in decisions which affect them.
2.4 Culture, Events and Sport
Large numbers of visitors come to Scotland to participate in or watch cultural, sporting or other events, or because they know that there will be events to choose from when they arrive. We need to make sure that we are providing the events that they will want to be involved in.
Target 10 - Tourism businesses will work with culture, heritage and sport organisations to set up a product development network for the heritage, history and events segment of the market. This network will develop and market, with VisitScotland support, new contiguous products which anticipate and exceed visitor demands, and as a result increase the number of visitors to Scotland. EventScotland will contribute to this target by attracting and marketing major events which meet changing visitor demands.
The Enterprise Agencies will provide support for the development of events where these deliver significant economic benefit and support product and destination development plans.
2.5 E-Business
Tourists increasingly want to find out about trips and activities online, and to book them online in real time. If we can't provide this service, visitors are likely to go elsewhere, regardless of the quality product we have to offer them. We therefore need to ensure that tourism businesses and culture and heritage organisations are able to provide this service, either themselves or through visitscotland.com, perhaps by using the latter's "web-in-a-box".
But it's not just about information and booking. Technology today is like electricity 100 years ago - it provides countless opportunities for tourism businesses to change the way they work - whether it's creating a customer feedback system (see "Knowing your market"), providing visitors with handheld electronic guides to your visitor attraction, or texting visitors to let them know about events likely to interest them or special deals in your B&B. Better use of technology could also allow tourism businesses to work smarter, thus leaving them with more time to enhance their product or spend valuable time with their guests.
Target 11 - Every tourism business will become fully e-enabled by 2010 to maximise sales - either directly or through visitscotland.com - and improve the visitor experience (from internet booking to e-marketing to hand-held e-guides).
By 2010 we would expect that the public sector agencies will only work with businesses which are e-enabled. The Scottish Tourism Forum, the Enterprise Agencies, visitscotland.com and VisitScotland's area office network will work together to support tourism operators in becoming e-enabled and improving their use of e-business by ensuring access to training and advice. A series of e-commerce roadshows will be piloted by the above partners. They will look at how these can be built upon to spread good e-business practice. Local authorities will take the needs of tourism businesses into account in considering planning applications for the erection of mobile telephone masts.
Target 12 - The Scottish Executive and VisitScotland will study how best to develop a National Box Office which will provide online booking of performances, and prompt parallel online purchase of linked products such as travel tickets. (See also "Marketing your product".)
visitscotland.com will develop closer links with culture and sporting venues and events organisers to present visitors with up to date information about what's on in Scotland and offer tailor-made packages to encourage visitors to attend.
2.6 Access and Transport
Our tourism product needs to include excellent transport provision, both to and within Scotland. Visitors will increasingly want to reach their destination within 3 hours, so we need to make sure we can get them here quickly. And as most people will only be here for a short break, but will want to pack in as much as possible, we need to make sure they can get around Scotland quickly, easily and comfortably. But we must always bear in mind that it is our great environment which is the draw for many of our visitors. If we pollute our environment it is likely that some of our visitors will no longer find Scotland an attractive destination. And, indeed, it will no longer be a great place to live! So we need to encourage more visitors to use public transport wherever possible.
Target 13 - The Scottish Executive will publish a National Transport Strategy in 2006 which will consider the needs of everyone using transport, including visitors. Consideration of our future transport infrastructure needs will be addressed by the Strategic Projects Review which will begin by 2007. The Scottish Executive will also undertake specific research into the travel behaviour of visitors to Scotland and will consider any actions arising from this research which will improve the visitor experience.
The research into travel behaviour of visitors to Scotland will map the current trends and patterns of visitors' travel behaviour within Scotland. The study will also identify gaps in the literature and areas for further research on tourist travel behaviour in Scotland.
The Executive will extend direct air routes through its Route Development Fund, targeting routes that have the greatest benefit to Scotland. It will work with First Scotrail to maximise opportunities to run additional services or provide service improvements to support major events; to promote services which link with onward travel opportunities (such as ferry links); and to ensure that they are aware of and act on visitor needs and preferences. The Executive's current 10 year transport infrastructure programme includes the development of rail links to Edinburgh and Glasgow airports and the completion of the central Scotland motorway network. And the Executive supports in principle the construction of the Borders Rail Link, which will open up the south of Scotland to a new audience.
But most visitors travel to, and around, Scotland by car. So the Executive will work to maximise the efficiency of national motorways and trunk roads. And it will take forward the findings of the "View from the Road" study which is looking at how best the road network meets visitor needs, e.g. for stopping points in scenic areas, and information displays.
Our future infrastructure needs will be determined by the Strategic Projects Review, which is due to begin by 2007, and which will take tourism needs into account.
But it's not just about what the Scottish Executive can do. Tourism businesses and culture and heritage organisations must make themselves aware of local transport issues facing their visitors and their staff will be able to signpost travel information and suggest best routes and modes of transport. Tourism businesses and culture and heritage organisations will introduce innovative and sustainable ways of transporting their visitors around, and will work with transport providers to develop linked ticketing and promotional schemes. The Tourism Innovation Group will support tourism businesses to do this.
VisitScotland will work with transport operators to market Scotland as a destination at the other end of air and rail links, and to highlight ease of access to Scotland. VisitScotland will work with transport operators to ensure they are aware of visitors' needs and expectations at transport hubs. Events organisers will work with transport providers to develop transport to events, and to develop ticketing schemes, with the support of EventScotland.
3. MARKETING YOUR PRODUCT
So now you know who your market is, what it wants, and you've enhanced the quality of your product so that you're providing something you know your customers will love. But how will they know about your product?
Every destination is getting better at marketing itself. We must have world class marketing which sells Scotland as a must-visit destination. VisitScotland will produce increasingly effective marketing campaigns to promote leisure and business tourism in both cities and rural Scotland, and will use events and other attractions such as film and television programmes to sell Scotland as the place to visit. VisitScotland will work with VisitBritain to market Scotland as part of a UK package for long haul travellers. EventScotland will work with organisers of major events to assist with their marketing, maximise the number of participants and spectators and maximise the media coverage in key markets. This media coverage will itself act as a valuable marketing tool, promoting Scotland as a vibrant and exciting destination with a thriving culture, which offers a diversity of experiences for our visitors.
But it's not just about promoting Scotland itself as a destination. If visitors are considering coming to Scotland, we need to be able to tell them about individual businesses, visitor attractions and events so that they know exactly what they can do when they're here. The Tourism Innovation Group will assist tourism businesses to identify their own core customers and what they're looking for (see also "Knowing your market") and to develop new ways of marketing their products to them. (See also the "E-Business listing under "Exceeding visitors' expectations".) Tourism businesses will find it particularly useful to collaborate with culture and heritage organisations and other non-tourism businesses (retail, restaurants etc) to market their community or area to visitors, and VisitScotland will provide advice and support to businesses on this, in the context of the Area Tourism Partnerships and Area Tourism Plans.
Tourism businesses, culture and heritage organisations and others will take advantage of joint marketing opportunities with VisitScotland. visitscotland.com will build a world-class customer relationship management system to provide detailed knowledge of the customer base to allow effective marketing and delivery across all pre- and post-arrival channels.
Target 14 - Tourism businesses, culture and heritage organisations, VisitScotland and visitscotland.com will use effective marketing techniques to increase the number of visitors who come to Scotland as a direct result of advertising and other forms of marketing.
4. BEING SUSTAINABLE
We've now identified how to provide a product which will attract visitors to Scotland and will surprise and delight them once they're here; which will encourage them to spend more money while they're here; and which will encourage them to come back again and to recommend us to family and friends. We've identified how to promote our product to our market. And we've identified how to stay ahead of the game in knowing what our visitors are likely to want in the future, what our competitors are providing and how our businesses are performing.
So we've broadly identified how to achieve growth in both visitor numbers and visitor revenues, aiming at 50% revenue growth in real terms by 2015. But is this sustainable? For our economy, our communities, and our environment?
VisitScotland will produce increasingly effective marketing campaigns which will promote both cities and rural Scotland. (See "Marketing your product".) Visitors increasingly want to pack lots into their stay so they will want to experience city and countryside. If we get this right, it means that we shouldn't have a huge number of additional visitors packing into our tourism hotspots at peak season. Instead, our visitors will be attracted to experience every part of Scotland. It is therefore unlikely that a large increase in accommodation will be needed. Similarly, VisitScotland marketing campaigns will promote both leisure and business tourism. We know that business tourism has huge growth potential, and that it takes place throughout the year.
If we get this right, it means that our increased number of visitors will not all converge on Scotland in July and August. Likewise, cultural, sporting and other events, and particular types of activity such as wildlife tourism, often take place off-peak. If we can maximise this potential for off-peak events, more tourism businesses can stay open all year round.
Taking visitors to different parts of Scotland all through the year will only be achievable, though, if we are able to provide good transport facilities. (See the "Access and Transport" listing under "Exceeding visitors' expectations".) But we will also have to ensure that we make it as easy as possible for our visitors to use sustainable transport options.
Many of our visitors are attracted to Scotland because of our clean, unspoiled environment and our diverse wildlife. We want to build on this - we want to be Europe's most sustainable destination. To do this we need to ensure that tourism growth doesn't result in the degradation of the very environment which is one of our unique selling points. Heritage and environment organisations will work to ensure that the Scottish natural and built environment is conserved for future generations of visitors. The Scottish Executive's new Planning Bill (See the "Innovation and product development" heading under "Exceeding visitors' expectation") will ensure that environmental considerations are taken into account in planning applications. But tourism businesses have a real responsibility to ensure that they are protecting the environment which brings so many of their visitors.
Target 15 - Tourism business and VisitScotland will increase the membership of the Green Tourism Business Scheme, so that all tourism businesses are members by 2010. After that, the public sector agencies will only work with businesses which are accredited under the scheme.
Tourism businesses must develop their understanding of how their business practices can affect the environment and local community and move to using business practices which are more sustainable. Local authorities will support businesses in becoming greener - for example, by providing more recycling schemes. And Area Tourism Partnerships will work to ensure that tourism benefits local communities and engages with them.
Target 16 - A Sustainable Tourism Forum will be set up from March 2006, building on the Tourism Environment Forum, to promote sustainable tourism throughout Scotland. Key research and projects to underpin this work will be funded and driven by a Sustainable Tourism Partnership involving VisitScotland, the enterprise networks, Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Scotland and private partners.
The Sustainable Tourism Forum will support businesses in becoming more sustainable, and the Partnership will underpin this work by supporting key research and projects. VisitScotland will work with tourism businesses to market sustainable tourism to socially and environmentally-conscious visitors. Visitors are increasingly attracted to businesses which use sustainable practices, and are willing to pay more to use them. Tourism businesses and culture and heritage organisations will therefore want to make increased use of GTBS status as part of their own marketing in order to maximise interest from green tourists. (See "Marketing your product".)
There is also scope for creating new products which allow visitors to experience our environment, but which are sustainable in themselves. (See the "Innovation and product development" heading under "Exceeding visitors' expectations".) Tourism businesses and culture and heritage organisations will consider and implement innovative ways of creating "virtual" visits to areas of extremely sensitive environment. Current examples are virtual tours of the Flow country from Thurso, and the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick.
Going green should not, therefore, be just another financial burden for businesses. Not only are you likely to see a real difference in your energy bills, your investment in green business practices is likely to be a real draw for the increasing number of sustainably-minded visitors.
TARGETS AND MEASUREMENTS OF SUCCESS
Target 1 - By 2006, the Scottish Executive will establish a Tourism Research Network, involving the industry, culture and heritage organisations, the Enterprise agencies, academics and VisitScotland to ensure that appropriate research takes place, is disseminated appropriately and meaningfully to all stakeholders and is used to drive innovation and product enhancement.
Measure - Creation of Tourism Research Network and qualitative feedback on its operation.
Target 2 - Every tourism businesses and culture and heritage organisation will collect data from their own customers to help them "know their visitor" - who they are, why they have come and what they want out of their trip - and use this to inform their business strategies.
Measure - Culture and heritage organisations and the Tourism Innovation Group will provide qualitative feedback about the collection of data and its impact. Feedback will also come from the Tourism Research Network, which will require this information to be submitted.
Target 3 - VisitScotland will increase the proportion of businesses in their QA schemes towards 100%, develop and extend QA schemes for more sectors, and ensure that the QA scheme criteria are constantly reviewed to reflect changing and rising consumer expectations.
Measure - VisitScotland will report an increase in QA businesses, and will provide qualitative feedback on extensions and amendments to the scheme.
Target 4 - Pride and Passion will double the number of "Friends" each year, all of whom will make a commitment to improving the quality of their product and to passing on the quality message to others.
Measure - Pride and Passion will register over 3,000 "Friends" by 2010.
Target 5 - People 1st will work in partnership with public and private sector organisations to develop and implement a workforce development plan to achieve a more highly skilled workforce by 2006.
Measure - Creation of a workforce development plan and qualitative feedback from People 1st on its operation. Enterprise networks to report on "100k Welcomes".
Target 6 - Managers and business owners will increase the take-up of training.
Measure - People 1st to report on development of single leadership/management course. Increase training participation rates for owners/managers [target to be developed]
Target 7 -Enterprise Agencies and Springboard Scotland will deliver support for businesses to improve recruitment and retention of staff.
Measure - The Enterprise Agencies and Springboard Scotland will provide qualitative feedback on the results of the recruitment and retention project.
Target 8 - The Scottish Executive will help provide affordable homes in places where they are needed most. This will include £1.2billion of direct investment in affordable housing over 3 years, a shared equity home ownership scheme, and a massive investment programme to address infrastructure shortages.
Measure - The Scottish Executive to provide over 16,500 social rented homes and nearly 5,000 low cost homes over the period 2005-06 to 2007-08 .
Target 9 - The Tourism Innovation Group and groups of tourism businesses will work with the Enterprise Agencies and VisitScotland to spot emerging trends of visitor needs and plan the product and sectoral development needed to meet them. Culture and heritage organisations will also develop new activities and experiences in response to emerging markets. The result will be an increased propensity to return and to recommend Scotland as a great destination.
Measure - Visitor propensity to return to Scotland and to recommend Scotland as a great destination will increase. TIG, Enterprise Agencies, VisitScotland and culture and heritage organisations will provide qualitative feedback on product development.
Target 10 - Tourism businesses will work with culture, heritage and sport organisations to set up a product development network for the heritage, history and events segment of the market, which will develop and market, with VisitScotland support, new contiguous products which meet and exceed visitor demands, and as a result increase the number of visitors to Scotland. EventScotland will contribute to this target by attracting and marketing major events which meet changing visitor demands.
Measure - Establishment of Product Development Network. Number of visitors will increase. Product Development Network and EventScotland will provide qualitative feedback.
Target 11 - Every tourism business will become fully e-enabled by 2010 to maximise sales - either directly or through visitscotland.com - and improve the visitor experience (from internet booking to e-marketing to hand-held e-guides).
Measure - Scottish Tourism Forum will provide evidence that all tourism businesses are fully e-enabled by 2010. STF will provide qualitative feedback on progress each year.
Target 12 - The Scottish Executive and VisitScotland will study how best to develop a National Box Office which will exceed visitor expectations by providing fast and attractive online booking which matches their preferences, and prompts parallel online purchase of linked products such as travel tickers or tickets to events or visitor attractions, city card / passes etc.
Measure - The Scottish Executive and VisitScotland will provide qualitative feedback on development of National Box Office.
Target 13 - The Scottish Executive will publish a National Transport Strategy in 2006 which will consider the needs of everyone using transport, including visitors. Consideration of our future transport infrastructure needs will be addressed by the Strategic Projects Review which will begin by 2007. The Scottish Executive will also undertake specific research into the travel behaviour of visitors to Scotland and will consider any actions arising from this research which will improve the visitor experience.
Measure - Our National Transport Strategy will be completed in 2006, and will set the context for the Strategic Projects Review which is to follow. The research project will be completed by spring 2006.
Target 14 - Tourism businesses, culture and heritage organisations, VisitScotland and visitscotland.com will use effective marketing techniques to increase the number of visitors who come to Scotland as a direct result of advertising and other forms of marketing.
Measure - Number of visitors who come to Scotland as a direct result of advertising will increase. VisitScotland will report on Return on Investment and visitscotland.com will report on conversion rates. The Scottish Tourism Forum and culture and heritage organisations will report back on where their customers heard about them - from customer feedback.
Target 15 - Tourism business and VisitScotland will work together to increase the membership of the Green Tourism Business Scheme, so that all tourism businesses are members by 2010.
Measure - Membership of Green Tourism Business Scheme will increase year on year and The public sector agencies will only work with GTBS businesses by 2010.
Target 16 - A Sustainable Tourism Forum will be set up from March 2006, building on the Tourism Environment Forum, to promote sustainable tourism throughout Scotland. Key research and projects to underpin this work will be funded and driven by a Sustainable Tourism Partnership involving VisitScotland, the enterprise networks, Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Scotland and private partners.
Measure - Establishment of Sustainable Tourism Forum and Sustainable Tourism Partnership. Qualitative feedback from Sustainable Tourism Forum on its work.
Other quantitative indicators
Value of tourism revenue
Number of visitors
Number of visitors who were very satisfied
Number of visitors whose expectations were exceeded
Other qualitative feedback
Each organisation listed in this Framework for Change will report annually to the Tourism Strategy Group on the work undertaken to accomplish the supporting actions listed throughout this document. Supporting actions undertaken by tourism businesses will be reported by the Scottish Tourism Forum.