Roughhead says Scots tourism outshines Ireland
Malcolm Roughhead, marketing director of VisitScotland, believes Scotland’s tourism market is outperforming tourism in Ireland, but Scotland’s status as part of the UK is masking the impressive growth.
Speaking at the Scottish Marketing Association’s monthly forum, Roughhead also said that the Scottish market should be able to take advantage of a massive tourist boom underway in the far east.
“Tourism is the biggest industry in the world, worth over £160 billion. The growth of tourism annually is about four per cent,” said Roughhead.
Ireland’s ‘Celtic Tiger’ model is often used as a benchmark for Scotland, which Roughhead says is no longer an appropriate example, as Scotland has exceeded Ireland’s economic tourism results: “Sometimes we forget that Scotland is not bad at what we do. People report the Irish international visitor numbers, but the UK is an international market. If we look at England as a foreign market, we would be outperforming Ireland. Not many people know that.”