Tourism sector

Tourism represents a significant economic factor in the Argyll and the Islands area. The sector is estimated to be worth £140 million per annum to the Argyll and the Islands economy and employs almost 9% of the workforce. A survey conducted by System Three during 2000 found that 34% of visitors to the area were native Scots with 49% coming from other parts of the UK. The remaining 17% were foreign visitors with the USA providing the largest percentage of these making up 18% of International visitor numbers.
Over the last few years we have witnessed a shift in the percentage of foreign visitors coming to the area. Global events and the growing strength of the pound against the dollar and the euro have contributed towards a decline in these numbers while the domestic market numbers has increased to fill the gap and in some case to exceed previous visitor levels. Visitor levels in Scotland have stayed fairly steady at approximately 18.5 million but this hides a shift in the fortunes of some regions against others. The area covered by Argyll, the Isles, Loch Lomond, Stirling and the Trossachs Tourist Board (AILLST) has seen an increase in overall visitor numbers while the Highland region has seen a decline over the same period. This trend is set to continue with the area now enclosing the first Scottish National Park and the opening of the Lomond Shores development. Next season ferry operators Clydefast are due to start their catamaran services from Glasgow's city centre with daily schedules to Dunoon and Rothesay thus allowing Argyll and Bute to tap into the lucrative 5.5 million visitor market that Glasgow enjoys each year.

UK and Overseas Visitor Trip Numbers
UK and Overseas Visitor Trip Numbers

Uk and Overseas Visitor Spend in £Millions
Uk and Overseas Visitor Spend in £Millions

The graphs on the right show UK and Overseas visitor trips for the period 2000-2002 along with the associated spend in millions of pounds for the same period. They show the AILLST numbers along side the Highland area's figures from the same years. From this it can be seen that the domestic market is worth far in access of the overseas market and that the ALLIST tourist board area is approaching parity with the Highland sector.

As the tourism market grows more sophisticated new niche offerings and products must be developed if Scotland is to retain and grow its share of this global market. The growth of Ecotourism has not gone unnoticed by our indigenous businesses and particularly in the field of Wildlife tourism. Many operators offer whale and dolphin (over 20 species in Argyll waters) sightseeing tours and while the stars of this type of show do not always put in an appearance the sights and sounds of the Argyll coastline is a satisfying experience in itself. Argyll is famous for its birdlife and many operators offer visitors the chance to get up close and personal with some of the rarest species in the British Isles. White-tailed sea eagles on Mull, corncrakes on Coll and Tiree, over fifty thousand geese on Islay (Barnacle and Greenland White-fronted), puffins on the Treshnish Isles, the list is endless. Many members of the Scottish Wildlife Tourism Association operate out of Argyll and the Islands.

Genealogy tourism is another developing niche sector particularly with North American visitors keen to trace their ancestry and to visit the birth places of these self same ancestors. Web sites such as the Finlaggan Trust’s Islay Genealogy Database are proving a gateway for this type of initial investigation of their Scottish roots.

Eco tour boat out of Oban passing Kerrera

Opportunities for businesses to interact with Scotland ’s first National Park exist on the Cowal peninsula with the Argyll Forest being the western end of the park. Dunoon, while not in the park itself, is developing into a natural gateway into this area of the park.
One major annual event which is beginning to take advantage of this association with the National Park is the Cowal Walking and Arts Festival, now in its second year. Many of the walks are within the Park area and are also led by Park Rangers. Details of all the walks for the festival can be found on their web site. (See right hand panel)

Whale and Dolphin tours