Tourism

Globally, tourism is the world’s largest industry in terms of outputs, creating some eight per cent of jobs worldwide and expanding annually at the rate of four to five per cent.

The challenge is to make the best use of our valuable tourism assets in the Highlands and Islands. International research shows that successful tourism businesses and locations are those that demonstrate strong collaboration, shared understanding of consumer needs, strong private sector leadership, effective use of e-business and high levels of innovation and service quality.

Strategic context

Tourism in the Highlands and Islands is undergoing change and so, too, is how the HIE Network supports tourism activity. This evolution in tourism requires HIE to adopt a highly focused, collective approach that clearly reflects the objectives of A Smart, Successful Highlands and HIE's commitment to the new national Tourism Framework for Change.

To achieve these goals, the HIE-wide strategy on tourism sets out three over-arching priorities, namely:

• Business Leadership and Productivity

• World Class Destination Development

• Internationalisation

Today, tourism in the Highlands and Islands can no longer compete on cost. By concentrating efforts in high quality, high value visitor experiences, we can - working together - ensure tourism in the Highlands and Islands continues to prosper and flourish in a global tourism marketplace.