Highlands and Islands tourism statistics

Highlands and Islands tourism:
  • accounts for a sizeable eight per cent chunk of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
  • generates 24,000 jobs across a wide range of businesses
  • in Skye and Lochalsh and Lochaber employs more than 20 per cent of the workforce
  • is dominated by small firms, with 62 per cent of tourism businesses employing less than 25 people
  • most popular visitor attraction in 2004 was the Aros Experience in Portree which attracted 262,210 visitors
  • Eilean Donan Castle and Visitor Centre, Kyle of Lochalsh and Urquhart Castle were the next most popular visitor attractions, attracting more than half a million visitors between them in 2004
  • UK visitors in 2001- 2003 took approximately 3.9 million trips and spent approximately £838 million each year
  • overseas visitors took approximately 400,000 trips in 2003 and spent approximately £112 million
Get a regional breakdown for :

The Highlands |  Orkney |  Shetland |  Outer Hebrides |  Ayrshire and Arran |  Argyll, Loch Lomond, Forth Valley |  elsewhere in Scotland