Scottish tourism statistics

Scottish tourism:
  • hosts over 16 million overnight trips each year
  • 83 per cent of visitors to Scotland are UK-based and account for over 13 million trips
  • overseas visitors spend an estimated £1.4 billion on during their Scottish holiday breaks
  • overseas tourism accounts for 17 per cent of tourism trips to Scotland
  • key target markets for tourism, within the UK, are Scotland, the North of England and the South of England
  • outwith the UK, the main markets are the United States of America, Germany and France
  • the USA is our biggest single overseas market, accounting for 25 per cent of the overseas trips
  • European countries in total account for almost half of overseas trips to Scotland
  • 58 per cent of overseas trips are taken between April and September
  • 87 per cent of overseas visitors who come to Scotland arrive in the UK by air and 62 per cent of UK visitors come by car
  • overseas tourists stay an average of 9.7 nights, Scottish tourists an average of 3.0 nights and English tourists an average of 4.1 nights
  • average spend per night is £55 for overseas tourists and £65 for English tourists
  • the most popular destinations, for both overseas and UK tourists, are the Highlands, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
  • visiting castles, monuments and churches etc is the most popular activity undertaken by both overseas and UK tourists
  • a total of 45 million visits are made to Scottish visitor attractions each year
About VisitScotland:
  • employs over 1,000 people and has 15 Network offices from London to Lerwick
  • For every £1 VisitScotland spends on promotion £14.50 is generated in return on behalf of Scotland’s tourism industry.