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Homecoming 2014 generated £136 million of additional revenue to the Scottish economy and encouraged more than 326,000 visitors from outside of Scotland to travel to the country, it was revealed today (Wednesday 15 July 2015).
The independent research, commissioned by VisitScotland, was presented by Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing on a visit to Glasgow, a city that played a key part in the success of the year.
The key findings in the comprehensive study from Glasgow Caledonian University’s Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism Business Development include:
• 326,000 visitors from outside the country who cited Homecoming as the primary reason for traveling to Scotland in 2014
• £94 million net additional expenditure by visitors
• 4.6 million attendances at more than 1000 Homecoming 2014 events
• 1,336 net full time equivalent (FTE) jobs generated by visits associated with Homecoming 2014
The figures show how events such as Bannockburn Live, the John Muir Festival (including ‘Home’ at the Kelpies), Harris Tweed Hebrides Tattoo, Forth Bridges Festival and Highland Homecoming ensured the second year of Homecoming extended the benefits brought to Scotland alongside the Ryder Cup and the Commonwealth Games.
The diverse range of sell-out events and exceptional audience attendance figures across the country, combined with extensive global marketing campaigns by VisitScotland, guaranteed that the spotlight truly shone on Scotland during 2014.
Further successful indicators from the Year of Homecoming include:
• 1049 Homecoming events throughout Scotland – more than double the initial target of 400
• Homecoming-themed events in every Local Authority area in Scotland
• A significant impact on tourism – the highest ever combined spend by domestic and overseas visitors in a decade and an increase in visits both from domestic and international visitors
• Funding for 137 events throughout Scotland during 2014
• 83% awareness of Homecoming 2014 throughout Scottish households
• 93% awareness of Homecoming 2014 across tourism businesses
• Homecoming TV advert viewed by more than 5.5 million people in Scotland and North of England
Homecoming 2014 sought to motivate ancestral Scots, the people of Scotland and all those with an affinity to Scotland to visit the country and engage in five distinct themes associated with the country: ancestry, creative, active, natural, food and drink. The first Homecoming was held in 2009.
Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing said: “Scotland welcomed the world in 2014 and this report shows the substantial impact that Homecoming 2014 had on the Scottish economy.
“The Homecoming celebrations were used to showcase Scotland on the international stage as a dynamic and creative nation. This was achieved through a year-long programme of over 1000 events designed to welcome visitors from around the world in a celebration of the very best of Scotland’s food and drink, our assets as a country of natural beauty as well as our rich creativity and cultural heritage. I am pleased it had something for everyone with events taking place in every Local Authority across Scotland.
“The Scottish Government aims to continue building on this legacy, through a second series of themed years that spotlights some of Scotland’s greatest assets.”
Mike Cantlay, Chairman of VisitScotland said: “2014 was quite simply an incredible year. Not only did we host some of the world’s greatest sporting events – the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup – we did the best thing a country can ever do, we celebrated ourselves! From culture to food and drink, nature to ancestry, more than 1000 events across the country showed the world just how incredible Scotland is – and visitors from home and abroad flocked to see us.
“Of course, the real success story of 2014 was the Scottish people – they welcomed the world with a friendly smile ensuring that everyone who visited became an ambassador for the country. Thank you to every single person who made Homecoming 2014 the outstanding triumph it was.”
Ian Ross, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Chairman, said: “In total, 40,000 people attended our first John Muir Festival, honouring the still influential conservationist from Scotland – and it was a great fit with the Year of Homecoming. Being part of the 2014 celebrations allowed us to reach even more people from home and abroad.
“Homecoming 2014 also helped with everything from our big launch celebration in Dunbar with thousands attending, to smaller community events such as group cycle rides, fun runs, and school nature visits. It helped us let both locals and visitors know about the new John Muir Way, which is a wonderful way for all of us to enjoy and benefit from Scotland’s beautiful countryside.”
To view the report, go to http://www.visitscotland.org/pdf/EconomicEvaluationHomecomingScotland2014.pdf
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Food and Drink 2015- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/tastescotland
