Scottish Tourism a Powerhouse for Job Creation

A report commissioned by VisitBritain has found that since 2010 tourism has been the fastest growing sector in the UK in employment terms, responsible for one-third of the net increase in UK jobs between 2010 and 2012. Recent employment growth in the sector has been ‘stellar’ over this period says the report – more than four times the rate of manufacturing.

The report forecasts that Scotland’s tourism economy will be worth around £11.6 billion this year (2013), equivalent to 10.3% of the Scotland’s GDP. It supports over 292,000 jobs, which is 10.9% of all Scotland’s jobs. The sector is predicted to grow 53.4%in real terms through to 2025 – much faster than sectors such as manufacturing, construction and retail.

Scotland could have a tourism industry worth over £23.1 billion by 2025 – 11.5% of Scotland’s GDP and supporting almost 350,000 jobs, which is 12.6% of the total Scotland number. Those jobs would be distributed right across Scotland, for while urban areas such as Glasgow or Edinburgh have the highest number of jobs in tourism, the relative level of tourism-related jobs tends to be higher in our rural areas. During this period of job creation, productivity in the tourism sector is also expected to increase by 2% per annum.

Tourism’s impact is amplified through the economy, so benefits are much wider than just the direct spending of tourists. Deloitte estimates the tourism GVA multiplier to be 2.2, meaning that for every £1000 generated in direct tourism GVA there is a further £1200 that is secured elsewhere in the economy through the supply chain.¹

Inbound tourism across UK and Scotland

UK Inbound tourism will continue to be the fastest growing tourism sector, with spend by international visitors forecast to grow by over 6% a year. The value of inbound tourism is forecast to grow from around over £21bn in 2013 to £57bn by 2025, with the UK seeing an international tourism balance of payments surplus within a decade – almost forty years since the UK last reported a surplus.

If Britain were to become as successful as its European competitors in the new emerging growth markets for tourism (such as China) it could increase the value of inbound tourism by an additional £12bn by 2025 – an increase to £69bn or over 20% on the base forecast.