Political Comparison Made Easy

DEVELOPING TOURISM

The tourism industry is vital to Scotland's economy and visitor spend is currently around £4.1 billion a year. It provides employment for roughly 210,000 people, spread all over Scotland.

A growth ambition was set by the industry and the Labour/Lib Dem Scottish Executive in 2005 to grow the revenue from Scottish tourism by 50 per cent over ten years. We are now past the halfway point, with zero growth.

If Scotland is going to remain a major player, we believe that it has to compete on quality, not price. That means getting skills right, getting investment into the industry and getting a year-round strategy.

We need a highly trained and skilled workforce. We have to get everything right, from the welcome to the general standard of customer care. Tourism training in Scotland currently involves over 400 courses provided by 40 different institutions. We will establish a private sector group to deliver a wholesale rationalisation, creating a smaller number of industry-approved courses provided by fewer providers. The system must become demand-led so that we tackle the mismatch that exists between the skills required by employers and the skills offered by applicants.

Investment is needed to improve the fabric of the industry, yet many tourism businesses are struggling to raise finance at the moment. So we will investigate the viability of a Scottish Tourism Investment Bank, based on the Austrian model.

We will lead development of a "Year-Round Tourism Strategy". This will help ensure that tourism businesses make a continuous contribution to their local economies and will make employment in the industry more stable and rewarding, which will in turn raise the calibre of entrants and encourage the retention and development of staff.

We will retain the number of Tourist Information Centres (TICs), although encourage premises-sharing with other organisations. We will ensure all TICs provide Scotland-wide information to encourage tourists to travel throughout Scotland.

To encourage more visitors to come to Scotland, we will aim to establish an EU compliant successor to the Air Route Development Fund.

Historic Scotland manages many sites that are in an enviable position for encouraging visitors to take advantage of a whole host of tourism opportunities across Scotland. We will place a formal obligation on Historic Scotland to promote tourism across Scotland.

Please see page 12 of the Scottish Conservative Party manifesto for this policy.

Please also see the Scottish Conservative Party spending plans and the Scottish Conservative Party summary budget which relate to their manifesto.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 09/04/11 (9:05pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

This party spreads its Tourism policies through its 2011 manifesto in multiple sections. We will try to compile these soon. In the meantime, please see the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party manifesto or the party's website.

Retrieved on 18/04/11 (3:17am) from: http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/

Tourism

We are determined to maximize tourist growth and draw new visitors to Scotland. Tourism promotion will feature heavily in our "All Scotland" approach to overseas engagement, bringing together important strands including culture, outdoor activities and food and drink. We want to build on the success of Homecoming 2009 and as we approach the second year of Homecoming in 2014 we will deliver a series of themed years specifically drawing visitors to Scotland to participate in our culture, experience our outdoors and enjoy the celebrations in 2014, the year in which the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup will put Scotland centre stage in world sporting terms.

We will further develop ancestral tourism, with a particular focus on family history. Scotland already leads the world in the services we offer to family historians and we will look to build on these foundations to draw even more ancestral Scots to our shores. And we will also put renewed effort into promoting cultural tourism. We will work with some of Scotland's leading artists as part of a wider initiative to promote Scottish culture abroad; we want these cultural ambassadors to be part of our Big Invitation to the world to visit Scotland. And when tourists come, we will make sure they are aware of the wealth of cultural activity at both a national and local level. Scotland also has huge potential in the growing eco and activity tourism markets and we will continue our support for the expansion of these important sectors.

Please see page 37 of the Scottish National Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 16/04/11 (4:46pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

CTP has extracted statements on this issue from two parts of the manifesto. Page details below.

Backing local business

Too many of Scotland's town centres have become ghost towns with boarded up shops and unused offices and workspaces attracting vandalism and undermining the spirit of the community. The Scottish Green Party believes that there is an opportunity to re-energise these once vital community spaces, creating new jobs and strengthening our communities.

We believe there is an opportunity to work with local authorities and commercial property owners to bring local markets selling locally grown produce to our town centres once again.

There is a wealth of entrepreneurialism in our communities and with support this energy can be harnessed to bring life to a new generation of small businesses. Our town centres will need more than just new retail operations to bring about this renaissance, and we must ensure that businesses from many different sectors can find homes.

By working with local authorities and businesses large and small, and by harnessing communication technologies, empty office space in our town centres can be transformed into the seeds of a nationwide network of community work hubs. Having more people working locally would relieve pressures on our transport infrastructure, have a positive impact on carbon emissions and bring life back to our local communities. The emphasis for tourism promotion should be on domestic visitors and sustainable travel rather than international promotion.

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Marine Act

Our seas are vital to biodiversity, not just to our economy, and we support the full implementation of the Marine Act with appropriate resources to achieve this.

We'll designate Scottish waters as a whale and dolphin sanctuary to support Scotland's ecotourism industry, end the legal shooting of seals, block ship-to-ship oil transfers, and work internationally to end whaling globally.

We will also work towards 100 per cent of Scotland's fisheries being certified sustainable with the Marine Stewardship Council blue tick. The long-term future of the fishing industry depends on conservation and better regulation of aquaculture and industrial fisheries. We will also end the dumping of waste at sea.

Please see pages 7 and 15 of the Scottish Green Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 04/05/11 (11:37pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Tourism

Tourism is both a cornerstone of Scotland's economy and a huge opportunity for growth and development in Scotland's future. We must not allow tough economic times to halt the pace of progress.

Scottish Labour will therefore boost the voice of the tourism industry. To do this, we will reduce the duplication between Scottish Enterprise and Visit Scotland, making Visit Scotland the lead organisation on tourism development. We also need to ensure the tourism sector uses the resources that are available to it to best effect and this will include improving the functionality of the visitscotland.com website, so that it can take bookings.

Many visitors to Scotland come for big events, like the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, but do not always take advantage of the opportunities to see more of Scotland whilst they are here. That is why VisitScotland and EventScotland will be tasked with delivering a 'See More of Scotland' campaign for event visitors.

To encourage growth in the sector, we will ensure that our cultural strategies - particularly those designed to promote Scotland's galleries and museums - are fully integrated into transport and tourism strategies.

Please see page 15 of the Scottish Labour Party manifesto for this policy.

Please see this SCREEN GRAB of the previous version of this policy from the party website.

Retrieved on 12/04/11 (2:19pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto