Visit Scotland has found that the travellers in their teens and 20s are taking more mini-breaks to see sights such as Dunnottar Castle in Aberdeenshire and Glenfinnan Viaduct in Argyll. With this Scotland is fuelling its tourism industry.
The young people, aged 16 to 34, from around the United Kingdom are also spending more cash than ever in Scotland – £821m last year, up from £663m the year before, a rise of 24%.
Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said that the generation is one of the largest in history and represents an important market. The tourist agency’s research found that young people want “bragger’s rights” – being the first in their peer group to visit unusual destinations but don’t always want to splash out on a foreign holiday.
A big draw for the selfie generation are Scottish locations that have appeared in Hollywood films and in TV series, making them “braggable” on social media. Glenfinnan Viaduct features in Harry Potter, Dunnottar Castle was the inspiration for Brave, Skye has been a location for Star Wars and Prometheus, and Outlander is filmed throughout the country. Scotland is now a destination of choice for young people who live in the UK and whose salaries often struggle to keep up with their desire for new experiences. Katie Johnson, director of Rockin Vans, a Scottish campervan company, said that the young people want to spend money on experiences rather than things now and that’s had a big effect on our business. Our customers are not interested in designer clothes and handbags. They want to travel.
The number of trips to Scotland taken by young people from the rest of the UK has risen by 7% in a year, from 2.8 million in 2016 to more than 3 million last year – one quarter of total UK visitors. The total spent last year by domestic visitors was just over £3 billion, meaning young people account for 27% of the tourist spend.
Over the next 10 years that boom will create around 15,000 new jobs, according to Lawrence Durden, who has been Skills Development Scotland’s tourism industry manager for six years.
Tags: Harry Potter, Scotland, VisitScotland
