myth peth i ymlaen o'r fitnig. That ends a statement from Deputy First Minister on the Smith commission. We move to the next item of business, which is the debate on motion number 11576 in the name of Fergus Ewing on tourism, a legacy from 2014. I'll give a few moments for the front bench members I wish to speak in this debate to press the request to speak buttons now please. I call on Fergus Ewing to speak to and to move the motion. Minister, 13 minutes or so. Presiding Officer, I've got a feeling in my bones that we're going to have a good debate this afternoon because we are reaching the end of what has been an incredible year for Scotland, has it not? I think that Scotland has been on the world stage as perhaps we have never before been in our history. I knew that 2014 was going to be an exceptional year when Lonely Planet named Scotland as the third best country in the world to visit. Now you're wondering or some of you may be wondering what were the first two. Well, they were Brazil and Antarctica, not our most immediate competitors, Presiding Officer, but there is a theme here and some logic to it about these destinations and the ranking, because if you think about it, Brazil is hot and Antarctica is cold, but Scotland is cool. Boom, boom, Presiding Officer. Of course, during this year, we have seen a series of momentous major events being run and these, of course, were led by the Commonwealth Games. Some have brought Commonwealth Games where our athletes achieved world record breaking success and 690,000 visitors attended the events during Glasgow 214 and Festival 214, spending £282 million. I'm delighted that Scott Taylor from Glasgow City Marketing Bureau can join us today. He's involved in the engine room of much of that sort of work. We also saw in the last day of play in the Ryder Cup, Sky Sports Golf Analyst, Booch Harman, said that the Ryder Cup in 214 in Glenegos was, and I quote, by far the best-organised Ryder Cup ever. Our year of homecoming in 214 offered a year-long programme to welcome visitors to Scotland and over 1,000 events across every part of Scotland. We had over 1 million people attending 55 funded events between January and September. Of course, those successes don't happen by accident. Those successes, and especially the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup, were successes because of the enormous effort made by huge numbers of people in the public service, Visit Scotland, Events Scotland, Police, Transport Scotland. It was as a result of their efforts and those of volunteers, 12,000 in the Commonwealth Games and 1,800 in the Ryder Cup, that those events were a great success. I'd like to thank every single one of those individuals, some of whom made a quite extraordinary personal effort and commitment to make sure that Scotland was on the world stage and welcomed everybody to our country. I'm really proud that there are so many people in Scotland that made this year so special. Of course, business tourism also plays a major part in the success of our tourism and the ability to use those events and visitors to act as a shop window shows that we have a great deal to offer for business tourism as well. We set up the conference bid fund in 2012. It provides match funding to attract major conferences to Scotland. It was set up because, hither 2, we were losing out to other locations throughout the world who were able to make payment of subventions, or as they might say in Glasgow, bungs, because we were losing out to those cities that were able to make financial adjustments to attract conferences. We set up the fund in brief. By the end of October this year, after two years in operation, the conference bid fund had helped to secure 72 conferences, 84,000 delegates and an estimated gross delegate spend of £143 million. There are 40 decisions pending on conferences supported by the bid fund. Not all of those will come to fruition, but based on the success rate that we have had at an investment of public money of £2 million, we would expect to deliver an estimated spend from all of the delegates that visit Scotland of £200 million by 2024. That, together with the local authority 50 per cent contribution, means that the return on that investment to the public purse is an eye-watering 50 to £1, £50 spend for £1 investment. That is quite a startling success story, is it not? Jenny Marra, I wonder if he can furnish the chamber with any detail about how that investment was spread across the cities and regions of this country to make sure that that dividend was shown in all our economies across all cities and regions and not just in the central belt. I am very happy to do that, and indeed I will place in spice after this debate the whole list of the conferences subject to confidentiality, but I do not think that there is any reason why we cannot do that. In particular, I know that Ms Marra will be interested in Dundee. I was able to speak to a business tourism conference earlier today to give an example of a conference that has been won by Dundee in order to attract 600 delegates of experts in the addiction field, an effort that was led by Dr Alex Baldicino, someone with whom I worked when I was progressing the drug strategy, and they beat off in securing for Dundee and Angus next year, 600 delegates, anormous amount of spend, and they beat off other venues such as Cancun and I think Seoul or Beijing. Dundee and Angus are absolutely succeeding, and we want the fund to be further employed all throughout the country, although Glasgow and Edinburgh are taking the lead. Because of the success of the bid fund, I am delighted to announce today that we have secured funding for a new conference bid fund for 15-16, ensuring that that support will continue to be available. I can therefore announce that a further £1 million of new money will be available to provide match funding to attract major conferences in Scotland. The benefit from the existing spend is already being felt because we have around 20 conferences this year and 20 next year that we would not have secured were it not for the bid fund. In other words, that dividend takes us out to 2024, and the whole business tourism world of meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, the mice market, is extremely important to Scotland. I pay tribute to Neil Brownlee and his team who lead the business tourism unit in Visit Scotland and do a good job. I know that many members have a close understanding of those things. However, yesterday's trophies now lie on the mantel piece at the risk of dust gathering, so we have to look forward to tomorrow, Presiding Officer, and we have to replicate the success in 214 and look at other ways to ensure that Scotland will be on the world stage. I think that Mr MacGregor has not said anything, but I think that he wants to intervene. Jeremy MacGregor, thank you. I thank the minister very much for taking intervention. I agree with him that 2014 has been a wonderful year for Scottish tourism. In our guile, many of the hotels and businesses have been badly affected by the persistent closures on the A83, which is a gateway route for the West Highlands, due to landslides. I hope that there will be barnic consequentials for the £15 billion for roads that are announced by the UK Government. In the light of that, could some money be spent to find a good solution for the A83, which would be a big boost for tourism in that area?  Obviously, we do recognise, first of all, the problem with the rest and be thankful. It is an extremely serious issue for those in the area. I am sure that the transport minister will, in the event that there are barnic consequentials in transport, study this and competing applications very closely. As Mr MacGregor knows, I very recently had a very pleasant evening and a hotel in Oban, while others were lapping it up in the Politician of the Year award. I was out there earning an honest crust, Presiding Officer, and enjoyed the hospitality in Oban and a visit to other parts of our guile. The success of the themed years that we have had thus far has encouraged us to set a further programme announced with the First Minister on 10 September. 2015 will be our second year of food and drink, and we will promote our quality produce. The statistics show that the last year of food and drink generated as a whole in Scotland in 212 nearly £14 billion. That 21 per cent increase was the largest turnover of all of the gross sectors. Two thirds of visitors to Scotland say that the quality of food and drink is a key part of their decision to come back to Scotland. How different it is, Presiding Officer, when I was a young man and you were still at school and we were enjoying inferior food and it would be impossible to get a good meal, now of course, when was the last time that we had a bad meal in Scotland? The quality of our food has improved immeasurably, and whilst there is still more to go, we see the rising standards through young people taking interest in cooking, boys and girls, and the quality improving. The year of food and drink is a great... Yes, of course, I'll give way a bit of information. I thank Mr Ewing for giving way. I mean, would you join me in expressing some disappointment that some hotel chains and pub chains are not very good at promoting Scottish beer? Absolutely. Without any equivocation, I will endorse that, and I'm glad that he's made that point. Of course, we will continue with the same years. 2016 will be the year of innovation, architecture and design to 17 history, heritage and archaeology, with a particular focus on ancestral tourism in 2018, the year of the young people. We have set these years in advance because we need a long leading time, especially for the American market, and to take full advantage of the hooks that these theme years provide. There are also more major events on the way in 2015. We see the gymnastics world championships, orienteering world championships, swimming, judo-european and FEI European Inventing championships. In golf, the open returns to St Andrews. The RICO Women's 215 British Open will be played at Turnbury, and we have recently confirmed the continuation of the Scottish Open until 2020. The Scotland's golf courses, of which there are, I think, nearly 600, offer a tremendous attraction to the world as a home of golf and everywhere I have gone in the world, people talk fondly of the greens of St Andrews and elsewhere. Of course, tourism gains from events, and it gains in many other ways. For example, marine tourism and cruise lining. The Scottish Government is working with Cruise Scotland to visit Scotland to continue to grow the cruise sector, for example in 210. Yes, I will, from Duncan McNeill. We shared a very pleasant visit to the Gateway to Scotland in Inverclyde, where we now have many cruise liners. I hope that we can promote that in many ways. Certainly, we can steal some of the cruise ships from Ireland, and I hope that we are able to do that. I certainly link in with all of these events to ensure that the cruise is no longer in advance and that its passengers can participate in some of these events in making Scotland a greater attraction. Other than a slight ministerial trevor at endorsing theft officially on behalf of the Scottish Government, I would entirely endorse Mr McNeill's comments. I remember that Mr McMillian also joined us on that day. What struck me about the success of Greenock was the tremendous cadre of goodwill of the volunteers that day. They were absolutely terrific. I was bowled over by their enthusiasm and commitment to give so much of their time. The vessels in 210 were 369 up to 450 this year—that is the cruise liners, Presiding Officer—and visitors 268 to 387,000 reported. In fact, I understand that the cruise liner at Disney Magic was calling at Kirkwall on 8 July 2015 with around 2,700 passengers, including 950 of cast and crew from Disney, to accommodate the interest in the Disney Pixar movie Brave. Disney is coming to Scotland. Perhaps Mickey Mouse himself may make an appearance in Scotland—one that never knows, Presiding Officer—but the benefit of Brave is being felt at the parts where other characters do not reach, namely, Orkney. There is a serious point about passport checks. That was raised in the convention of the Highlands and Islands in October 2012. Despite five requests to meet UK ministers to discuss the issue, I have not yet been successful. However, the chief executive guy Platon of the UK Chamber of Shipping commented to us around the Greenock visit as follows. He said that cruise ships are high-value business and everywhere else in Europe they are welcome. The UK is alone in treating ships as suspicious and placing obstacles in their way. The Scottish ports have done a fantastic job of attracting cruise ships, but this is a fiercely competitive market and for Scotland to compete on equal footing with destinations overseas. The Home Office needs to stop actively deterring ships from coming. Those are the words of the UK Chamber of Shipping chief executive officer. I really do hope that politics aside that progress can be made of this because I do fear that it may be impeding the furthest excess of the cruise sector. We welcome, of course, the imminent arrival of responsibility for air passenger duty. This, of course, will give us an opportunity in Scotland to end what has been a burden that, from 2007, has resulted in £210 million less per annum spent in tourism and £1.2 million fewer visitors. I hope that there will be a consensus that this is a matter that we should tackle. No doubt we will hear more about that during the debate. The sector employs 211,000 people, 9 per cent of all jobs, and we work very closely with Scottish Tourism Alliance, who are represented here today with, I believe, Stephen Leckie and Mark Crowthill and Judy Ray here today and working at the Conference of Business Tourism this morning. We have never had closer or better relations with the tourism sector and we have never had stronger and more effective leadership. I wanted to say a bit about Caravan parks, Presiding Officer. Last Thursday I attended the British Homes and Holiday Parks Association annual conference, and at that conference research was announced brand new research, which said this. In the 12 months leading to October this year, visitors to Scottish holiday parks spent a total of £700 million in the Scottish economy, supporting nearly 13,000 full-time jobs. I think in mentioning this, I do so because I think perhaps there is a risk that the Caravan parks, the holiday homes sector, has not really received the credit it deserves, Presiding Officer, so I hope to put that right. I think that I am perhaps, even with reimbursement, running out of time, and therefore I will not read the seven or eight other pages that I have got in front of me. I will keep them for later, so please do cope with the suspense manfully. If I may conclude by saying that it has been a year where Scotland welcomed the world and, as Shona Robison put it, she said, 2014 was a year to remember, 2015 will be a year to succeed. Thank you. I now call on Jenny Marra around nine minutes or so please. Thank you very much Presiding Officer. Can I start, I think, what is going to be a very consensual debate this afternoon by agreeing with the minister about the success in 2014 and 2015 is very much a year we should start building and using this year as a successful springboard. In many ways we have proven to ourselves this year exactly the heights and the type of events that Scotland can host and host extremely well and there is no reason why we cannot have a bold and ambitious agenda for the future. I will also start by welcoming the bid fund for conferences. I think that public investment is very welcome. I also asked the minister in his response to my intervention. He said that he would publish the list of conferences in Spice. I think that that would be very welcome. It would also be of very much interest to me, and I am sure that colleagues across the chamber if he would also publish where the previous fund was spent, where that investment went. We can check that the dividends are being felt in communities right across this country. Presiding Officer, I am especially pleased to be opening this debate in this week because it is the week that my home city of Dundee was given the stupendous and incredible news just this week that has been awarded its title as a UNESCO city of design. Dundee is one of only 12 cities globally to hold this city of design title, and it is the first city in the United Kingdom to be awarded this title. This new status rewards the people of Dundee who have worked tirelessly across a number of sectors to pioneer design. Through biomedical research, the discovery of the P53 cancer suppressor gene, a design in itself, a growing video games industry, creative technologies and the cherished institutions in many ways that sparked creativity that are the Bino and the Dandy. Recognition of the creative excellence of Dundee is so valuable because it enforces its potential as a city of investment and because it gives confidence to those endeavouring to advance design within our city and it puts our city on the map for tourists within Scotland and outside of Scotland. Reflecting on how the tourism legacy of 2014 has otherwise impacted Dundee, I look to the development, the continued development of the Victoria and Albert museum, which I know the minister supports, which will be a great contribution to Scotland's artistic and digital and design attractions, pooling in visitors, I think, from international locations and solidifying our city's name as a place to visit. Those achievements and this growing sector highlights the importance, I think, of tourism to our country. Not only does tourism allow us to connect with wider communities, it gives us the chance to reflect on what makes our cities, towns, villages and countryside so great. We are never in a more privileged position than when we have to reflect on our home communities when we are showing round visitors, international and visitors from other parts of the United Kingdom, telling them what is great and worth visiting about our towns and cities, telling them where to go and shop, telling them where to eat, telling them where they should go and enjoy themselves. Across Scotland, 2014 saw sports tourism dramatically increased by the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup to magnificent successes. Glasgow 2014 has been hailed as the standout games in the history of the movement by Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper. My colleague Patricia Ferguson will expand on the games, but areas across the country benefited from the Commonwealth Games, with shooting events taking place at Barry, Budden military base in Carnustine to the diving at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh and the triathlon at Strathclyde country park in Lanarkshire. It also helped to enrich the wider tourism sector, with a Glasgow 2014 survey suggesting that one in 10 spectators intended to combine visiting the games with a longer trip to other parts of Scotland. The minister rehearsed the figures from the Ryder Cup, which were impressive 45,000 spectators from 75 countries attending, with more than a quarter of a million visitors over the course of the week. Arts and cultural tourism were successful across Scotland in 2014, with another outstanding Edinburgh International and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Glasgow hosted the 20th MTV Europe Music Awards, which were expected to boost the city's economy by up to £10 million. Of course, this weekend it will host the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. I am sure that the minister will not mind me saying that this is an added boost of remaining part of the United Kingdom. Of course, none of those great successes in tourism during 2014 could have been achieved without a sound infrastructure serving tourists from within and without Scotland, but I do think that the minister would agree with me that we still have to improve that infrastructure. We had a debate just a few weeks ago in this chamber about our infrastructure allowing equality of access to Scotland's tourist attractions. I think that there was widespread agreement that we still need to make great leaps in that area. That not only means providing the right facilities for disabled people, but it could mean capitalising on the energy of the Ryder Cup by improving facilities for schoolchildren to learn and play golf and expand opportunities to all of our communities. On traditional infrastructure, the upgrade and dualling of the A9 will have a massive impact on travel tourism for Perthshire and beyond into the Highlands. Perhaps the imperative is road safety, but, nevertheless, we will open up the gateway into the Highlands and boost that economy. From a climate change and integrated transport perspective, I think that the minister needs to join up, if he is not already doing so, with the transport minister on making sure that rail pricing is fair, equitable and as cheap as possible under the new franchise. The minister will remember that I ran a campaign on rail prices on the intercity route. We discovered that, last year, the price of a peak ticket return from Dundee to Glasgow was £50.50. I am sure that the minister would agree with me that that kind of pricing does not boost the tourism sector. Thankfully, the First Minister, Alex Salmond, at the time, stepped in and reduced the pricing, but there are still anomalies across the country. We need to make sure that visitors are able to get around this country at a fair and reasonable price, not a price that is half the price of a hotel room. That brings me on to the pricing of accommodation. Mid-range holiday accommodation for those earning a middle income is especially important to look at. At a meeting that I had with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, they pointed out to me that, although the high-end or more expensive accommodation sector in the Highlands is very successful, there is perhaps a lack of mid-ranged priced accommodation. We touched on the issue in the equality tourism debate. We must make sure that our tourism sector is available to such international visitors, but those people in our country looking for a holiday that will enhance their family life and their own quality of life, but that is affordable. I think that there is perhaps a lack of this mid-range accommodation in Scotland. The Lonely Planet tour guide reviews. It says that accommodation in Scotland is pricey and more so in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen than the rest of the country. The only real bargains are the many excellent museums and galleries that you can visit for free. Not only does mid-range accommodation provide a greater pool to a wider spectrum of visitors, it is also more likely to contribute back into tourism in Scotland. I welcome the debate today. Labour is happy to support the Government's motion. We look forward to building on the success of 2014 with infrastructure, a spread of different budget accommodation and a focus on equality to grow our tourism sector even further in the future. I can give you around seven minutes or so. I welcome the debate from the Scottish Government on the successes achieved for tourism in Scotland in 2014. As is the first debate, the minister has led since the reshuffle. I congratulate him on retaining his role in government, keeping his head while it's all about where we're losing theirs. I like to think that it was the kind words of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee what done it. I agree with nearly all of what he had to say that this has been a great year for Scotland. Throughout the years, we've heard that there were a series of events to showcase Scotland to the world. We had the Europhone coming 2014, we had Bannock Burn Live, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and an endowed success with a large world audience. Perhaps the most successful of all was the Ryder Cup at Glen Eagle's in September, when we were able to conjure up some fine Scottish weather to highlight the pressure setting. I know from local traders that a large number of visitors from the USA and Europe extended their stay either side of the Ryder Cup weekend to visit the local area and spend some money. Some took advantages of the opportunity to play on the excellent golf courses in the vicinity and further afield. Of course, the legacy from seeing the Scenes of Scotland broadcaster in the world is one that we can build on in the future. We also had the referendum in September. Anecdotally, I heard from many tourist operators that they saw a fall in visitors from the rest of the UK immediately prior to the referendum. Perhaps people concerned about the political climate, but immediately after the no-vote visitor numbers quickly bounced back. The National Tourist Agency visits Scotland often comes in for more than its fair share of criticism in this chamber and elsewhere, but I would have to give credit where it is due. I think it has done an excellent job this year in highlighting Scotland to the world tonight. Don't just say that because the chair, Dr Mike Cantley, is sitting in the gallery. However, there still remain challenges in the tourist sector. Perhaps the greatest challenge is the one of skills. There is still a perception that much work in the tourist sector, particularly in hospitality, is low-paid, low-skilled and seasonal. When we visit many other countries where tourism is an important part of the economy, we find a different story where careers in tourism are highly prized. That is perhaps the one area where I think that the Scottish Government needs to focus its future efforts. When you travel around Scotland, you visit hotels, restaurants and other establishments, very often the young people serving will be people from Eastern Europe or elsewhere in the Commonwealth. It is very hard to attract many of our young people into careers in the industry. To encourage them in, we need to look at what we can do to improve standards and improve training opportunities. That is an area where industry, colleges and government need to be working closely together. If I was to give one message to the minister from this debate about the future, I think that that is the area that is most important. I am sure that members who are involved in the industry would agree with that. It is not possible to have a debate on tourism in recent years, either in this chamber or in committee or elsewhere, without the issue of air passenger duty being raised. We have heard for years concern expressed from the industry that this is holding back the number of visitors to Scotland by air, although, of course, visitor numbers at the main airports have, in fact, continued to grow. Certainly, the Scottish Government is on record sharing the view that the APD is a problem. The minister has quoted a study by York Aviation, which was produced in October 2012, claiming the figure of £210 million less per annum being spent in Scotland by visitors compared to what would have been the case had APD remained at the same level it was in 2007. Another member to the Government, including the former First Minister, has expressed a similar view. In that, the Scottish Conservatives agree that we have made it absolutely clear that we agree with that. We believe that the rate of APD is holding back the growth of tourism in Scotland. For that reason, we particularly welcome, as all of us in this chamber should, that the Smith commission has recommended that APD will be devolved and that the Treasury has agreed to this. Now that we know that the devolution of APD will happen, we need to move on from discussing whether we should have this power to discussing what we will do with it when we get it. We in this side of the chamber are quite clear that APD needs to be reduced or eliminated as quickly as possible. In the Scottish Government's white paper, it said that in the event of independence, APD would be reduced by 50 per cent in the next Parliament. Of course, the vote wasn't for independence, so that is no longer relevant as the policy. Indeed, had the vote been for independence, that would only have taken place at any point within the next six years. We could have been in a situation where that rate of APD that we currently have applied for another six years despite all its deleterious effects. Today, I am calling on the Scottish Government to set out its plans for APD. If it is as pernicious as the minister has claimed, I assume that the Government will want to set out at a very early stage what its intentions are. I listen carefully to what the minister said earlier in his contribution, but it fell short of any firm commitment. I appreciate that it has not been long since the Smith Commission report, but I think that we need to know as soon as possible—and people in the industry need to know as soon as possible what exactly the Government is proposing and what the timetable for this will be. I know that SNP members during this debate will join me in calling for an early announcement about APD reduction. They have continuously raised the issue over a whole series of previous years, claiming that APD is a huge problem. Now, it is in the Scottish Government's gift. It is up to the Scottish Government to act, and I hope that it will live up to the rhetoric of the previous years. However, let me close simply on a consensual note and agree with the minister. 2014 was a good year for Scotland. We have a springboard to build on for coming years, and I think that we can all be unanimous in support of the Scottish Government's motion today and indeed of the future of this vital industry. Many thanks. We now turn to the open debate. Could I remind members who wish to participate that they should press the request-to-speak buttons? Many thanks. I call Bruce Crawford to be followed by Alex Riley's speeches of around six minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'm very pleased to take part in what I believe is a hugely important debate on tourism today. We'll rightly hear and I have heard a lot of praise in the chamber this afternoon about why 2014 was such a hugely successful and stunning year for Scotland and for our tourism industry in particular. Let me say this. The time of this debate could not be more appropriate, as we are in the middle of the budget process in this Parliament, because I believe that the reality of the challenges facing industry in the future might be about to bite, and potentially bite hard. I'll expand on that later in my contribution this afternoon. Let's first remind ourselves of the sheer scale and value of the Scottish tourism sector in Scotland. 20,000 tourism businesses generating £15 million in overnight stays and £4.6 billion per annum of value to the Scottish economy. An industry directly employing around 211,000 people and accounting for 8.1 per cent of Scotland's total workforce. The success of our tourism industry and its vital role in ensuring a successful Scottish economy cannot therefore be doubted. In terms of exposure on the world stage and domestically during 2014, our tourism product soared to new heights. Of course, we may have to wait a little bit to see what the full year impact was on visitor numbers. The highlights have already been well spoken about, and they are providing successful commonwealth games. Presenting Scotland on the world stage is an incredibly inclusive, friendly and hospitable place to visit. 690,000 games visitors, 220,000 games visitors out with Scotland. In the marvellous sporting spectacle, the Rider Cup with a media backdrop shots from the Galenegals that were truly breathtaking, showcasing our country's fantastic natural beauty. I have heard other figures spoken out this afternoon that my brief tells me that there were 250,000 fans from 96 different countries. On top of that, they have had events like the MTV's Global Awards show which attracted over 700 million households watching that in Glasgow on 9 November. Each event on its own providing a global marketing exposure that we simply cannot buy demonstrating that all is best about our country. In my constituency for a moment of stilling, a signature event of the second homecoming year was Banik Ban Live, an event that surpassed expectations and blew its critics out of the water. 20,000 people attended Banik Ban Live with 10 per cent coming from overseas. There was a real buzz on the day and the event was an enormous success. That was part of a wide-ranging programme of events in Stirling, including National Armed Forces Day, a whisky festival, Stirling Fringe, a paranormal festival and many other locally organised events. One of the real highlights was the amazing pipe fest march through the ancient city that thrilled locals and visitors from all over the globe alike. I know many of my own ISP colleagues and some have done it already, but their own events are to highlight. That has all helped what has ever been going on in Scotland to have a champagne year for Scottish tourism. Yes, a champagne tourism year that truly bubbled with excitement. The challenge now is how to keep this crucial industry fizzing in future because I believe that the challenges that it faces are potentially significant. The minister is right that we need to look for the future. We need to take steps now to ensure that the Scottish tourism industry is on its undoubted success of 2014. It is vital that we are well placed to whether any future economic downturn and squeeze on visitor spending power, particularly given the prevailing economic conditions in the European Union. Therefore, we need to be in a position to increase effort to boost visitor numbers both for the additionally strong markets and new and developing markets. I have four personal challenges that I want to set out in my contribution to this debate. First, to the tourism industry itself. Redouble your efforts to become as efficient and customer-friendly as possible. Look afresh at any potential new capital investments that you are considering and bring them forward now if your balance sheet allows. To look again at your marketing and examine where best you can improve and strengthen your performance. Secondly, to the UK Government, like Murdo Fraser, accelerate the devolution of air passenger duty at this vital time to put the Scottish tourism product at a competitive advantage and enable potential for more direct air routes into Scotland. Thirdly, to the Scottish Government, look again at the budget allocation for Visit Scotland. Examine whether additional financial resources can be found to enable them to increase their marketing capacity and direct Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to focus more on their activity and actions on the tourism sector. We know that we get a fantastic return from the public money that Visit Scotland spends, but now is the time to strike and secure the greatest marketing dividend possible building on that champagne year that was 2014. Fourthly, a challenge to all of my own MSP colleagues to join me on a new cross-party group on tourism that I emailed colleagues about on Friday. Such a group can act as a political focal point for the industry. It is a surprise to me when I looked at it that one does not exist already. The cross-party group joined partners together at a parliamentary level helping to facilitate discussion and recommending action on how best this vital industry can keep its fids and rise to the challenges of the future. Thank you very much. I now call on Alex Rowley to be followed by Joan McAlpine. Presiding Officer, I have also welcomed the debate and would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment that Minister Fergus Ewing puts into driving the tourist industry in Scotland. Certainly when I was a council leader, Fergus Ewing wrote to me and came along to a meeting in Fife, asked for the meeting, came along to the meeting with officials to try and impress on Fife Council the opportunities for business tourism. I was appreciative of the hard work that he does. A report by Deloitte in November 2013 set out that tourism should play a fundamental role in job creation and the economic growth within Scotland over the next decade. That report, Tourism, Jobs and Growth, said that Scotland could grow its tourism by 53.4 per cent by 2025. It also set out that the tourism economy was worth about £11.6 billion in 2013, the equivalent of 10.3 per cent of Scotland's GDP, and that Scotland could have a tourism industry worth 23.1 billion by 2025. I highlight those figures because I think this is an area where I agree with Bruce Crawford more work needs to be done, but it is an area that has grown and there is real opportunity there. I think that really raises a number of questions for me in terms of how we move forward. I certainly am somebody who enjoys holiday in Scotland and spend most of my holidays in the Highlands, and I take up Jenny Marra's point earlier about costs. There are a lot of Scots that would enjoy spending more time in Scotland and seeing what our beautiful country is like. I think that looking at the kidney provision that they are talking to and encouraging those to can invest in different provision so that cost is not a barrier to people to be able to holiday in Scotland. People often say to me, you are mad, you would be cheaper going abroad to the sun. We need to address that. I think also in terms of the Murdo Fraser raised the point but I want to raise it again in terms of what the opportunities are for Scotland from tourism, particularly around jobs, skills and training. We need to look because there is that perception that is there. I remember a couple of years ago speaking to the manager at the old course hotel in St Andrews and talking to him about the opportunities to try and get younger people to be able to see where the industry was going. He was telling me about the real opportunities that are within that industry. I know that Queen Margaret University along with Scottish Enterprise were running a courseway hotels in the Edinburgh area where young people were getting the opportunity, part-time work when still at school and being able to see what that industry was like because it is an industry hard work but there are opportunities there. We need to maximise those opportunities so that people in our communities and communities across Scotland can take the real advantages that come from tourism. That is not to take away. Murdo Fraser raised the point that as you tour around the Highlands and you use different facilities there are a lot of people that come from the rest of Europe and elsewhere and get jobs in Scotland and are hard workers and make a valuable contribution. We need to try and impress that there are opportunities for our people in our schools, etc. We have high levels of youth unemployment and high levels of unemployment that are unacceptable, so we need to take the job. We also need to look at how we plan. It is not just about visiting Scotland although they play an important role. It is also about looking at how we work with local authorities, community planning partners, for example, the city region agenda, because Edinburgh, at certain points in the year, just cannot accommodate the amount of tourists that are there. In terms of the streets, you have Fife, Lothian's East, and all those other tourist destinations. By working together so that in the summer months when Edinburgh is absolutely packed, we can get people and encourage people to get across to Fife to the historic capital, Dumfermline, and to other areas. We spread, if you like, the wealth that is coming into the area rather than being focused on specifically areas such as Edinburgh, which is a massive attraction. I often say that, in terms of Fife, visiting Scotland was fairly critical of over a number of years because they thought Fife was St Andrews or St Andrews was Fife, and my argument was always that St Andrews in many ways can mark it itself, but we have the rest of Fife. Fife's outdoor activities, we have one of the highest visitor attractions for outdoors in the Holy Scotland. The coastal path that takes you right round Fife is something that, if you have not tried, you certainly should. That raises questions again because how do we actually support the growth of the SMEs so that if people are coming to enjoy areas like Fife and elsewhere, how do we support local business so that you can establish more facilities and create more visitors coming to a place and coming back, more importantly, by the experience that they have? So there are major opportunities that could be taken again in terms of supporting the growth of the tourist sector in areas that are not normally perhaps seen as those areas that are most where most tourists would go. Murdo Fraser mentions the air traffic passenger duty and I would agree with him that we need to see the government come forward and say what they're going to do in terms of that power. I would also ask the minister to look at other opportunities. Among constituency there is the port of Recife and we had a ferry running from from Recife into Europe, a passenger ferry and that was not able to be sustained. I would very much welcome and I've raised this in the European and External Affairs Committee I look at all transport links in and out of Scotland and other opportunities, for example, from the port of Recife but in conclusion, Presiding Officer, I see more times up, in conclusion, there is real opportunities here but let's look at how we work in partnership with local authorities to ensure that our communities can take the advantage and everybody's share in the wealth that can come from tourism. Many thanks. I now call Joan McAlpine to be followed by Joan Meese. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome this afternoon's debate on such an important aspect of this Scottish economy and I'm delighted to be taking part in it. 2014, as other members have noted, has indeed been the year that Scotland welcomed the world from our largest city, hosting the most successful Commonwealth Games ever and Glen Eagle's Welcoming the Rider Cup. In addition to that, we've had a fantastic programme of year of homecoming events highlighting the country's great cultural offerings from as far apart as Newton-Stewart to Stromnes. The minister mentioned the plaudits given to our country by the Lonely Planet Guide and the rival to Lonely Planet is, of course, Rough Guide and they matched those plaudits by comparing Glasgow to the carnival capital of the world, Rio de Janeiro. 2014 continues to be a fantastic year, of course, for Scottish tourism and it's particularly important to pay tribute, as others have, to the swathes of volunteers as well as the people of Glasgow who made the Commonwealth Games such a tremendous success and really did Scotland proud. An equally impressive Rider Cup leaves us with absolutely no doubt that Scotland raised the bar in delivering major sporting events. We now have the capacity to deliver and the credibility that comes with success and it means that we can continue to be ambitious and bid for such events in future. We were speaking about the Smith commission earlier today and I think it's appropriate to welcome some of the powers proposed by the Smith commission which are linked to tourism and in particular one that hasn't been mentioned already is an allocation of VAT I would like to have seen a full allocation of VAT but still nevertheless welcome the partial allocation because I think in tourism in particular if we get the benefit of the investment that we make to attract people to this country we can reap that in VAT revenues and the economy, energy and the economy had a very pleasant evidence session in August this year when the Parliament was sitting in August and we took evidence from festivals in Edinburgh which included going out to see some of the performances on offer but in the evidence session afterwards festivals in Edinburgh talked about perhaps increasing revenue by putting additional taxes on hotel rooms which is something that had been looked at in the past and I made the point that if they were able to benefit directly from the money raised through taxes that already come in in response to the festival that would be a far better solution and it's worthwhile pointing out that the Edinburgh festival is like having a commonwealth games every single year in terms of the revenue that it generates and I also welcome the recommendations by the Smith commission to devolve the responsibility for air passenger duty to the Scottish Parliament although it has been a long time coming and still we wait it cannot come quick enough by reducing APD we will be able to incentivise more direct travel both to and from Scotland where at the moment passengers face some of the highest levels of taxation in Europe however notwithstanding that I would encourage development of transport links within Scotland as well as those which bring an increased number of people to Scotland Dumfries and Galloway in my south of Scotland constituency depends greatly on tourism for its income around 5,300 people employed in the sector across Dumfries and Galloway and contributes an estimated 68.000,000 gross value added to the local authority area however it is often said that the area remains something of a hidden gem because of the difficulties in transport links connecting Dumfries and Galloway to other areas of central Scotland at the dualling of the A9 or the east to the border's rail link and hope that our term will eventually come while giving evidence to the Economy, Culture and Tourism Committee in October Malcolm Ruffhead CEO of Visit Scotland agreed with me that Dumfries and Galloway does suffer due to its geographical location in particular the lack of electrified train lines and poor road links can lead it to not attracting the number of visitors that it deserves however notwithstanding that the figures do show that in 2013 Greta Negrine's famous blacksmith shop hosted a staggering 761,000 visitors and Galloway Forest Park attracted over 423,000 visitors the area is a leader in cultural tourism which I have always tried to encourage and spring-fling Scotland's premier arts and craft tourism festival inviting people into artists studios takes place in the whole of Dumfries and Galloway each year in May and includes big name artists and recent graduates and is widely acknowledged as one of the leading events of its kind and as well as cultural tourism I was pleased to be told that by a recent visit to Scottish Enterprise they were looking at developing agri-tourism which has been very successful in other parts of Europe and given our food and drink successes could be a great success in the south-west of Scotland and other areas of Scotland so in conclusion I would like to welcome again this debate and hope that future years tourism in Scotland are as successful as the one now. Many thanks. I call John Mason to be followed by Hans Alam Alec. Thank you, Presiding Officer and I think that there's clearly a huge amount of good news around tourism this year. For us in the east end of Glasgow we have had the Commonwealth Games although I accept that they did go slightly beyond that and I myself was volunteering at the SCCC as a Clyde sider as was Patricia Ferguson who I'm sure we're going to hear from later. Both the official reports of the games and their own experience say that it went extremely well. In fact any complaints I heard tended to be from Glaswegians who were unable to use their usual routes around the SCCC or elsewhere whereas those from further afield seemed entirely positive. In the east end itself we've seen the venues and athletes village directly linked to the games and now available for wider use. I understand the village will start receiving permanent residents in January to use as well as spectator events like Glasgow Rock's basketball in the Emirates arena. Lest directly linked to the games have been infrastructure improvements throughout the Clyde gateway area covering part of both my and Rulligland constituencies. Things like the M74 completion, Delmanach station and the east end regeneration route are the obvious examples and can certainly benefit tourists as well as everyone else but the decontamination of land is a longer term although very expensive and I think currently about halfway through. On Friday I attended the Clyde gateway urban regeneration company's annual meeting and it is good to hear of the Scottish Government and the two councils Glasgow and South Lanarkshire working together on funding all of this and I certainly hope that commitment can continue. Specifically on tourism I would like to see more in the way of hotels and restaurants in the east end of Glasgow. I do believe there is a need in a market for these at least because we have Celtic Park and other sports facilities all of which now attract sizeable numbers of visitors from a wide area. The west and the south of Glasgow have quality hotels and restaurants and I would like to see this developing in the east end too. Another aspect of Glasgow tourism which I feel we have not cracked is camping. This may not be everyone's cup of tea but some of us want a holiday spending less on accommodation Last time I was in Dublin I stayed at an excellent campsite which was served by a regular bus service into the city centre and I believe there is a demand in our cities too for this kind of facility. Having mentioned camping, can I say what a good holiday I had this year on Call and Tyree? I suspect I was meant to be out campaigning and not having a holiday however I did feel reassured when I met John Swinney and his family on the ferry between the two islands. Both islands I have to say are very acceptable campsites although it also has to be said that Call's campsite was extremely quiet. For me this raises the question of whether we could do more to encourage people in Scotland to take holidays in Scotland. I still meet people who have never been north of Perth and never been to an island. At the end of secondary 1 a couple of our school teachers took a group of us on a trip round the Highlands. I still remember one of them repeatedly saying beforehand 10 days of your little lives. Even if it was not the best 10 days it was certainly extremely good. Surely we should be trying to ensure that every youngster has a school trip in Scotland during their time at secondary school. Continuing on the subject of islands the finance committee had an excellent meeting in Arden yesterday. Not surprisingly tourism came up strongly in our workshops with local business leaders, HIE, council and others we met. A few points particularly struck me in my 24 hours in the island and I think they could be relevant for Scotland as a whole. One, the local organisation seemed to be working very well together. For example in the hotel the shower gel was made by local company Arden Armatics. Second, they are deliberately targeting the top end of the market knowing they cannot compete at the cheap and cheerful end. Thirdly they have managed to expand the tourist season to up to about 40 weeks offering cheaper accommodation at this time of year but still making money from food, drink and other sales. Fourthly, most visitors to Arden are from the south and west of Scotland but they see the growth areas as being from overseas and are aiming specifically to target that. Fifthly they are also looking at their areas of weakness for example a lack of marinas as elsewhere clearly yachts are popular on the Clyde in the west coast of Scotland but there are very few places in Arden that are not alongside and yet visitors from yachts spend a considerably higher amount of money than most people. Also yesterday I was struck by a visit Scotland study for European tourism day suggesting that people from different countries find different things attractive about Scotland. For example I see in the herald that Germans enjoy hill walking while the French like our food the Spanish are keen to explore Scotland's cultural landmarks and Italians like the cool climate and most Dutch visitors simply enjoy the atmosphere. I do not think that we want to be too stereotypical when we go down that route and a certain amount of humour is probably needed in there as well but it does show that our cooler damper climate is actually very attractive for Italians and others who find their own summers a bit too hot. Finally food and drink deserves a particular mention as I think Bruce Crawford said that it represents some 18 per cent of our overseas exports coming to Scotland as they get to visit production sites and sample goods near their place of origin. I do personally have to say that drink has tended to be rather dominated by whiskey and I accept that it is extremely important but I personally do not like whiskey. But we do have a very good range of beers and perhaps we should get a little bit more excited about them. On Sunday evening in Arden, I was drinking Arden Blond and in the east end of Glasgow we have the excellent West Micro Brewery. Over here in Parliament and in some hotels we insist on providing wine from elsewhere at our receptions and I think we could do a little bit harder to promote our own products. I think that is both what tourists and other visitors would like. Thank you. Now Colin Hansala Malik to be followed by Chick Brody. Six minutes or thereby please. Thank you very much and good afternoon Presiding Officer. Glass regions have earned a reputation for the people in the world and the Labour Administration has succeeded in putting Glasgow on the world map as a first tourist destination for Scotland led by Councillor Gordon Matheson. Glasgow's hotel sector continues its unprecedented growth driven by major events and conferences, businesses attract to the city. Average hotel occupation in Glasgow for the financial year date April to October is 30 per cent a 4 per cent increase in last years. Hotel occupation in Scotland is strongest in Glasgow. The city is also on power with London as a strong strong in Europe outperforming Amsterdam Barcelona, Copenhagen Hamburg, Paris Prague, Rome and Vienna saying some cities. As a result of this constant growth interest now grows in Glasgow as a safe city. Hotel developers have shown continuous confidence in this in Glasgow which will add more than 800 new hotel rooms in Glasgow's stock in 2015. Hotel occupied during the Commonwealth Games Glasgow hotel has achieved an average occupation of 95.3 per cent reflecting on 11.2 per cent increase on the same period in 2013. Major events in 2014 and thereafter Glasgow has hosted numerous high performance events in 2014 including the best ever Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The BBC Radio once big weekend the largest free ticket music festival in Europe the MTV European Music Awards the opening concert for the Riders Cup and later this month the city will host the BBC sports personality of the year award and the just gymnastics world cup. The global spotlight has been on Glasgow this year and never before we attracted so much a TV audience of more than 2 million people provides an unprecedented opportunity to showcase Glasgow to the world. The Commonwealth Games have cemented a lasting legacy in the shape of a number of high profile major events conferences continues to grow the Glasgow throughout the up to 2001 including events which will take place for example the European Judo Championships the Turner prize the world Irish dancing championships from 2016 to 2021 world pipe and championships European swimming championships just some examples of what Glasgow is attracting. The success of the games has also reaffirmed Glasgow's position as number 8 in the world stop 10 Glasgow is one of the best equipped and most successful conference destinations in Europe with an award winning event Bureau which has claimed the title of the UK's best conference Bureau for the record breaking 8 consecutive years sport city awards Bureau tourists secured by Glasgow city marketing Bureau that GCMB since its in 2005 has been worth more than 1 billion to the city's economy currently led by chief executive Scott Taylor who has done a marvellous job so far more than 2200 domestic and international conferences have been brought to the city over the past 8 years this equates to more than 100,000 conferences spending 3.3 million nights in the city's hotels during that time Glasgow has hosted 435 conferences in the last financial year April 13 2013 to March 2014 delivering 118 million to the local economy to benefit from a tremendous record a record that is quite clearly demonstrates that Glasgow has shown the way to the rest of Scotland and hopefully will continue to do so there are many other examples of conferences that will be attracted to the city for example conferences like the International Bible Study Association they are hoping to have 8500 delegates and it is anticipated that 13 million will impact on the economy other examples like all energy exhibition and conference 7000 delegates expected to come anticipated 4.7 million economic impact European association of international education 4500 delegates and impact of 7.3 million to the city I can go on the list is very very favourable and I already want to say a lasting legacy not at all that we will continue to build on a successful year not at all we intend to continue to build on this and most of all I would like to thank all the various community groups, organisations agencies, local authorities and everybody else who has played a very important role in all of this success story but one needs to recognise the captains that I have already mentioned who have paid a very successful role in this thank you very much and now Colin Chygg Brodie to be followed by Ann-Mic Tagger thank you as I was saying or trying to say to the Presiding Officer in the chamber at the end of his speech last week it was Chekhov who said if you cry forward you must without fail make plane in what direction you wish to go this of course supplies to most everything but especially to that key sector of the Scottish economy tourism in what direction do we wish to travel in what direction do we want to take our friends our visitors but we don't fully do that let's look back briefly my love and my commitment to the game of golf could allow me to wax lyrical for days I won't about not just the amphitheater that was Glen Eagle's the artistry the greenery of the surrounding hills the course itself but of course it was much more than that it was about the colour and European alike brought together to that golfing Coliseum it is a golfing legacy that will live I believe for a long long time that is until it returns to the home of golf hopefully in the short term rather than the longer term of course in the meantime the opens will compensate for that Deputy Presiding Officer the optimal economic TNS report just to the end of last month impact study of the Commonwealth Games underlined the impact of the sport legacy that the games brought to Scotland so it's right as I do pay tribute to Visit Scotland Glasgow City Marketing Bureau Glasgow City Council and the tourism alliance and all the others involved in managing and contributing through this massive success there's a great marketing adage which says a brand that has a story to tell meaning and a brand that has meaning has impact and resonance well we all know the impact and resonance the games had so we must have told a very good story 690,000 almost 0.7 million visitors equivalent to 15% of Scotland's population unique visitors attended events related to Glasgow 2014 and festival 2014 93% rated Scotland a good place on average each visitor spent £98 per day a total spend of 282 million which in three weeks alone represented almost 10% of Scotland's tourism spend only one year before the homecoming in Barnockburn represented more than a financial spend there was an emotional spend and investment to those of us who attended Barnockburn we were overwhelmed by the warmth the easy and cosy relationship not just of the locals but of the kinsmen who came from across the globe we cannot however rest on our laurels global tourism competition is fierce and the roles of the professionals in Visit Scotland, the Scottish Tourism Alliance and all the other bodies is key as is the role particularly Visit Scotland and the vast range of tourist organisations related to that such as ABA NNA and of course in accepting all of these things we do accept the comment that Murdo Fraser made in terms of APD but it's not just about that our global communications and global marketing has to be continually better than our competition our customer service and quality has to be better than our competition in that context I pay tribute to some of our young European immigrant colleagues who contributed to that success our food and drink is better than competition and its quality is recognised for its richness but we have to unlock even more of that richness through innovation and creativity and I draw attention to the work that is done particularly at Queen Margaret University Deputy Presiding Officer our great hotels and bars have to accept that we are in this endeavour for the long term and the longer term gains providing greater aggregate returns than just for the short term The study reported yesterday by Visit Scotland was wide ranging and appropriate in that they defined and highlighted the many needs of visitors and John Mason referred to those from Germany, from France from Holland who like the atmosphere in the sun the Italians they like the cool climate and no sun and so it goes on from food to climate from drink to history, heritage and literature yes even from sun to rain Scotland has a lot to offer nothing more so than the efforts of its people as Denise Hall the head of international marketing at Visit Scotland said in talking of tourism success that quote overall she said it is the rich traditions, the landscapes and above all the warm welcome of the Scottish people which remains the key we have a great brand we have a great story to tell we have to keep telling it aligned with strong global events cultural and sport then we I believe are in the right place and as Chekhov said let's go forward and make it plain in what directions we want our tourist industry to go it can only be onwards and upwards many thanks and now Colin Ann McTaggart to be followed by Stuart McMillan thank you I would like to thank Fergus Ewing on securing time in the chamber to discuss this issue as I don't think there is much disagreement that 2014 was a great year for tourism in Scotland and particularly my own city of Glasgow to contribute to this interesting debate I would like to thank or to highlight even the few facts and I'm a well aware that people have mentioned some of the earlier events but some are just so important that I will mention again they have been of such benefit and of such value to not just Glasgow but also to Scotland during the Commonwealth Games 690,000 people came to Scotland with the purpose of attending the games these guests spent a total of £282 million which went directly into not only Glasgow's economy but all of Scotland in addition after the games one in ten visitors intended to combine visiting the games with an extended trip throughout Scotland with 40 per cent of the people saying Edinburgh was their top destination although I still think Glasgow's better just from these facts it could be said that Glasgow and Scotland had a good year from tourism but fortunately this is only part of the picture with the Ryder Cup we saw a continued pattern of success for the Scottish tourism industry throughout the duration of the cup more than 250,000 people came out to watch the competition this crowd comprised of people from over 75 different countries as part of the successful year of events Glasgow was able to keep up the momentum from the Commonwealth Games by hosting the MTV European Music Awards by hosting the event Glasgow was able to promote Scotland and the city itself to over 700 million viewers throughout the world in the process Glasgow also experienced an expected economic boost of up to 10 million pounds it is easy to see from this information that Scotland and in particular my home of Glasgow had a very good year of tourism what this should highlight is the increasing role of tourism as a means for business and economic benefit in Scotland so far from Delotti in 2013 noted tourism should play a fundamental role in creating jobs and helping to grow the economy in Scotland for the near future by their predictions tourism in Scotland stands to grow around 53% by 2025 and the value of our industry could go from 11.6 billion in 2013 to 23.1 billion in 2025 from this alone we should know just how important it is to continue the growth of tourism as a result we should be working in all the ways we can to make Scotland a place that people throughout the world visit working to help our tourism industry goes far beyond economic gains for the cities of Scotland it also gives direct benefit to the people of Scotland by creating jobs and putting money into the businesses which are essential for the average person when a place like Glasgow hosts a major event the money that comes into the city goes to businesses as diverse as the construction company who builds the new facilities to the pub that attendees go to after a long day bearing in mind the benefits that come from tourism both to our national economy and to the wallets of our average Scottish person we must move into 2015 with the same determination that brought the massive success of 2014 already we know that Scotland is set to host the 2015 world championship games they are an artistic gymnastics and I'm sure my daughter has booked me in something this weekend to start that off but anybody more than willing I'll swap the ticket, no problem 80 countries will be over here competing for 10 days of competition this event is expected to bring £5 million of direct economic benefit to our economy however in order for the success 2014 to be replicated we must hope to have the same level of commitment in the future that the amazing staff and volunteers in the event's hospitality transport sectors gave throughout 2014 in conclusion based on successes of 2014 and the great prospects for the future I am happy to support the Government's motion recognising the phenomenal year for tourism in Scotland particularly the city of Glasgow I have no doubts that our future efforts will be as successful as in the past as we hope we may work together in Parliament to make the most of these amazing opportunities and it would be remiss of me not to mention that people make Glasgow Many thanks I now call on Stuart McMillan to be followed by Jeane Arker I welcome the opportunity to speak today and simply to express my thoughts about Scotland's tourism offering this year I also want to add my congratulations to everyone who has been involved in making Scotland's tourism offering this year a spectacular success We have heard the phrase outside of the chamber today I am surprised that I have actually heard it much inside but I have heard the phrase of the eyes of the world have been upon us and they clearly were this year Millions of people across the globe were transfixed about the events that were taking place in Scotland whether it was issues regarding the Commonwealth Games or the Ryder Cup or homecoming Scotland events as well as the independence referendum our country certainly attracted many people to come and visit and to stay those who lived here in different parts of the country I know that Murdo Fraser touched upon the referendum campaign and certainly the amount of people that came to Scotland, not just media but others who actually came to Scotland to actually find out a bit more about what was going on we'll actually have a greater economic return going forward I mean certainly the initial splurge of people coming certainly was excellent but it will have a longer term on behalf of Scotland and that certainly can only be a good thing I think that the international imagery of our country certainly particularly with the people of Scotland actually being engaged with the referendum debate that international imagery will actually it will certainly spark off even more interest in the country going forward and it will leave a positive image of Scotland elsewhere but one of the areas that I do certainly want to focus upon is that of marine tourism unfortunately the Commonwealth Games didn't actually have sailing or canoeing actually involved in it but certainly as the chamber will know I chair the Parliament's cross-party group on recreational boating and marine tourism and just as a plug we meet tonight at 6 o'clock if anyone wants to come along and since our cross-party group started in 2009 various reports have actually been published regarding the economic impact of the wider marine tourism offering from the cruise tourism of Scotland or sailing tourism to the economic impact of wildlife tourism as well as the economic impact of recreational sea angling in Scotland there have been various reports that have been published by various organisations since going back to 2009 and as a consequence of our cross-party group's marine tourism symposium last year we embarked upon attempting to get a better understanding and a more robust set of statistics on recreational boating and marine tourism and thankfully with the help of public agencies we've managed to get the finance and also get the people to actually put together the contract to actually bring this piece of work together that contract has now been let and the data collection project which has been managed by the further cloud forum and also the Scottish Government will be able to utilise the statistics from this year amongst others and I'm sure that that will help plan the marine tourism industry going forward and I'm sure that certainly the numbers within the marine tourism industry going forward will prove to be a great success and I firmly believe that and I personally want marine tourism to be added to Scotland's already impressive list of global brands such as bike pipes, whisky, golf and tartan I want people across the world to think of marine tourism, I want them to think of Scotland particularly the west coast of Scotland and some of the iconic scenes and pieces that we've actually got there Marine tourism in Scotland can become a global brand and I think this year's Commonwealth Latilla on the 26th of July sailing from Greenock up to Glasgow can certainly provide a huge platform to build upon I mean there's been a legacy from that in terms of some of the pontoons going to stay within Greenock and also Dundee has actually been showing an interest in that particular element as well as the contributed that particular events contributed to the development of an event strategy within the context of the emerging marine tourism strategy and certainly some of the figures that have actually come out of that particular event it was estimated that over 23 per cent of those who actually took part in 1900 people were on the boats over 23 per cent of them came from elsewhere within the UK and it's estimated that their economic impact over a course of not just that day but a couple of days that they were there was over £260,000 to the economy in Scotland particularly the west coast now that's a huge amount of money but in terms of elsewhere in terms of the spectators it's estimated that at the upper level to be over 120,000 spectators lining the banks of both sides of the Clyde with an economic impact of some £962,000 now those are tremendous figures for an event that only lasted that particular weekend there were 284 boats 1,900 people and as I said up to 120,000 spectators on the banks the flotilla was first discussed on our cross-party group a number of years ago and we were happy to support it and certainly the many people who were involved in making it happen deserve a tremendous amount of credit for that whether it's from RYA Scotland or from local authorities who actually put the money in so I certainly want to put on record today my thanks to them and also to everyone who assisted to make it actually happen but I'm conscious of time I've run out of time just to discuss the issue of the passport checks that the minister actually touched upon now that's also been an issue for over a year or so now and I do wish that the UK Government would get involved in the discussions for the cruise industry because actually there is a disproportionate effect upon Scotland because proportionally there are more people actually come to Scotland through the cruise industry as compared to elsewhere within the UK but certainly I am happy to support the motion today and I know that it certainly is Scotland's tourism offering it's in a good place at the moment and I know it can only go on to be bigger and greater things and I look forward to 2050 thank you very much now Colin Jean-Arcourt to be followed by Graham Day thank you, Presiding Officer we can indeed celebrate in the sound bite of BBC Scotland in a year like no other and I think that's true it's been exceptional and perhaps understandably the busiest year for Scotland and Scottish tourism businesses certainly in my lifetime and as someone who's been involved in the tourism industry for many years I'm pleased to have the opportunity to acknowledge that I would like perhaps to refer to the minister to Fergus Ewing talking about the international conference Margaret very welcome as that is I'd like to make a pitch for much smaller events that are also important and indeed crucially and as important in the communities who host them there are many small conferences in fact the island's book trust in the western isles have repeatedly held an annual conference of international stature with international speakers often and perhaps venues holding no more than 150 or 200 people however I did a few years ago declare Burnary to be the conference capital of the world because of the quality of the whole experience I've never been better looked after and I doubt any delegate on any conference in any country no matter how many delegates could actually have competed with the quality of the food the hall, the accommodation and most of all of course the hospitality we were indeed taken into the community wholeheartedly celebrated for the being just being visitors and being having that extraordinary welcome that we know that we can do when we do it well we do it so well and the other events I think it's worth mentioning and I was pleased to hear about the bid fund for conferences and perhaps would make a bid make an attempt at these to recognise that places like Burnary and other small organisations who are having conferences in small places hold just as important a part culturally the Highlands and Islands the area that I represent is of course on the map with its music festivals Hebkelt repeatedly hailed across the United Kingdom as the best festival of its kind Rockness didn't happen last year we hope it will come back the national mod of course going for years Lupalu in its 10th year Orkney and Shetland folk festivals, jazz festivals fiddle festivals and film festivals book festivals are growing definitely a growing market for people who want to take part often in a much smaller at a much smaller event so the experience for both the reader and the author can sometimes be extraordinary special and I think we do this incredibly well small is beautiful and Scotland does make events of scale and quality that challenge any other anywhere in the world and befit the world class title that they deserve it's not always recognised by event Scotland or Visit Scotland when they're considering their funding for such events I was in discussion at one time when they asked me what was international about the self called international festival arts festival in Nairn well I said it's in the title and it's certainly in the some of the speakers and the performers who are attending so I think there's a question mark for me that something that is international didn't necessarily mean hundreds of thousands of people or even thousands of people but sometimes it just means a really good international event and it should be recognised in Scotland for that very thing for the first time ever I was amazed for the first time ever surely the a place that might have had this before but the first cheap dog trials were held in for the first time in Scotland held in Tain and Easter Ross this year and were by all accounts a massive success it did happen on some of the finest days we had and looked very stunning the dogs looked great the dogs did they came from all around the world and surfing international surfing championships in Caithness and Tyree and the list goes on but one of the points that I wanted to make is sometimes it's not even the events that are organised it's events that happen because it's the way we live and what makes Scotland an attractive country for people to come and visit is actually how we live in any case it may be hard for us to think that the agricultural show in Barra is a tourist attraction and we might not even want to give it that label but for the experience of visitors who come to this country that's exactly what it is it's part of their experience of being in Scotland and undoubtedly getting a share to see how people live and work and play in parts of the world that they are visiting for the first time talking about visiting for the first time we have one of the highest records for people who visit the first time visiting a second time and a third time and a fourth time so we do know how that goes we recognise and we must recognise that about many of these things we get it right just because of who we are and in that vein I would also say that they I think it was Alex Rowley who made that this isn't something that's set apart from the rest of Scotland but the work of the local authorities the infrastructure that we have the A9 the railway lines the frankly the public laboratories whether they're open or whether they're shut are of as much interest and should be to us in terms of tourism and visiting Scotland so I think praise is needed for those local authorities who just managing to keep our towns and villages countryside areas looking good providing bins where they're needed and a structure that means that there is a pride in our country then that will indeed encourage people to come and share that with us Mardau Fraser mentioned the workforce I would like to finish perhaps by making that bid that we have to look at the wage structure one of the disappointments perhaps of the Smith commission for me is that we don't have control of minimum wages in an industry that is so necessary in this country to start recognising the worse of the people who work within it Thanks so much I now call on Graham Day after which we'll move to closing speeches at this time of year tends to be one for reflection in the context of this debate that's entirely appropriate 2014 in tourism terms has everyone acknowledged being exceptional for Scotland and how could it have been otherwise containing as it did a Commonwealth Games a Ryder Cup and another homecoming event but I want to very much focus my contribution on the future and how we seize the opportunity before us and by we I don't simply mean government in its agency the motion we are debating and I quote urges the Scottish Government to renew its efforts and that's as it should be Government bears the responsibility for providing leadership in this as in other areas but realising the full tourism potential we have as a country will require more than national funding and initiatives it will require local buy-in and participation it will require everyone stepping up to the mark Presiding Officer, I'm sure it won't surprise you or indeed anybody else at exploring that I want to focus on the particular part of the country that I represent here in Parliament and I do so I hope with legitimate reason given that the county of Angus was very much involved in two of the major tourism magnets of 2014 given that we hosted the Commonwealth Games the shooting event along with three of the homecoming Scotland partner events should be acknowledged Presiding Officer that unfortunately visitor numbers related to the shooting at Barryburden did not it seems match actual ticket sales and anecdotal evidence gathered by Angus council suggests there was little immediate benefit apparent to the accommodation provision sector in the area however the hope is that the considerable effort that was put into ensuring visitors or potential visitors to southern Angus were aware of all the wider county had to offer leading up to the games and that will pay dividends moving forward there are very obvious areas for Angus to exploit golf with an open venue in Cernustine up to mention open qualifying courses such as money, feet, pan, your barry and minthrow is an obvious example it's worth the there are other issues in terms of food and drink for example going into 2015 which of course is designated the year of food and drink which offers a great opportunity for the county in previous food and drink debates in this chamber I've highlighted the enormous contribution made to that sector of our economy by Angus it's watery capping if only to note the evolutionary nature of this Angus is a bit more than the world famous smoky we take to market a range of other renowned fish baits products we have a multi million pound soft fruit sector a vibrant farming sector preserves production and a growing drink sector with two brand new vodka distilleries starting up recently as farm diversification projects using locally produced potatoes we're also home to a particular sector of tourism agritism which I think the minister would agree offers considerable potential there is one route being mapped out for Angus though and future tourism promotion which unquestionably offers huge possibilities in which I hope points the way for the kind of all quarters buy-in that I touched upon earlier in 2020 the 700th anniversary of the signing of the decoration of our broth I should declare an interest here I'm a member of the Abroad Abbey 2020 group serving alongside representatives of Angus Council, Visit Scotland, Historic Scotland and the local Abroad Abbey action group which is taking forward plans for a year by year build up to the anniversary and then a spectacular 2020 in keeping with the huge importance of the document the point I want to make here is that what we're doing is partnership working and engaging the community and what we're trying to achieve is having all the interested parties including the local populists who are being asked what kind of events they want to see leading up to as part of 2020 itself actively engaged in delivering something that will benefit both the Angus and wider Scottish economies and it's a spectacular opportunity to happen in the North American tourism market something I don't think we've done to anything like the extent we ought to have done in relation to the decoration given the connections with the American events if we get this right to encourage visitors from across the pond to Scotland and specifically Angus leading up to and during 2020 it was encouraging to see the recently published Visit Britain figures for North American visitors to have time Yes, thank you Stuart McMillan I thank Graham Dave for taking the intervention Would he encourage the Scottish Government to consider 2020 to be another year of homecoming Graham Dave and make it the year of the decoration but perhaps that's pushing it too much it was encouraging to see the recently published Visit Britain figures for North American visitors to these islands showing an increase for the first nine months of 2014 compared the corresponding period of the year previously but whilst the trends encouraging we in Scotland need to think about how we get better enticing those US citizens who perhaps fly into London to venture further north and in greater numbers the devolution of APD does offer opportunity in that regard of course if cutting the tax leads to more or cheaper direct transatlantic flights but I think we need to think beyond just that and really push Scotland as a destination for that market with and of course I would say this Angus increasingly to the fore in marketing that as we move towards 2020 but Presiding Officer in conclusion I want to return to a point I touched on earlier if I may about genuine local buy-in and stepping up to the mark it's a constant source of frustration that myself as a local MSP we are when it comes to pooling together our tourism offer in Angus and making our attractions as easy to access as they might be Glam's Castle is one of the jewels in our crown it has a successful joint ticketing arrangement with Blair Castle and Scune Palace in Persia yet there's no longer any tie-up with the National Trust owned Angus Folk Museum located a matter of yards from their gates and that's not the single thing that Glam's Castle out it's simply an illustration of a wider issue in my constituency we fail generally to cross promote complementary attractions in different ownership as we might and if you are, for example, a rail traveller coming to our broth to see the abbey there's no readily accessible public transport to take you on to say Glam's Castle or Barry's Birthplace in Kerrymure and that's not the fault of the national tourism body but of delivery on the ground at a local level although I wonder where the minister feels we might find a way to share best practice examples better and transportation terms the Bridalbon bus scheme for example might be one thing that we could share and that we encourage local authorities to grasp the thistle as it will and helping to ensure Scotland's tourism offering and access to it is all that it might be in every corner of our country. Thank you. Thank you. I will now move the closing speeches and I call on Cameron McKanan at seven minutes please Mr McKanan. Thank you Presiding Officer. This afternoon we've had a highly informative discussion and heard a great deal of praise for Scotland and the hugely successful year for our tourism industry in 2014. We all welcome and success the spectacular events already mentioned, held this year from the Commonwealth Games and the Riley Cup to the Everpresent Edinburgh festival. Having also lived abroad and therefore seen Scottish tourism both from the inside and the outside I know also quite a lot about the industry. I've also led SCDI missions and missions in my industry on behalf of the SCDI abroad so I'm well aware of the potential of Scottish tourism. I was going to take up Mr Rowley's point too about the Recife ferry because I took it many many times and found it great but the problem with it was that speed limit in the fourth we could never actually it always took longer to get there than it did if you went from Hals-e-Brug so therefore it just wasn't economic. We've got to do something about that I'm all in favour of getting another ferry to Scotland direct from the continent it's very important. We used to have them from I think it was Mussel, Esbyerg but that's all stopped and I feel that we should really have a ferry industry going straight from Scotland to the continent. Certainly. As a member probably knows I do have a debate coming up in January on that specific issue would you agree that the fact that there's no current direct ferry service between the UK and Scandinavia is a missed opportunity in attracting our Nordic friends with a high disposable income to Scotland by car? Cameron Buchanan. Thank you very much for that. I would definitely agree that it is a missed opportunity and it certainly does not help our industry because the Scandinavians are very important to us. So all these events have added to our tourism industry and what we must recognise is that the government needs to secure the legacy we've had recently and can't simply await it. With this in mind I think we have an opportunity to discuss how the government can boost the industry through a lasting legacy and in this respect my colleagues points on APD are most welcome. It is important that the momentum from our success in 2014 is carried forward to the long lasting benefit for all of Scotland. Programs to encourage participation in sport particularly amongst young people are most welcome and will stand Scotland in a good stead for the sporting success in the future. The government would do well to make this a primary legacy of the Commonwealth Games and avoid legislation to support participation in any sport harder for young people or indeed anybody. Another crucial point in this debate is that the government should facilitate boosts to both sides of the tourism industry to supply it as well as the demand. I'm not saying that the government should fund all tourism businesses but rather that where help can be offered we should do so and where it already exists we should therefore maintain it. Renewed domestic and international interests in our golf could be used to reinvest in Scotland's golf clubs to again reinforce our status as a golfing destination of choice. To achieve this the government could help by perhaps not stepping in but stepping back. Business rate cuts for golf clubs could help them to boost their membership and as their saving income could be used to invest in and improve their facilities as well as reduce membership fees. In any case it would be useful to discuss the merits of such a move. Unfortunately the legislative programme set up by the First Minister for her Government has set a worrying precedent here. Rural businesses that involve shooting or fishing which are very popular tourist pastimes both overseas and here will be hit with a rating system introduced at a cost of some 7 million a year by the year 2016. This tax on rural businesses which depends on Scotland worldwide fame as a place of natural beauty for outdoor sports will raise their costs and thereby lead to price increases for tourists. This is not what our clubs need to attract tourists. We want a legacy that supports all businesses in the tourism industry and this Government should aim to do exactly that. We must remember that rural tourism is not only about twee jackets and trips in Land Rovers but actually spans all manners of activities and supports a huge amount of rural employment. Thirdly. Jeane Arker. Would you agree that business rates on other businesses would you fight for them to be abolished as well? They also have costs and it has to be reflected in the price. London estates with sporting activities. Cameron McKellen. We have the small businesses bonus scheme which actually helps with that but I'm not really advocating a great reduction in all the business rates because we've got to fund them from somewhere. The other point I was going to make was the Government initiative for the year of food and drink in 2015 presents a super chance to broaden the tourism legacy of 2014 from sporting success on and off the field to another pillar of Scottish tourist industry. We need more Scottish restaurants or restaurants serving Scottish food. People often say to me I want to go to a good Scottish restaurant. There are many around but I don't think they're particularly advertised. The food and drink sector amounts for a huge portion of our tourist industry. 179,000 people are employed in accommodation and food services. That was up until June 2014. We should all we can to help them tap into the momentum for our success this year. A particularly potent point in this respect was raised by the Smith's commission report when it stated that parties have agreed that the Scottish and the UK governments should work together to seek with respect to food labelling to agree changes to the European country of origin rules so that Made in Scotland brand is recognised under EU law. I wholeheartedly agree with this and trust all parties can come together pursue this as firmly as we can. Recognition of our brand is much more to boost our food and drink businesses as we've seen all over the continent and it would increase our reputation both at home and abroad and contribute to the appeal of visiting Scotland as a place of outstanding food and top quality drink which we've all spoken about and we all agree. Finally, I'd like to reiterate my support for murder phrases points calling on the government to set out its plans to reduce or preferably eradicate eventually the air pressure duty. We Scottish Conservatives have called on APD to be devolved for some time and warmly welcome the agreement of the Smith commission on this. I would like to make the point that in line with other areas of policy where powers that have been devolved, what Scotland needs is a government devoted to using its powers in Scotland's best interests rather than focusing on blame games and demanding powers that we did not vote for. What we and other tourist industries would like to see now as a commitment from the government to use control of the APD to relieve the hefty tax burden is gone, relieve the hefty tax burden and thereby boost tourism to the benefit of the whole country. Accordingly, Presiding Officer, I hope that the government goes beyond talking the talk on boosting tourism and actually walks the walk. We agreed that the events of 2014 have given a lot of momentum to tourism in Scotland but for this to turn into a lasting legacy the government must deliver policies that support it. Such initiatives have come in many forms and it seems clear that using the power to reduce or eradicate APD would have tangible and lasting benefits. I therefore support the motion. Thank you. Thank you very much. I now call Patricia Ferguson. Eight minutes or thereby please. Thank you Presiding Officer. Next Sunday, Glasgow will host the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. The first time this prestigious event has been held in Scotland and an opportunity to mark the end of a marvellous year for tourism and a year in which Scotland shone on the sporting stage. Some 12,000 people will attend the event in itself no doubt another modest boost to our tourism numbers and those present, whether they be athletes, commentators or indeed volunteers, will have the chance to reminisce with the viewing public about the amazing year of sport we have all enjoyed and the preeminent role Scotland has played in its delivery. Since the idea of hosting the games was first mooted, the opportunity to secure the widest possible legacy was part of the planning process. It is early days, of course, but initial evaluations suggest that the planning and preparation has paid off and indeed some of the early figures are quite remarkable. 250,000 unique visitors staying in Scotland for at least one night, but on average staying 5.8 nights which equates to 1.7 million visitor days. 3.4 million people passing through Glasgow Central Station and over a million mentions on social media publicity you couldn't afford to buy. Of course, as we've heard, 93 per cent of visitors rating Scotland a good place to visit. Those are the official statistics provided, Presiding Officer, but the story told locally bears them out. I often regard taxi drivers as a good barometer of opinion and the two I happen to speak to supported much increased business with one having a very welcome return fare to Barry Budden and the other reporting that he had transported a couple from England who had come for the weekend to experience the games but had found out to their surprise that Glasgow also had a magnificent civic art collection and were already planning a return winter break to the city something that they had never previously considered. We know that 9 per cent of the visitors went overseas and indeed I had the real pleasure of meeting up with one of my cousins who travelled back to his home city from Tasmania where he has lived for the first time in 25 years. He was in Glasgow to watch his sports of triathlon and judo and was taken aback by the transformation that he saw in Glasgow. We know too that accommodation during August in Glasgow was at its highest for a very long time if not perhaps its highest ever with occupancy rates over 95 per cent and indeed in five nights of the month of August at the astounding rate of 99 per cent. We know too that the spend was estimated to be around £282 million. Of course none of that came without a great deal of hard work and effort and the long-term commitment to visit Scotland, event Scotland and the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau must of course have contributed hugely to that as it does to so much else of what happens in Scotland. But it wasn't just in Glasgow that we had great success. The Commonwealth Games themselves brought a huge impact in terms of tourism to Angus, to Edinburgh, to Lanarkshire and to Tayside and of course the Rider Cup to that sporting effect. It wasn't just sport it was festival 2014 the Edinburgh Festival, the MTV Awards and as we approach them now the winter festivals that many people look forward to. I was very keen to hear what the minister had to say about theme jeers. I seem to recall he and I were both at the launch or the opening of the very first theme jeer in 2007 when it was cold and wet night in Inverness when the year of Highland culture was unveiled. I think that those years are contributing to the tourism offer in our country because they tap into the individual interests of people who might want to come here. The important thing I think about them is that we herald them well in advance. My colleague Duncan McNeill intervened on the minister to talk about a subject that I know has been dear to his heart for a very long time and that's the cruise ships that go into Greenock. I suspect that the minister has shared with me the experience of visiting Greenock to see for himself what actually happens and I have to say that the efforts of the volunteers who greet those ships and who make the people embarking from them welcome has to be encouraged. I also was very interested in the fact that the Disney ship was going into Orkney as I understand it from the minister and that perhaps Mickey Mouse will be visiting those islands at perhaps one ministerial photo call to be avoided. Bruce Crawford was absolutely right to say that we will all want to talk about the individual events and issues that we have locally and that's absolutely right and that's absolutely good to do. But it's also good to be able to use or to bring together that impressive jigsaw that is Scotland when we have all those elements pulled together and can talk about them in a debate like this and Alec Rowley and Murdo Fraser brought to our attention a couple of issues that have dogged the industry for quite some time and that we never seem to have managed to crack. Those are the issues around skills, pay and I would add the profile and status of the tourism and catering industries because without the profile and the status you can't encourage people to want to gain the skills and without the pay you also probably cannot attract people into the industry and I think we perhaps going forward need to concentrate a little more on that. John Mason quite rightly identified that people will come to Scotland for different reasons I once had a very good conversation with a gentleman in Marseil that he loved Scotland and when I asked him what it was about Scotland he loved, was it our castles, was it our scenery he said no he really liked the fact that Scotland was really really grey because he found that very romantic it's not quite how I see your grey winters days but it just shows you that other people are looking for other things the very real contribution of conferences and sports tourism was identified by Hans Lamalic and I think he's absolutely right about that and it does perhaps suggest that there is something in that for other areas of the country in that they should identify the niche that they can best attract and work hard to develop that my colleague Ann McTaggart mentioned that people make Glasgow and she's absolutely right to highlight that particular slogan and she also mentioned that she thinks Glasgow is still better than Edinburgh I might have wanted to resist saying it's still miles better than Edinburgh but perhaps I shouldn't have gone there for me the Commonwealth Games typified the partnership working that makes big events and our tourism industry so successful in Scotland and I think Graham Day was right to remark on partnership working in that respect because those games would not have been possible without the hard working commitment of many people we come with games federation for Scotland the government the local government in Glasgow Glasgow 2014, transport staff hotel and catering staff, council workers and of course the 15,000 plus volunteers who were such a successful part of the games many of whom were themselves visitors to our country I believe that tourism in Scotland is thriving and has the capacity to grow further but it needs support from all of us to do that on Sunday night the sports personality of the year awards will identify the outstanding performances in their field those will be recognised it may be a partisan point but I think there should be a special recognition at those awards for the city of Glasgow and for all it achieved during the Commonwealth Games thank you for that completely unbiased I now call on Fergus Ewing to close the debate minister you have until 5 o'clock well this has been an excellent debate full of thoughtful stimulating and interesting contributions more so than any debate in tourism I can recall quite a few and I do want to respond to some of the points that were made by members first could I just make a serious point that I have made before about accessible tourism because although all of us here perhaps take for granted that we can each year enjoy an annual holiday or a break the startling statistics which I quoted before with regard to the 11 million people in the UK who have a disability is that only 2 million of them have a holiday or a break each year that means that 4 out of 5 do not and those 4 out of 5 very often say that this is because it is too difficult this really is something which is unacceptable and which I think we all wish to tackle and I'm very pleased therefore that VisitScotland has been leading the way on this with their access statement and their online training kit and I really do exhort all members to use their substantial influence and their patch have a look at the online training kit look at what an access statement is encourage businesses and also providers of transport and visitor attractions anywhere that is public facing to have a look at this and take it up I've made the same challenge to every tourism conference that I've spoken at recently and I do believe that this is something that can be done without an enormous expenditure of money because much of it is not about physical infrastructure it's about attitudes, respect, courtesy and a welcome to everybody and I'd like to pay tribute to a number of people who've really been leading the quest to give people with disability the same opportunities to enjoy a holiday as the rest of us and these include Ewan MacDonald a young man with motor neuron disease who's set up a website which features impartial user generated accessibility reviews, a sort of trip advisor for people with a disability in Scotland have a look at Ewan's guide I think you will be fascinated by it including Philip Briggs who's profoundly deaf Sally Hyder MS and wheelchair user author and public speaker with her assistance doc harmony Moira Henderson, the owner of the Rings 5 where I laid the cairn stone in August, these individuals and others are driving this forward giving of their time for free along with Visit Scotland, Chris McCoy and a team so let's set an objective a country which is famed and renowned for offering people with disability the same opportunity to enjoy a holiday as elsewhere it's within our grasp if we actually do it and walk the walk so too on social tourism about helping people undertake holiday and leisure activities who would not otherwise be able to do so and the increasing take up here is important as well I'm delighted to say that £9,000 including £12,000 from the Scottish carers policy budget to support a pilot run by Shared Care Scotland across four council areas which will seek to link with the hospitality sector and carer support organisations for carers, it's so difficult for carers to get a break themselves we all know this from our work in our constituency, some spend their whole lives looking after one person in one house very often a bit isolated so that's a worthy task and I'm sure all members would agree with that Presiding Officer, can I just turn and try to deal with some of the points that have been made during the debate there are a huge number of business conferences that we've won Jenny Marra asked me for details so here goes in Glasgow this year we will see the European Arterial Sclerosis Society European Association for International Education human genetics, dental implantology cytometry the British Pain Society European Congress and Operational Research Commonwealth Law Conference panel and conference organisers European stroke organisation we will see many more conferences each one of those is a result not simply of the Subvention Fund but of a terrific team effort between the local authority as Alec Rowley rightly said in his contribution the Scottish Government the Visit Scotland Business Tourism Unit and very often Royal Societies of Medicine where we have a Scottish representative who can be the advocate for Scotland to bring a conference to one of Scotland's towns or cities and we also to take up Jean Urquhart's point are seeking to spread the benefit around islands and around remotes and rural communities and rural areas in general Fort William Arran are two that spring to mind that she's absolutely correct and we are committed to that Jenny Marra rightly highlighted the opportunity for extender holidays if people come 84,000 of them to conferences we want them to come back we want them to bring their families back we want them to have pre and post conference extender holidays I don't think we've got that right yet and I've said so repeatedly and I think it's partly for business to make commercial arrangements to promote opportunities when people act conferences and also to come back Murdo Fraser and various others in the debate highlighted training and of course there is a lot of good things that have been done in training I can say that the skills development Scotland are doing a lot of work in this it may be that in his capacity as convener of the committee he may wish to seek more information about that there's too much information to share now but we are on the case and I think some of the points he made were perfectly valid but there is great work being done things like junior master chef things like the mentoring of expert chefs like Andrew Fairlie and the undoubtedly Albert Roux whose love for Scotland is that the only a French person could actually achieve and the work he does in Inverness they are inspiring young people all around the country and that's a terrific thing so mentoring is great and also springboard also work in Strathclyde University also the work that QM university is doing along with businesses in the east of Scotland these are all excellent initiatives but I think there is a feeling that more needs to be done and we haven't quite practised it yet and indeed as has been said without people of various coming from various countries in mainland Europe to Scotland from east Europe but also northern Europe and Spain and Portugal as well where wouldn't be a hotel open in Scotland there would barely be any hotels and restaurants in Scotland and the fact that we are happy to have people from these countries come and commit themselves to Scotland make a determination to work here and that's something that we very much welcome Bruce Crawford made an interesting speech and his recommendation of a cross-party group in tourism I very much hope is one that will be taken up it's an excellent suggestion Alex Rowley highlighted the need for local authorities to play an increasing role the development framework that we brought forward this year seeks to work more effectively with local authorities and their signs that's working already Joan McAlpine referred to agri-tourism and the need to cut VAT recently I had the pleasure of speaking at a Farm Stay UK conference in a Stephen Lecky's establishment in Creeff Hydro in fact the conference delegates were staying so long in the Creeff Hydro that I wondered whether they were making some sort of bid to obtain security of tenure but it was certainly a very enjoyable experience and bodies like Go Rural are making a big impact in the farming world as perhaps you know better than anybody else in this chamber John Mason also highlighted his interest in beer several times actually and camping and pleasant beaches on Tyree and I can share with members that the tourism conference this morning Louise White from Good Morning Scotland said that she enjoys beach holidays when she dons her wetsuit in beaches in Tyree so there we are I've just boosted tourism in Tyree I think Stuart McMillan highlighted the work that he does on cruise tourism and this was recognised by the EU I don't know if he's aware of this but after listening to a meeting I invited a Scottish representative to put forward the case at Venice and many other members made interesting contributions to the debate I think one of the key points is that perhaps there's a lot more we can do to attract people in Scotland to enjoy holidays in Scotland I've always thought that and that was a point that was made by I think Mr Rowley although I'm not quite sure and I think it was a point very well made indeed but it's a broader order they are a key market and we have to continue to focus on that market and of course everyone from England is extremely welcome to come to Scotland enjoy holiday and spend a great deal of their money here and of course reference was made to the rough guide which praised for example Lewis and Harris's foremost amongst the whole islands in Europe the best of all as I can testify include by saying that whilst I did not attend MTV Europe myself although I believe that it's a showcase for popular music in the post Frank Sinatra error I can conclude by saying from words that I do know by the great late Al Jolson Presiding Officer Tourism in Scotland you ain't seen nothing yet many thanks and so that concludes the debate on tourism a legacy from 2014 and it's now time to move on to the next item of business which is consideration of business motion 11767 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau setting out a revision to tomorrow's business programme I would ask any member who wishes to speak against the motion to press the request to speak buttons now and as no one has I call on Joe Fitzpatrick to move motion 11767 Minister No member has asked to speak against the motion so I'll now put the question to the chamber and the question is that motion 11767 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick be agreed to are we all agreed the motion is therefore agreed to and now we come to decision time which is the next item of business and the question to be put as a result of today's business and the question is that motion 11756 in the name of Fergus Ewing on tourism a legacy from 2014 be agreed to are we all agreed we are so the motion is there for agreed to and that concludes decision time and we'll now move on to members business and I'd ask members who are leaving the chamber to do so quickly and quietly