S4M-10051 Homecoming Scotland 2014

The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick): The first item of business this afternoon is a debate on motion S4M-10051, in the name of Fergus Ewing, on homecoming Scotland 2014.

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Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): I congratulate VisitScotland on the very impressive and wide-ranging 64-page brochure that it has produced for homecoming 2014. As we have heard, it lists 837 events, not all of which—again as we have heard—have been organised by VisitScotland itself. Of course, we should not be surprised by that, given that VisitScotland is a marketing organisation that markets other people’s activities, hotels, restaurants, bed and breakfasts and events. My view is that, by drawing this wide offering into one package, it is simply multiplying the effect.

As a tourist who has visited more than a quarter of the world’s countries on various occasions over the past 50 years, I can think of similar examples. People who visit Edinburgh go down Rose Street if they want to find something to eat, because it has lots and lots of restaurants. People are attracted by density. When I go to Amsterdam, I always go to Korte Leidsedwarstraat, which has even more restaurants than Rose Street has; in fact, there are 40 different kinds of restaurants off Leidseplein. Drawing things together, which VisitScotland does very successfully, creates the attraction for our many visitors.

Like, I am sure, many others in the chamber, I have relatives all around the world. My great-great-grandfather Archibald Stewart, who was born in Bannockburn in 1778, emigrated to Canada in 1853 after he was widowed, taking most of his family with him. Thanks to an act of breathtakingly successful fecundity, I now have 500 living relatives in Canada and the United States who stem from that migration of my great-great-grandfather and his offspring. They come back to Scotland and I encourage them so to do. Every one of us has similar opportunities that have been created by the wanderlust and fecundity of the Scots and I encourage people to use them.

In the modern world, things have moved on a little. In 1870, my great-great-grandfather received a letter from one of his offspring, who was still in Bannockburn, to tell him of the death of a family member; now, we have the electronic world. This week alone, using Facebook, I have communicated with relatives who live in Australia, South Africa, England and Denmark. The way in which we connect and the immediacy of connection are different.

Because of such communication, I can tell members that Emma, who is the sister-in-law of one of my nieces, drove with four of her pals all the way up from the south of England to be there when the Kelpies were opened. That is a bit of domestic tourism; the Kelpies are already successful in my family. That hardly illustrates the overall general point—I cannot and will not attempt to do that—but it shows that there is an associated draw.

Jenny Marra: Does the member agree that Emma has perhaps bucked the trend? Perhaps the number of domestic visits would have decreased by 25 per cent if it had not been for her visit.

Stewart Stevenson: Let us have a little talk about international and domestic tourism. International tourism is generally based on relatively long lead times for booking, so variations in it are comparatively modest and are more in the long run. The average number of nights that a domestic tourist stays for is less than four. Such visits are opportunistic and are booked at short notice. They are highly influenced by the weather—if the weather is not good, ye dinnae book. They are also influenced by a wide range of issues.

I encourage members to visit the VisitEngland website, where they will find that the graph for domestic tourism in England is pretty similar to that for Scotland. Something is going on, which I cannot and do not pretend to be able to get to the bottom of, that is not unique to Scotland. It probably relates to the fact that the weather wisnae very good in November and December, although I could be entirely wrong and I am happy to be corrected later.

I am encouraged by something that has not been mentioned. I have an interest in genealogy; I have studied the subject for more than 50 years and I have identified 4,365 relatives in my family tree. We are to get the “Who Do You Think You Are? Live” show, which is coming to Glasgow in August. That will draw not just domestic tourists from other parts of the UK but international tourists to meet experts in genealogy, which is one of the great links. Last year, an unknown cousin of my wife appeared from New Zealand, carrying an outline family tree, and spent two months going round Scotland to research graveyards. Even things such as graveyards are tourist attractions.

I have other connections to Bannockburn. My great-grandfather on the Stevenson side was born there. There are no records of that—he managed to escape the parish registration system, so he was difficult for me to track down. In 1841, 308 Stevensons were living in Bannockburn, and I do not think that they were all my relatives. There were also more than 100 Stewarts; that is the name of the other side of my family.

One of my great-grandfather’s offspring was responsible for the Bruce and Wallace statues that are at either side of the entrance to Edinburgh castle. He unveiled them in 1929 and they are tourist attractions to this day.

I will give a local example—the Scottish traditional boat festival in Portsoy in my constituency. Perhaps 20,000 people go to that town of not much more than 1,000 people. The 21st run will take place this year, and I know from previous visits that people come from Australia, South Africa and America to the event. I am deeply disappointed that the minister’s motion makes no reference to the Portsoy traditional boat festival, which is a hugely important economic event for the north of Scotland that also exhibits food and drink. Glenglassaugh distillery is just next door, so Bruce Crawford would be pleased. It is a wonderful event, as members will see from the television coverage that will be broadcast around the world. It is but one of the many examples that we can all come up with.

Picking up on what Jenny Marra said earlier about the relationship between Scotland and England, I will quote from Ludovic Kennedy’s autobiography. He said that, on independence,

“England would lose a surly lodger and gain a good neighbour”.

I am absolutely certain that that is the case.

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