VisitScotland

VisitScotland
Organisation overview
Formed1969; 55 years ago (1969) (as the Scottish Tourist Board)
TypeExecutive non-departmental public body
JurisdictionScotland
HeadquartersOcean Point One, 94 Ocean Drive, Leith, Edinburgh
Employees525 (2019)[1]
Minister responsible
Organisation executives
Websitewww.visitscotland.com Edit this at Wikidata

VisitScotland, formerly the Scottish Tourist Board (Scottish Gaelic: Bòrd Turasachd na h-Alba), is a national tourism organisation for Scotland. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and other parts of Scotland.[2]

Among the organisation's tasks is the attraction of visitors to Scotland through advertising and promotional campaigns. VisitScotland also manages a number of quality grading schemes for tourist accommodation and attractions.[3] The organisation also operates the VisitScotland.com website which provides bookings and information service for visitors to Scotland. From 2001 this website was operated as a public-private partnership venture,[4] though this venture (and the website) was brought back into public ownership in 2008.[4][5]

  1. ^ Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2019 (PDF). visitscotland.org (Report). VisitScotland. 2019. p. 64. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2020. Total FTE @ 31/03/19 [..] 525
  2. ^ "Our Locations". visitscotland.org. Visit Scotland. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Quality Assurance gradings - QA Conditions and Criteria". visitscotland.org. VisitScotland. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Tourism body criticised over handling of e-tourism venture". parliament.scot. Scottish Parliament. 14 May 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  5. ^ "VisitScotland's online booking site loses £12m over five years". heraldscotland.com. Herald Scotland. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2019.