VisitScotland Reveals What Tourism Could Look like in 2069

Robot butlers, mega-cities, midge haggis and the return of mammoth airships are just some of the novelties to expect in the future of Scottish tourism.

Release time : 2019-03-04 16:22:11

source : ECNS

providing the world with delectable fare but with the population potentially including processed insect protein in their diets, midge haggis could be a highly desirable delicacy to visitors.

VisitScotland's latest campaign could be marking the 55th anniversary of Outlander - the hit TV show which aired for the first time in 2014. Villages like Culross in Fife might be populated with 7D holographic characters from the show and allow fans to immerse themselves in an episode from the TV classic.

The Development of Tourism Act came into force in 1969 and an official Scottish Tourist Board was established with government funding. Since them the tourism industry has gone from strength to strength and shows little sign of stopping with the next fifty years yielding a wealth of tourism possibilities.

Chris Greenwood, VisitScotland Senior Tourism Insight Manager and author of the paper, said: "Scottish tourism has been a huge success story both economically and socially over the last 50 years and the aim of this research paper is to look at a potential future of tourism by examining the megatrends which may have influenced society by 2069.

"Developing a strategic foresight can help organisations embrace opportunities, challenge barriers and make sure we look to the future - which we can't predict for certain but we can test our assumptions now to make better decisions for tomorrow."

Lord Thurso, VisitScotland Chair, said: "Tourism is one of Scotland's most important industries. It has been creating jobs and sustaining communities for decades, contributing billions to the Scottish economy.

"We want to celebrate 50 years of golden moments with the tourism industry in 2019 and what better time to begin than Scottish Tourism Month. The scale of the achievements and growth of Scotland's tourism sector is down to the hard work and creative collaboration across a myriad of organisations, businesses and public agencies