Scottish Government

FOREWORD

First Impressions matter. We all know how much a holiday or visit - in the UK or further afield - can be greatly enhanced by the welcome we receive.

Those First Impressions leave a lasting impression and are crucial in helping us decide whether or not we will visit again - or, just as importantly, recommend that place to our friends and family.

But it is not just about the welcome, it is about the overall level of service provided by everyone we meet - from the airport staff and the taxi driver to the waiter and the shop assistant. Everyone we meet has a role to play in ensuring those lasting impressions are favourable.

Indeed, I would argue strongly that we all have a role to play - we are all ambassadors for Scotland.

There is no doubt that the Scots are renowned for the warmth of welcome we extend to visitors. We are gracious hosts and, as a result, are valued guests, welcomed with open arms wherever we go.

That is why the Executive asked Eric Milligan to prepare his report, because we recognise that First Impressions matter.

We welcome the valuable contribution his report makes to our ongoing efforts to improve First Impressions of Scotland. Councillor Milligan has been an enthusiastic promoter of Scotland across the world for many years, and has clearly brought this insight to bear in the recommendations he has made.

We accept all those recommendations. Work is already underway in many areas. We will undertake work in others. And we will also, where we can, show genuine ambition and go even further.

This response is our Action Plan and it will form the basis for the activity we will carry out immediately to deliver on our aim of improving First Impressions of Scotland. We will also create a First Impressions Forum which will include key external partners and will take action forward.

Ministers will also produce a report by December 2005 on what progress has been made.

I believe this all adds up to a significant commitment to improving the way Scotland and its people are perceived by others. There is no doubt First Impressions are important and we are determined to work in partnership to ensure that the lasting impression visitors have is that we are the best - and most welcoming - small country in the world.

Tom McCabe

Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform

May 2005

General

Recommendations

• All Scots represent Scotland to arriving visitors and should take responsibility for making a good impression. Overseas visitors will remember a demonstrative welcome, and will talk about their contacts with Scottish people, more than any other aspect of their stay. We are all in this together.
• Scottish Ministers must accept the responsibility to set the tone. Their statements and their decisions should reflect a "First Impressions culture" - the importance of making sure that Scotland makes a good impression on visitors on their arrival in Scotland and encourages them to return.
• The Scottish Executive and VisitScotland should work together to publicise the need for all Scots to be good ambassadors in their own country.

Executive Response

We agree.

The 2004 Tourism Attitudes Survey supports this finding - many visitors, particularly those from North America, found their contact with local people to be one of the highlights of their trip. "Tourism is everyone's business" is a message which Scottish Ministers, VisitScotland and the enterprise networks actively promote and will continue to do so.

The "Pride and Passion" initiative has been developed to spread this message, celebrating and spreading best practice in customer service and engaging with the public to encourage everyone to see themselves as an ambassador for Scotland with every visitor. Pride and Passion is industry-led and is funded by the Executive, VisitScotland and the enterprise networks. The project is now moving into implementation phase, through the development of its communication strategy and developing a network of "friends" across Scotland.

Recommendation

VisitScotland should work with others to help develop First Impressions skills through training for those having contact with arriving visitors.

Executive response

The Executive recognises how vital training is for those having contact with arriving visitors. The enterprise networks lead on the provision of short courses on these skills through programmes such as Welcome Host, Welcome Host Retail, Conference Care and Scotland's Best Service. People who create a "first impression" of Scotland have been targeted through these programmes and BAA Scotland, CalMac and Glasgow taxi drivers are among the groups who have participated. 4456 people were trained in these programmes in 2003/04, with 3403 being trained in the last 9 months. Again, Pride and Passion will play a key role in changing attitudes and encouraging the changes needed to exceed visitors' expectations.

The programme of short courses is currently being refreshed and reviewed. Pilots of a new, updated successor to Welcome Host and Scotland's Best Service will be run in May with the new course being rolled out across Scotland in the Autumn. Skills and training will form an important theme in the forthcoming refresh of the tourism strategy for Scotland.

Recommendation

Scottish Ministers and gateway operators should develop 20-year visions for Scotland's points of entry to realise the ambition to be among the world's best. The plans should ensure that development is for the long-term and not confined to coping with the demands of the next 2-3 years, and should encourage the use of inspiring high quality design.

Executive Response

Our long-term vision for transport in Scotland, which was set out in the White Paper of June 2004, Scotland's Transport Future, makes clear the need to focus on economic growth and integration as two of our five key objectives for transport - we are conscious of the importance of inward tourism and travel for business, and the need for straightforward, integrated onward transport options.

Looking forward, the National Transport Strategy (NTS) - due to be developed in the course of the coming year - will be a real opportunity to focus on the key priorities for transport and undertake some long term planning. For the first time we will have a long-term transport strategy, based on wide-ranging consultation, and covering all modes of transport and all types of traveller. The NTS will be underpinned by a Strategic Projects Review which will determine our key infrastructure investment priorities for the period after the completion of our current infrastructure investment plan. This will consider all modes of transport.

The Executive has a Policy on Architecture which highlights the strategic benefits of investing in good quality design and architecture. A new NDPB, Architecture and Design Scotland (A+DS) has been established to champion good design and provides 'hands on' assistance to clients in achieving well designed outcomes. We will recommend that A+DS consult gateway operators on future plans to ensure that design quality is embedded into the development process.

Recommendation

International gateways should:

Project a sense of arrival in Scotland as a unique and thriving country, proud of its history and confident in its future.

Executive Response

A campaign incorporating advertising and branding is being developed for airports, stations and streets. Further details are set out later in this document.

We will support a project to exhibit and showcase Scottish creativity in design and architecture at airports. This will be curated by the Lighthouse, Scotland's Centre for Architecture Design and the City.

Recommendation

International gateways should:

­Ensure that appropriate onward transport facilities are available for arriving passengers, offering a choice of road and rail

Executive Response

We agree.

Ministers have put in place an ambitious programme of transport infrastructure investment, taking us up to the period around 2012. The unprecedented levels of investment in transport - due to rise to nearly £1.4bn by 2007-08 - will allow us to complete the central Scotland motorway network and undertake the greatest expansion of rail infrastructure in recent times, as well as investing in maintaining our existing road and rail networks and in public transport services.

As part of our major public transport infrastructure programme, we are developing new Edinburgh and Glasgow Airport Rail Links which will link these key airports to the national rail network for the first time.

Haymarket:

In January, the Executive allocated £750,000 to the City of Edinburgh Council to enable a feasibility study to be undertaken at Haymarket Station in order to understand the options for improvements in interchange, passenger facilities and how wider development might contribute to those improvements.

Edinburgh-Glasgow Fast Rail Study:

We are listening to the needs of business. If the business sector decides that this is a priority, then we will work in partnership with them on a jointly-funded scoping study to see just what might be achievable. A full feasibility study could look at a number of options, including funding alternatives, and would be likely to take several months. A "Bullet Train" would require major new track infrastructure.

Taxis and Private Hire Cars at Airports:

Taxi provision is a crucial part of a visitor's First Impression, and the Executive will work with BAA and private companies to ensure that the current level of provision, and the environ of queues and waiting areas is improved - making use of Promotion of Scotland material, and local information displays - to increase the overall comfort level and positive experience for the visitor.

The control of the operation of licensed taxis and private hire cars at the four main Scottish airports is a matter for the owners who have powers under airport byelaws to manage access to airport environs by any commercial concern. These byelaws have traditionally been used to manage increasingly busy forecourts at Scotland's fast-growing international airports.

BAA Edinburgh taxi system:

In regard to BAA Edinburgh, BAA Scotland currently operate a permit system to regulate the operation of licensed private hire cars and taxis at the airport. The permit system, says BAA Scotland, delivers a dedicated fleet of vehicles to meet customer demand at peak times. Similar systems are commonplace at airports and rail stations throughout the UK.

This system has attracted much comment in recent years. BAA Scotland expect the system to change entirely in January 2006, when the existing contracts with airport drivers expire. In future, taxi provision will be opened to all licensed cabs dropping off at the airport or travelling to the airport to solicit business and there will be a separate private hire provision to ensure the widest possible customer choice, ranging from the traditional cabs to comfortable saloon cars and people carriers for longer journeys, greater volumes of luggage etc.

The taxi development is part of a wider project to redevelop the entire airport forecourt.

Bus Services:

Most bus services in Scotland are provided commercially and this market approach is intended to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation. Local authorities do however have a key role in supporting bus services which are socially necessary and make subsidies available, if it so chooses, so that appropriate additional services are provided. This procedure allows local authorities to influence the frequency and routing of services, including off-peak services to meet local needs and priorities.

There are ongoing discussions between VisitScotland, First Scotrail, GNER and ferry operators to ensure that visitor needs and expectations are adequately met. VisitScotland will share market intelligence where appropriate to ensure that transport operators understand visitor needs and are able to meet them. VisitScotland believes that these productive discussions are moving forward and the increasing importance of the visitor experience is being recognised.

Information availability and the quality and availability of services are critical. Through the existing Traveline public transport information system and the new all-modes Transport Direct web-based information system, more information is already available to visitors about their onward travel options, including bus, car and rail. Discussions between VisitScotland and operators will also include an examination of how we can provide state of the art information facilities which will promote modern Scotland, provide information on local area, help visitors navigate, and generally be tangible evidence that visitors are valued and welcomed.

Recommendations

International gateways should:

­ Provide access to tourist information about Scotland and the local area

­ carry out regular surveys of customer satisfaction and publish the results.

VisitScotland should generate future information about visitors' First Impressions - for example through a short questionnaire postcard for completion by arriving hotel guests.

Executive response

VisitScotland will work closely with transport operators to ensure visitor needs and expectations are met at international gateways, including access to tourist information. A wide and comprehensive review of the provision of tourism information in Scotland is planned for Autumn 2005. As part of the review, VisitScotland will look at partnerships with transport operators and the opportunities transport hubs provide in ensuring visitor needs are met.

Good market information is essential to understanding and improving the experience of arriving visitors. VisitScotland carried out a Tourism Attitudes Survey in 1999, 2001 and 2004. The most recent survey interviewed around 700 visitors from the UK, USA, Canada, Spain and the Netherlands and found that 97% of visitors are very or quite satisfied with their holiday in Scotland. The survey does not ask specifically about first impressions but it does ask about expectations and whether these are met. 96% of visitors to Scotland have their expectations met or exceeded. Future surveys will look at first impressions in more detail.

BAA's Quality of Service (QSM) monitoring:

BAA has surveyed customer attitudes continuously since 1988. They seek views on every aspect of passenger facilities at our airports, from toilet cleanliness and seating arrangements to catering outlets. The QSM as it is known is now becoming an international benchmark for market surveys in airports across the world. BAA is committed to exploring the possibility of asking one or two specific questions of arriving passengers, relating to their first impressions of Scotland and its key gateways. Customer Service

Recommendations

• The Scottish Executive should commission work to establish existing economic benefits to Scotland from cruise ship business, and to estimate what additional benefits would accrue from greater efforts to attract and welcome cruise passengers.
• The international cruise business is growing rapidly and Scotland should work to benefit from it. Working with VisitScotland, Scottish Ministers should consider providing support to Scotland's ports to develop their cruise business, both in attracting ships to Scotland and developing the necessary facilities to handle them. The Scottish Executive should discuss with Forth Ports the possible benefits for the whole of Scotland to be derived from development of a new cruise terminal berth beyond the lock gates at Leith.
• Ports should take initiatives to work cooperatively with each other and with VisitScotland to attract cruise business to Scotland, for example by ensuring a strong Scottish presence at the annual Cruise Shipping event held in Miami. We must strive to ensure that a large proportion of our cruise business starts and ends here in Scotland.

Executive response

VisitScotland is monitoring the potential of the cruise market and we have asked them to make the promotion of Scotland as a destination, and the marketing of Scotland in their facilities, a priority in their discussions with ferry operators and port authorities. We will expect an interim report on their progress 6 months from now.

Scottish Ministers will listen to representations by port authorities regarding how we might assist the upgrading of docking and terminal facilities to accept cruise ships. We note that Forth Ports are currently considering plans to upgrade the facilities at Leith.

We will recommend that port authorities consult with Architecture and Design Scotland to review how ports can be made more attractive in terms of design and facilities and create an appropriate sense of arrival for cruise ships. (see previous)

Recommendations

• The Scottish Executive should examine how European legislation on competition among ground handling agents is interpreted at different airports in Europe.
• Scottish airports and airlines arriving in Scotland should consider whether they can tighten their baggage delivery targets to match the best overseas.

Executive Response

The Executive recognises that this is a critical area of importance to first impressions, both in terms of time taken for baggage to arrive, and regarding the environment and information displays of the baggage halls themselves.

Discussions with BAA Scotland on this matter will form an integral part of the Executive's Action Plan to dramatically improve First Impressions.

BAA Scotland baggage handling:

As part of a £13 million redevelopment of BAA Glasgow's international arrivals facility, new baggage handling capacity will be added, better able to meet peak demand during the busy summer season.

At BAA Edinburgh, BAA Scotland have recently completed an £11 million terminal development which included an extension to the main baggage hall, effectively delivering an increase in total baggage handling capacity.

In BAA Aberdeen, BAA Scotland have just completed a £1.5 million investment in baggage facilities, again increasing capacity.

Quality of Environment

Recommendation

Local authorities should work with gateway operators, landowners and local business and other organisations to take responsibility for the visual impact of the gateway's immediate surroundings on arriving visitors, including by increasing the frequency where necessary of litter collections.

Executive Response

We will enhance the visual quality our transport gateways. This will be done through a series of projects which range from commissioning high quality art works to utilising the creativity of our children and local communities, adding to the sense of place and to our appreciation of our cultural environment. Inverness Airport is already at the forefront of this with its Gateway Art Project. We will encourage others to follow their example.

Responsibility for aesthetic improvements, however, does not lie solely with the Scottish Executive, but requires partnership and a joined-up approach with all the interested parties such as airports authorities and airline operators.

VisitScotland's existing marketing activity and product development, like their new anti-litter campaign, already attempt to address some of the issues surrounding first impressions.

Visual impact at Edinburgh:

BAA and RBS are in (private-sector inspired) discussions with City of Edinburgh Council relating to improvements being made to the approach roads at Edinburgh. These discussions are progressing well.

Recommendations

• The Scottish Executive and Scottish Parliament should work with gateway operators to gauge the need for VIP facilities at ports of entry in Scotland and should ensure that accommodation and systems are put in place which reflect well on Scotland in welcoming its most important overseas visitors. (we will convene a forum to address these and other specific areas)
• In July 2005, Scotland will welcome thousands of influential delegates and journalists for the G8 Summit at Gleneagles. The Scottish Executive, and the local authorities and gateways who will be involved in welcoming these visitors, should work towards the Summit as a major opportunity to make a good First Impression. In particular they should provide arrival facilities appropriate to the seniority of VIP visitors.

Executive Response

The Scottish Executive recognises the importance and potential of the upcoming G8 summit at Gleneagles. The thousands of journalists and visitors to Gleneagles will be initially welcomed through the Scottish Village, which has already proved its worth at Tartan Week in New York where the Village attracted 250,000 visitors. The Village will be the media accreditation venue at G8, in addition to providing information and acting as a showcase for the rest of Scotland.

VisitScotland Edinburgh is working with accommodation providers to ensure that the marketing opportunity for those thousands of visitors is maximised.

Work to improve VIP facilities will require close involvement with all control authorities, particularly immigration officials. Representatives of these authorities will be asked to participate in the first impressions forum.

Sense of Place

Recommendations

• Agreement on the right image of Scotland to project at points of entry is long overdue and should be a priority. The Scottish Executive should develop advice and devise official branding for use in projecting Scotland at points of entry, and at points of departure to Scotland, and make it available for use by gateway operators and at road border crossings. Where possible, the branding should also be used at departure points to Scotland and in information provided en route.
• The Saltire should be used as part of the branding to help reinforce the sense of arrival in Scotland, as well as help develop international recognition of the national flag.
• In developing advice on branding, the Scottish Executive should ensure that responsibilities are clearly delineated and resources for maintenance and renewal are clearly identified, so that branding and other elements of the "sense of place" do not become orphaned or fall into disrepair.
• Regional branding should also be encouraged, within a Scottish context. The Scottish Executive should work with local authorities to ensure that national and local branding is consistent.
• The Scottish Executive should work with local authorities, VisitScotland, Enterprise Networks and others to upgrade the welcome at Scotland's two major road crossings to make them impressive and unmissable. At the very least, the national flag should be flown from the existing flag poles at the A1 border crossing, and at the A74 crossing. The border should be physically marked, and existing low-key welcome to Scotland signs should be upgraded to make them bolder and more noticeable. A new physical gateway or large-scale public art should be used to symbolise arrival in Scotland.

Executive Response

The Scottish Executive is taking forward an action plan to showcase Scotland at points of entry. With the support and assistance of airport operators, prominent sites have been secured at Scottish airports to welcome visitors and showcase aspects of contemporary Scotland. The advertising will incorporate a Saltire marque to help develop international recognition of the national flag and instill a sense of pride amongst Scots. This will be re-inforced by more prominent use of the Saltire flag in and around the airports. Elements of the artwork used at these sites will be changed at appropriate times to showcase key events or themes. This component of the action plan will be in place by the end of June 2005.

In addition to this work with airport operators, the Executive is working with rail authorities and city councils to promote Scotland in the run-up to, and during, the G8 summit. Advertising sites and street banners with images of Scotland and messages of welcome will be put in place over June. The impact of this approach will be reviewed to determine the scope to extend beyond G8.

New airport terminals developed in the last few years at Inverness, Kirkwall and Stornoway were designed as gateway facilities - providing a positive environment and proactive promotion of the area. The main airports in Scotland (BAA Aberdeen, BAA Edinburgh, BAA Glasgow and Glasgow Prestwick) are all interested in ensuring that the terminals provide a convivial welcoming atmosphere which provides a positive impression of the facilities of Scotland. We will work in partnership with them to ensure that the appropriate promotion of Scotland and its products is complementary to the business needs of these operations.

The Scottish Executive will commission and develop a project to design and create a unique sense of arrival/departure at the A1 and A74 border crossing points. This will potentially include artwork, signage the national flag and a welcome/farewell as appropriate (whether entering or leaving). We want to make it absolutely clear to visitors when they are entering or leaving Scotland, and from that first instant, so show that they are entering a dynamic environment which welcomes them.

Within 6 months of this report we will provide a progress report on these tangible improvements to our points of entry, and will already have branding in place at airports, ports etc.

Recommendations

International gateways should project Scotland to arriving passengers using:

• culture - art, language, literature, music and history. Gateways should use forthcoming celebrations such as the Year of Highland Culture in 2007 and the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns in 2009 - the "Year of Homecoming" - as opportunities to mark these aspects of Scottish culture;
• public art: competitions should be used to inspire creative public art contributions for gateways from Scots themselves;
• design: new gateway developments, redevelopments and expansions should reflect a sense of place and Scotland's tradition of imagination and innovation, and should allow space for exhibitions and cultural performances;
• traditional symbols of Scotland: gateways should celebrate visitors' expectations of Scotland, and add to them to portray Scotland as it is now;
• advertising: gateway operators should work with companies to provide appropriate advertising and other images in and around their terminal to create positive Scottish impressions and associations;
• media: gateway operators should make better use of spaces where arriving passengers linger - particularly in baggage halls, at taxi ranks, security checks and waiting for other forms of onward transport. Free copies of local newspapers could be provided for arriving international passengers. Video screens and video walls should be used, with subtitles in noisy environments, to provide variety, to address welcome messages in English and other languages to known visitor groups and to provide up-to-date images and messages to celebrate Scotland and Scottish successes;
• welcome signage: international points of entry should use the official branding made available by the Scottish Executive. Bilingual English and Gaelic signs should be used where appropriate to emphasise the sense of place.

Executive response

The Executive agrees that culture and design at points of entry are vital. The report's recommendations on use of design, public art, video clips, attractive advertisement of cultural events and festivals (posters, written material, performance, and small exhibitions and displays) are very welcome indeed.

Transport terminals can provide the opportunity to showcase Scottish architecture and design of outstanding quality, artwork, cultural activities and local creative businesses to project a sense of Scottish identity. The Lighthouse Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City will oversee the development and implementation of a design/exhibition system to achieve this.

The aesthetic quality of our transport gateways will be enhanced by commissioning high quality design and building, and public art works. The Executive will work with gateway operators to encourage them to develop this work, for example by running a design competition for students. We will also work with cultural agencies and Architecture and Design Scotland to secure the highest quality 'best practice' design criteria are applied to international gateways.

The opportunity to promote well known national images, juxtaposed with exciting projections of "Scotland as it is now" is one not to be missed. Initiatives such as boosting tourism and 'promotion of Scotland' can only benefit from updating people's perceptions (arts/culture have a unique ability to do this in ways that get noticed), creating high quality environments, and promoting excellent cultural facilities and expositions at visitor reception points. The Cultural Policy Statement of last year stressed the longer-term objective to position Scotland as "an internationally recognised creative hub". This recognition should be fostered at the overseas visitor's point of arrival. Cultural and architectural policy officials will work closely with transport colleagues to actively take forward this agenda.

Bilingual English and Gaelic signs where appropriate ,such as providing a Gaelic welcome, help to provide a sense of place and identity. The Executive will encourage the development of these signs, as has already happened in parts of the train network and will report examples of our success in our report in six months time.

Information

Recommendation

International gateways should use enthusiastic people to provide welcomes and information, making them numerous and visible. People from different facilities and transport modes and from the community should be trained together to ensure that welcoming visitors is seen as everyone's business.

We agree.

VisitScotland, the enterprise networks, organisations like Springboard and education providers across the country continue to develop links with and opportunities for the industry to develop high standards of customer care skills. This is an area that requires attention and only by working together can this be achieved. In our recent spending review an extra £3 million was allocated to strengthening the Quality Assurance scheme to ensure that quality through the grading scheme is enhanced. We will be working much more closely with the industry through our new industry engagement directorate to enhance the knowledge base and ensure a consistent quality of service across the country. It is also very important to engage with businesses who do not ordinarily view themselves part of the tourism product. The new VisitScotland directorate is engaging much more widely than the former Area Tourist Board network. It is also imperative that the industry lead and drive forward local tourism initiatives.

BAA ambassadors and guides:

BAA's airports at Edinburgh and Glasgow have introduced ambassadors/guides to provide general assistance to people travelling through the airports. Mainly young people and/or local hospitality and tourism students, the two initiatives have been warmly welcomed by passengers and have attracted attention from at least one US airport wishing to mirror the arrangement in North America.

Recommendations

• VisitScotland should work with points of entry to ensure that international gateways either have dedicated tourist information desks or that their staff have appropriate training, including language training, to deal with inquiries for tourist information.
• The Scottish Executive, VisitScotland and EventScotland should ensure that ports of entry are notified of major events which will generate significant numbers of visitors or which could be promoted to new arrivals at gateways.
• VisitScotland should ensure that information boards are kept up to date, should explore possible benefits in using technology to provide voice or video links to tourist information offices from gateways which do not have dedicated information desks, and should investigate the possibility of providing a free information telephone service for use by overseas visitors while in Scotland.
• Gateway operators should use English-only signs, except where Gaelic is used as suggested above to emphasise a sense of place. Signage should be standardised to be intelligible to visitors who do not speak English. Written explanatory information should be available in other languages on request.

Executive response

The provision of accurate, up-to-date and easy to access information is key to the visitor experience. A recent customer satisfaction survey found 97% of users of Tourist Information Centres (TICs) were satisfied with the experience. However, we need to look at whether TICs are in the right place, and ensure that how we provide information makes good use of technology. A broad review of tourist information and sales will be carried out later in the year by the new tourism network which will address these issues.

Visit Scotland and Event Scotland will ensure that transport operators are aware of forthcoming events to ensure that efficient transport solutions are provided that will help maximise attendance.Onward transport

Recommendations

Scottish Ministers, local authorities and BAA Glasgow and BAA Edinburgh should accelerate provision of rail links to BAA Glasgow and BAA Edinburgh to bring these gateways up to the standard of European counterparts. Rail links should be supplemented by high quality bus or tram services.

Executive Response

This is in hand.

The Scottish Executive is committed to rail links to both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports - providing transport links that the Scottish economy needs - providing better links for business and for visitors to Scotland. The Scottish Executive is working with Strathclyde Passenger Transport and tie (Transport Initiatives Edinburgh) to deliver rail links to Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports and Tram Line Two as fast as possible within their project plans: 2008 for Glasgow and 2010 for Edinburgh.

Private Bills are required for these projects and to this end the Scottish Executive has made significant funds available to SPT and tie to promote the BAA Glasgow and BAA Edinburgh Rail links and Tram Line Two to Parliamentary Powers. The Bill for Tram Line Two is being considered by the Scottish Parliament and Bills for both rail links are expected to be submitted to the Scottish Parliament before the Summer Recess.

Recommendation

VisitScotland should work with transport operators to ensure that information on Scotland is provided to passengers travelling to Scotland at points of departure and en route, and that visitors booking travel to Scotland via its website or telephone line can also book all forms of onward travel from their port of entry.

Executive Response

We agree.

Public transport information and journey planning in Scotland is available from Traveline Scotland, and a link to this facility can be found on the Visit Scotland travel page, allowing travellers the facility to plan their onward journeys throughout Scotland from the internet or by calling an experienced team on 0870 608 2 608.

Transport Direct, a UK wide internet only transport journey planning and information service now offers comparative information on all modes of transport including the private car and journey planning between any two points in the country. Visit Scotland intends to add a link to Transport Direct to its internet site. Transport Direct is currently available via the Visit Britain internet site and offers the traveller the facility to plan journeys across the UK, by all modes of transport, and to purchase rail and coach tickets for a number of journeys via links to relevant websites. The on-line ticket purchasing facility is being developed to include ferry operators in Scotland.