Tourism Development Framework

Delivering for the visitor economy

The Tourism Development Framework for Scotland: role of the planning system in delivering the Visitor Economy (the Framework) has been prepared to assist and promote growth in Scotland’s visitor economy to 2020.

The primary purpose of this Framework is to:

• Provide guidance to planning authorities to help secure growth in the visitor economy
• Highlight future opportunities for investment and development to all councils and other stakeholders
• Promote actions needed to support growth in a structured and consistent manner to the Scottish planning system.

Additionally, it will help businesses in the tourism industry by focusing on two key parts of the national tourism strategy Tourism Scotland 2020 development strategy:

1. Improving the Customer Journey
2. Providing Authentic Experiences

A refresh of the initial document, first published in July 2013 was undertaken in 2016. 

Action Plans

In support of the main Framework, partners involved in supplying content for the document were asked to identify projects directly linked to its various sections.

A list of these is provided below and is accurate as at December 2016. These are projects which will improve the customer experience and which will either start, continue or be completed over the next three years (2017 – 2019).