Tourism and hospitality industry leadership group | Update

What is the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group?

The Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group (ILG) provides strategic direction to drive Scotland’s ambition to be a world leader in 21st century tourism. 

The group provides strategic leadership to help grow the visitor economy and champions the national tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, a key component of the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET). 

The latest meeting took place in May 2025. Read the meeting round-up for an overview of what was discussed.

Latest meeting round-up

The latest meeting was held on 14 May 2025. The group’s co-chair Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Business, joined the meeting and welcomed six new members to the group.  

The Minister highlighted how far the group has come since it was established in 2022, offering his appreciation for the strategic direction the group provides for the industry. He also expressed his excitement for the Tour de France Grand Départ coming to Scotland, alongside other major events that we will host in the coming years. 

Lesley Judge from Interface and Kenny Auld from Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park presented on the use of digital solutions to address visitor management challenges, followed by a discussion from the group on how this could work in practice.  

The agenda also covered each of the five mission areas of the ILG. Key discussion points included:

• proud and valued people working for Scotland – a discussion on the new Tourism and Hospitality Skills Toolkit and a consideration of how best to increase awareness and understanding among businesses and staff of support that is available.
• data and technology empowerment – meetings of the Scottish Tourism Data Partnership have commenced with sessions in February and April, featuring guest speakers to highlight best practice.
• community-led tourism – a review of the SCOTO conference in February that brought together 120 attendees with a specific interest in community-led tourism. There was also a national B-Corp event in March and Community Tourism Awareness Day in April.
• pathway towards net zero – members of the group expressed a desire to be more ambitious and pursue actions with a greater impact. Emphasis was on the need for clear messaging to ensure Scotland plays a leading role.
• sustainable transport - the influence that the group has had on rail industry stakeholders following the sustainable transport deep-dive at January’s meeting, as well as its linkages to the other mission groups.

Minutes for the May meeting will be published when they are approved by the Tourism and Hospitality ILG members at the next meeting in September. 

VisitScotland update

Our CEO Vicki Miller also joined the meeting to present VisitScotland’s new Corporate Plan for 2025-2028.

Following the meeting, Vicki said:

"It was a pleasure to attend the recent ILG meeting to talk to members about VisitScotland's corporate plan and highlight how we aim to drive the visitor economy and grow its value to Scotland. Throughout the day we had encouraging and insightful discussions about the long-term opportunities and challenges facing our industry, and importantly, the group members demonstrated their commitment to provide essential leadership as we continue to develop our sector to meet those opportunities and challenges."

Background

The ILG is a network of individuals from across the public, private and the third sector. Together, they have knowledge and experience of destinations, sectors and businesses spanning Scotland, the UK and across the globe.  

The ILG co-chaired by Richard Lochhead, Minister for Business, and Marc Crothall, Chief Executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance. Judy Rae, of OnFife Cultural Trust, is vice-chair.   

This group helps to drive recovery and sustainable growth across both tourism and hospitality in the long term. It also supports work to grow the value and enhance the benefits of tourism across Scotland.