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Tourism visitors up 10 pct in Scotland in 2014 financial year

Xinhua, July 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

Overseas and domestic tourism visitors to Scotland have both increased by 10 percent in the last year to the end of March 2015, latest figures showed on Thursday.

A total of over 15.7 million overseas and domestics tourists visited Scotland in the 2014 financial year and spent over 4.9 billion pounds (about 7.63 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 10 percent from the previous 12 months, according to the British Office of National Statistics and VisitScotland.

The figures also show an increase of North American visitors (31 percent) who spent 50 percent more in the past year than in previous years.

The majority of overseas visitors continue to come from Europe with numbers of visitors and expenditure increasing by six percent and one percent respectively.

The 10-percent increase in domestic visitors is set against a two-percent decrease in domestic visitors for Britain as a whole.

Scottish Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing hailed the latest figures as "hugely encouraging for the Scottish tourism industry".

"The rise in both visitors and expenditure show that Scotland is a destination that offers quality experiences and visitors are prepared to spend their money in our hotels, tourism attractions and restaurants," he noted.

Recent figures show the Scottish tourism initiative Homecoming 2014 generated 136 million pounds of additional revenue for the Scottish economy. Scotland is determined to build on the legacy through other themed years, according to Ewing. (1 pound = 1.56 U.S. dollars) Endit