RISING TREND: The value of business tourism to Scotland's economy grew by nearly 50% in the first quarter of the year, VisitScotland revealed yesterday, writes Paul Rogerson.
Business tourists accounted for one third of all tourism spending, up from 24% last year in destinations such as St Andrews, pictured, which recently hosted a conference for the Institute of Directors.
Total spending attributable to business tourism reached (pounds) 303m during the period, up from (pounds) 206m in the first three months of 2002,
when the industry was reeling from the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Some 871,000 business tourists came to Scotland in the first quarter, compared with under 700,000 in 2002.
Caroline Packman, VisitScotland's head of business tourism, said: ''Scotland is increasingly becoming a popular destination for business tourism and last year we saw a significant rise in the amount of people coming here for that very purpose.
''It's a market that continues to grow and contribute significantly to our economy, and we're ideally placed to take advantage.''
Even though the total number of tourists for the first quarter actually fell slightly, to 3.9 million, the figures confirm that business tourists spend more money - (pounds) 112 per night compared with (pounds) 49.50 for non-business spending.
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