Loch Ken Eco Bothies - The Osprey, Dumfries & Galloway. © VisitScotland / Kenny Lam |
A future built on insight: key trends for Scotland’s visitor economy |
In today’s rapidly changing world, having an informed outlook isn’t just important – it’s essential. As global trends evolve at pace, understanding their impact is vital to helping Scotland’s tourism and events industry continue to grow, adapt, and thrive.
At VisitScotland, insights drive everything we do. Through horizon scanning and secondary research, we explore the shifting interests, behaviours, and attitudes of consumers. By monitoring the wider environment, we identify the trends influencing how visitors choose to travel, what they value, and what motivates their decisions.
This year, we’re sharing a mix of new and familiar trends that will shape tourism in 2026. Central to this is the transformation economy, with visitors increasingly seeking meaningful, restorative, and enriching experiences. We’re seeing demand grow for community connected travel, multigenerational breaks, and products that offer value through flexibility and personal relevance. Technology also continues to play a role, with artificial intelligence and augmented reality evolving the visitor experience and creating new opportunities for engagement.
Our trends forecast supports our wider work to understand consumer motivations and help businesses shape products that better attract and connect with future visitors. Together, this enables sustainable growth in our visitor economy and helps ensure Scotland remains a must visit, year round destination. Read this and more in your latest edition of Tourism Insider.
Kind regards
Vicki Miller
Chief Executive, VisitScotland |
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We’ve released the key travel trends set to shape Scotland’s tourism and events industry in 2026. Trends for 2026: The Transformation Economy outlines nine global forces influencing how visitors travel and connect. Explore the full insights on our website to understand what they mean for our industry and your business. |
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Get the highlights in our news story and hear more from Cat Leaver, Director of Strategy and Competitive Intelligence. |
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Place and destination development |
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Cyclists competing in Edinburgh. © SWpix |
Full Tour de France route revealed |
The full route of the opening stage of the 2027 Tour de France has been revealed. Starting in Edinburgh, the men’s race will head south through Midlothian, the Scottish Borders, and Dumfries & Galloway. Major events bring social and economic benefits to our communities. This event should create a lasting legacy that endures long after the race has finished. |
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Sustainable destination development programme |
We’re inviting destinations from across Scotland to submit an initial expression of interest to be part of our sustainable destination development programme. It will provide guidance, practical tools and a consistent framework to help destinations fully integrate sustainability into their activity. Find out about our new programme and get your destination organisation involved. |
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People at Aberdeen Art Gallery. © VisitScotland |
Stepping into 2026, there’s so much to look forward to including new travel trends, campaigns, and exciting opportunities to share Scotland with the world. But before we race ahead, we've taken a moment to celebrate some of the outstanding marketing highlights from last year.
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Smailholm Castle, Scottish Borders. © Visit Kelso |
| New map live on visitscotland.com |
We’ve launched an enhanced map experience using Google Places UI, making it easier to find accommodation, attractions, and experiences. Search by text or category, view results, and explore via Google Maps. Check it out and share your feedback through the banner link.
Let us know what you think |
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Comedians Fatiha El-Ghorri and John Tothill |
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We're excited to collaborate with Channel 4 on a new episode of Where to Next? It forms part of our new marketing storytelling push to target UK visitors. Comedians John Tothill and Fatiha El-Ghorri battle it out to be the “best tourist” on their trip to Scotland.
See what the comedians got up to |
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Fyrish Monument, Highlands, recently featured on the Traitors. © VisitScotland |
| Set-jetting with STV Radio |
Our STV set-jetting campaign, in partnership with the newly launched STV Radio, went live to audiences across Scotland from 19 January, and will run for four weeks. We’re encouraging listeners to connect with – and explore – the locations that showcase Scotland across film and television.
More on the activity |
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Business and experience development |
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Scottish Thistle Awards 2025 national final. © VisitScotland |
Scottish Thistle Awards bitesize webinar – get ready to be a 2026 winner |
Join us on 26 February, just before entries open for the 2026 Scottish Thistle Awards, to discover what makes the awards different from any other in the industry and why you should enter. At this 30-minute webinar, learn how to make your entry stand out, what the judges are looking for and how winning can bring real benefits to your business or event. |
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Discover how to build climate resilience in your tourism or events business. The Adaptation & Climate Resilience in the Tourism Sector webinar, being held on 5 February, shares expert insights, practical tools, and real sector case studies to help you assess climate risks, explore adaptation opportunities, and confidently plan for a more sustainable future. Sign up to attend.
Our VisitScotland Connect 2026 Travel Distribution in-person seminar, on 14 April at the SEC in Glasgow, offers an introduction to the global travel distribution landscape for businesses specialising in bookable tourism experiences. This full day event includes presentations and panel sessions from experience-focused OTA'S and tour operators, 1 to 1 meetings and more. Book your space today.
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VisitScotland, Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8BG |
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