Scotland’s latest tourism sentiment figures record broad support for tourism alongside lower agreement that local people are involved in decisions about it.
The Scottish Government published the Scottish Household Survey tourism sentiment results for 2025 on 27 August 2026. The publication contains responses to questions on tourism benefits, visitor pressure, tourism impact management, local involvement and tourism and hospitality jobs.
The Scottish Household Survey is an annual survey of the general population in Scotland. It has been carried out since 1999.
In 2025, 48 per cent of adults agreed that tourism was good for their local area. Twelve per cent disagreed.
Agreement was higher in rural and island areas. In rural areas, 63 per cent of adults agreed that tourism was good for their local area. In island areas, 87 per cent agreed.
Visitor Pressure
The survey also asked whether visitors were putting too much pressure on local areas.
Across Scotland, eight per cent of adults agreed that visitors were putting too much pressure on their local area. Fifty-five per cent disagreed.
In island areas, 39 per cent agreed that visitors were putting too much pressure on their local area. The local-authority results recorded higher levels of agreement in Orkney, Highland, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan Siar than the national average.
The survey results therefore show different patterns by geography. Island and rural areas recorded higher agreement that tourism was good for the local area, while island areas also recorded higher agreement that visitors were putting pressure on the local area.
Community Involvement
The community involvement question produced lower agreement.
Across Scotland, 11 per cent of adults agreed that people in their local area were involved in making decisions about tourism. Twenty-four per cent disagreed.
Many respondents selected neither agree nor disagree, did not know, or said the question was not applicable.
The result records public perception of involvement, not a direct audit of consultation processes, council decisions, destination-management groups or tourism organisations.
The same publication includes results on perceptions of tourism impact management and tourism and hospitality jobs.
The Strategy Record
Scotland’s current tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, was launched in March 2020.
The strategy was developed through collaboration involving the Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Government, VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland.
Scotland Outlook 2030 describes a vision for Scotland to become a world leader in 21st-century tourism. The strategy uses the language of responsible tourism, sustainable growth, community, place and visitor experience.
The national strategy has since been tracked through a performance framework. The Scotland Outlook 2030 tracker, published by VisitScotland, includes measures linked to regional spread, responsible tourism, visitor experience, business resilience, workforce and community.
Tourism policy therefore sits between national economic objectives and local experience of visitor numbers, services, housing, infrastructure and seasonal pressure.
The Rural And Island Record
Rural and island tourism has its own policy context.
The Scottish Government’s tourism policy sits beside islands policy, transport policy, housing, short-term lets regulation, visitor management, ferry services, local-authority capacity and the work of destination-management organisations.
VisitScotland’s visitor management work has included a national visitor management group. The group brings together public bodies and partner organisations to consider pressure at visitor hotspots, public messaging and local management.
The Scottish Household Survey results do not identify the causes of visitor pressure in each local area. They record public sentiment across different geographies.
The local-authority and rural-island breakdowns add a current data point to a record that has changed since the Covid period, when tourism and hospitality moved through closure, reopening, domestic travel surges, staffing pressure, short-term-let regulation and inflation.
What The Survey Adds
The 2025 survey results add a public-perception measure to Scotland’s tourism record.
The figures show agreement that tourism benefits local areas, especially in island and rural Scotland. They also show higher reported visitor pressure in island areas and low agreement that local people are involved in tourism decisions.
Those findings now sit alongside Scotland Outlook 2030, VisitScotland’s tracker and visitor-management work.
The next survey results will show whether the pattern changes after further strategy delivery, local tourism planning and visitor-management activity.
Sources
Scottish Household Survey: Tourism Sentiment, 2025, 27 August 2026
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-tourism-sentiment-2025/
Scottish Household Survey: Tourism Sentiment, 2025 — Introduction, 27 August 2026
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-tourism-sentiment-2025/pages/introduction/
Scottish Household Survey: Tourism Sentiment, 2025 — Perceptions of tourism benefits, 27 August 2026
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-tourism-sentiment-2025/pages/perceptions-of-impact-of-tourism-in-local-area/
Scottish Household Survey: Tourism Sentiment, 2025 — Perceptions of visitor pressure, 27 August 2026
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-tourism-sentiment-2025/pages/perceptions-of-visitor-pressure-in-local-area/
Scottish Household Survey: Tourism Sentiment, 2025 — Perceptions of tourism impact management, 27 August 2026
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-tourism-sentiment-2025/pages/perceptions-of-tourism-impact-management/
Scottish Household Survey: Tourism Sentiment, 2025 — Community involvement in tourism decisions, 27 August 2026
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-tourism-sentiment-2025/pages/community-involvement-in-tourism-decisions/
Scottish Household Survey: Tourism Sentiment, 2025 — Perceptions of tourism and hospitality jobs, 27 August 2026
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-tourism-sentiment-2025/pages/perceptions-of-tourism-and-hospitality-jobs/
Scotland’s National Tourism Strategy, accessed 27 August 2026
https://www.visitscotland.org/tourism-events-industry/strategies/national-tourism
Scotland Outlook 2030, accessed 27 August 2026
https://scottishtourismalliance.co.uk/scotland-outlook-2030-overview/
Scotland Outlook 2030 Tracker, 10 March 2026
https://www.visitscotland.org/news/scotland-outlook-tracker-2030
National Tourism Strategy Performance Tracker, 2026
https://www.visitscotland.org/binaries/content/assets/dot-org/pdf/research-insights/so2030-tracker-2026.pdf
Visitor Management Group, May 2025
https://www.visitscotland.org/tourism-events-industry/groups/visitor-management-group
