Marine economic statistics 2017: corrected April 2020

Statistics on economic contributions of Scotland’s marine sectors present a time series of Gross Value Added (GVA), turnover and employment for industrial categories defined as part of the marine sector. This publication was originally published in October 2019 and was corrected in April 2020.


11. Marine Tourism and Recreation

11.1 Introduction

In 2017, Marine Scotland developed the methodology for estimating marine tourism and recreation, separately from all tourism. This is based on SABS SIC codes used in the SABS reporting on Sustainable Tourism growth sectors[11] and where businesses are located in postcodes within 100 metres of the coastline. While this may include some businesses that are not marine-related, and not include some that are marine-related, it provides a reasonable and replicable method of estimating the economic contributions of marine tourism and recreation businesses using existing data.

11.2 Key economic points

In 2017 marine tourism generated £594 million GVA: accounting for 0.45% of the overall Scottish economy and 12% of the marine economy GVA.

The marine tourism industry provided employment for 28,300 people (headcount), contributing 1.14% of the total Scottish employment. It is the biggest marine economy employer accounting for 38% of the marine economy employment. The figures in this report are headcounts so while marine tourism and recreation dominates marine economy employment figures, the full time equivalent employment will be significantly smaller because of the seasonal nature of tourism and recreation and the part time nature of the employment.

Scottish tourism as a whole was estimated to be worth £4.1 billion in GVA in 2017. Thus marine tourism is estimated to account for around 14% of all Scottish tourism, which is similar to the 2016 figure.

11.3 Marine tourism - trends

From 2016 to 2017, the GVA from marine tourism (adjusted to 2017 prices) increased by 5%, while the longer term trend from 2008 to 2017 showed that marine tourism GVA increased by 28%.

From 2008 to 2017, employment increased by 16%.

Table 16: Marine tourism - GVA, turnover, employment and GVA per head, 2008 to 2017 (2017 prices)
Year GVA
£M
Turnover
£M
Employment Headcount
000's
GVA Per Head
£
2008 462 910 24.3 19,028
2009 364 762 24.4 14,915
2010 419 847 22.9 18,289
2011 436 888 24.4 17,850
2012 482 956 24.2 19,929
2013 554 1,016 29.3 18,897
2014 580 1,034 26.7 21,730
2015 499 932 29.7 16,800
2016 565 1,050 28.4 19,900
2017 594 1,018 28.3 20,989
Figure 18 : Marine tourism - GVA and employment (headcount), 2008 to 2017 (2017 prices)
Figure 18 : Marine tourism - GVA and employment (headcount), 2008 to 2017 (2017 prices)

11.4 Marine tourism by geography

The marine tourism economic values were disaggregated to Scottish Marine Regions (attribution by local authority is partially disclosive due to the small quantity of data). While SMRs are geographies that relate to the sea, marine tourism is earned on land and so Figure 19 shows outputs around the coast.

The Forth and Tay region was the largest contributor to marine tourism GVA in 2017 at £154 million (26% of the GVA), while the Clyde region contributed 7,200 jobs, (26% of the employment), which was slightly higher than the Forth and Tay.

Table 17: Marine tourism - GVA, turnover and employment, by SMR, 2017
SMR GVA
£M
Turnover
£M
Headcount
'000s
Forth and Tay 154 254 6.5
Clyde 136 245 7.2
Moray Firth 75 127 3.4
West Highlands 59 94 3.3
North East 47 84 2.0
Shetland Isles 37 66 0.9
Solway 28 47 1.4
Argyll 26 45 1.7
Orkney Islands 14 22 0.7
Outer Hebrides 13 24 0.7
North Coast 7 10 0.4
Grand Total 594 1,018 28.3
Figure 19: Marine tourism GVA by Scottish Marine Region, 2017
Figure 19: Marine tourism GVA by Scottish Marine Region, 2017

Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) 2019
Contains National Statistics data ©
Crown copyright and database right

Contact

Email: Venetia.Haynes@gov.scot

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