Scotland's marine economic statistics 2018
Statistics on the economic contributions of Scotland’s marine sectors in 2018. Includes a time series of Gross Value Added (GVA), turnover and employment for industrial categories defined as part of the marine sector.
11. Marine tourism and recreation
11.1 Introduction
In 2018, 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[10] 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 2018, marine tourism generated £579 million GVA: accounting for 0.4% of the overall Scottish economy and 13% of the marine economy GVA.
The marine tourism industry provided employment for 29,700 people (headcount), contributing 1.1% of the total Scottish employment. It is the biggest marine economy employer accounting for 40% 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 2018. Thus marine tourism is estimated to account for around 14% of all Scottish tourism, which is similar to the 2017 figure.
11.3 Marine tourism – trends
From 2017 to 2018, the GVA from marine tourism (adjusted to 2018 prices) decreased by 6%, while the longer term trend from 2009 to 2018 showed that marine tourism GVA increased by 55%.
From 2009 to 2018, employment increased by 22%.
| Year | GVA | Turnover | Employment | GVA Per Head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £M | £M | Headcount 000's | £ | |
| 2009 | 373 | 780 | 24.4 | 15,279 |
| 2010 | 429 | 868 | 22.9 | 18,743 |
| 2011 | 446 | 910 | 24.4 | 18,288 |
| 2012 | 494 | 978 | 24.2 | 20,398 |
| 2013 | 567 | 1,040 | 29.3 | 19,344 |
| 2014 | 593 | 1,057 | 26.7 | 22,219 |
| 2015 | 510 | 951 | 29.7 | 17,157 |
| 2016 | 576 | 1,071 | 28.4 | 20,290 |
| 2017 | 613 | 1,058 | 28.2 | 21,738 |
| 2018 | 579 | 1,038 | 29.7 | 19,498 |
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 Clyde region was the largest contributor to marine tourism GVA in 2018 at £160 million (28% of the GVA), and to employment in 2018, (26% of the employment). The Forth and Tay region was the next highest accounting for 26% of the GVA and 24% of the employment.
| SMR | GVA | Turnover £M | Headcount |
|---|---|---|---|
| £M | '000s | ||
| Clyde | 159.7 | 299.2 | 7.8 |
| Forth and Tay | 153.3 | 267.9 | 7 |
| Moray Firth | 73.2 | 130 | 3.6 |
| West Highlands | 72.4 | 123.2 | 3.4 |
| North East | 39 | 69.1 | 2 |
| Argyll | 34.7 | 63.8 | 1.8 |
| Solway | 18 | 31.4 | 1.2 |
| Orkney Islands | 11 | 20.9 | 0.7 |
| Outer Hebrides | 9.1 | 17.1 | 0.8 |
| Shetland Isles | 4.8 | 9.6 | 1 |
| North Coast | 3.8 | 6.2 | 0.4 |
| Grand Total | 579.1 | 1,038 | 29.7 |
Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) 2020. Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right
Contact
Email: marineanalysis@gov.scot
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