 Dyswn i dweud o'i neun ar gyfer y tincwêr am allain a'i eu maen nhw'n fwyaf i'r gwylltei. Fy ff repetio'r llaw cael eu cyfnodau i gyfoesu cymdeithasol, i gael eitemio i molliau ym 9.70 ac i'r nifarwch eibol yn twydd, yn y Cymru ar y Tyll Llywodraeth, gan y mynd iworknodau bydscudio. Mae'n perthynau o'r blynydd, ac mae gwäith rydw i'n meddwl i'r fwyaf i sicrhau Llewyddiol, iddiw i fod i wneud eu cwmalu'n unrhyw o'r dwylo i ddweud yn rhaid i gyd ychydigol i mobol iawn i Erlen Tweed, neu o'r yau ar gyfer y maen nhw. Fel ydy, mae'r ddweud am y dweud o gaddigio mwy ffordd o'r gwaith ysbytydau yn ystyried ddweud. Felly mae'n ddigwydd i gynnig o'r sefydlu yICG. Mae ddweud ar gyfer y gydigig ysbytydau hefyd o'r ddweud i'r erud. Thank you to all members who will contribute this evening. Coordinated by the Scottish Tourism Alliance the aim of this month is to engage, connect and inspire all of Scotland's tourism industry. It celebrates the enormous contribution tourism has on Scotland's economy and is an opportunity to showcase what our country has to offer domestic and international visitors. After two long hard years, this is a critical time for tourism. A focus is required to address some of the issues facing the sector whilst declaring Scotland open for business. After all, Scotland may be a wee nation, but there's nothing small about our offer. Scotland boasts big, beautiful landscapes with 30,000 locks, 282 Monroe's and around 3,000 castles. Our incredible food and drink is of the highest quality and world-renowned, even if the more squeamish tourists may think twice about trying haggis. As Scotland celebrates the year of stories in 2022, we enjoy stories and poetry of centuries of Scottish history filled with epic battles and equally epic romances. Every year, millions of visitors enjoy our cities and towns bursting with culture, talent and creativity. Remember, Edinburgh festival fringe is still the largest arts festival in the world. Scotland has something to offer everyone, no matter the season or the weather. As Billy Connelly once said, there are two seasons in Scotland, June and winter, and I promise that the rain does get a little warmer in the summer. Bran Scotland is one of the strongest national identities in the world, and in recent years, thanks to the success of popular shows such as Outlander, tourism has boomed at historic sites such as Dooncastle, which has seen visitor numbers rise by 200 per cent. Scottish tourism is an economic and social powerhouse. It creates wealth, jobs and social benefits in every part of the country, while enhancing the wellbeing of our holidaymakers. Spending by visitors in Scotland generates around £11.5 billion of economic activity for the wider Scottish supply chain. It directly contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP, and 8.5 per cent of all businesses in Scotland are related to tourism. Tourism is a driving force for providing the jobs of today and tomorrow. For every £60,000 spent by visitors, a new job is created in Scotland. In 2019, in 4th valley alone, there were 683,000 overnight visits, 8.1 million day visits and a spend of £328 million. However, that strong and iconic sector arguably took a bigger hit than most during the pandemic. A Visit Scotland survey in 2020 found that 99 per cent of businesses had experienced cancellations, a decline in bookings or fewer visitors. Many of those businesses experienced losses of up to £50,000, with some seeing losses substantially higher. By the end of 2020, over a third of Scottish businesses overall reported to Visit Scotland that they did worse than expected when they reopened in early autumn, although one in four did better. To say that it has been a dark and worrying time for our tourism industry would be an understatement. However, it is always darkest before the dawn. With the confidence strides that we are making out of Covid, there are encouraging signs of what lies ahead. In my constituency, B&Bs on the eastern shores of Ohlomond advise that visitors are booking up very early for the year ahead and in numbers. Stirling Castle are developing exciting plans for the new season and are seeing visitors returning. Go Ape in Aberfoil had one of their busiest years on record last year. Their hope is that, with the world becoming ever more conscious of its carbon footprint, the staycation trend is here to stay. A silver lining of the pandemic for me was the Scottish staycations that I shared with my family. We even had one in my constituency, one of the lockdowns, which was absolutely fantastic. We had some of our best holidays ever. Scotland truly is a beautiful, amazing and welcoming place. A wee plug, if you haven't been to Stirlingshire, please come and see us soon. We need to make sure that we capitalise on our staycation offer to boost our economies and see for ourselves what a wonderful country we live in and what it has to offer. Trade is returning, however, any growth we see in tourism must be sustainable. Parts of rural Scotland in particular have become bucket list destinations, which brings with it significant challenges around labour, housing for staff, infrastructure and connectivity. We must work together to seek solutions to those issues and ensure that our tourism sector is viable, sustainable and thriving for the future. Scotland is throwing open its doors to allow our vitally important tourism industry to flourish once more. My message today is a very simple one. Scotland is open for business and we can't wait to see you. I now call on Willie Coffey, who joins us remotely, to be followed by Shandey for around four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I start, of course, by thanking Edlin Tweed for bringing this debate into Parliament, and it certainly comes at a really important time for the tourism industry in Scotland as we slowly begin to emerge from two years of restrictions due to Covid. To say that our tourism industry took a hammering during Covid is a huge understatement, but the signs are that it is recovering slowly as we move into spring and hopefully into a warm and welcoming summer. Edlin Tweed's motion supported by many members in the Parliament recognises the huge difficulties faced by the industry, but also applauds the wonderful efforts by the sector to get back in its feet, particularly in promoting wellness and the important part that plays in reversing the sense of isolation that we all felt during the darkest days of the pandemic. Wasn't it the worst feeling, Presiding Officer, not to be able to go out or travel somewhere to a favourite spot in Scotland to spend a day or so, enjoy a break, helping the local economy at the same time, or to make that trip to the sun that so many enjoy? I recall the nearest I got was to visit the waterside hotel in Seamill with my partner when it was only permitted to travel inside your health board area. The restrictions were well enforced but the welcome that we got from the staff was pretty special and you could tell that they were genuinely delighted that we had made the effort to come. What has definitely emerged from the pandemic experience, Presiding Officer, is that many more people have begun to enjoy walking more than ever before, enjoying the local countryside, ill walks and the wonderful beach walks in Ayrshire, featured in TV by Kate Humble, as she walked Ayrshire's coastal pathways, taking in Cullain to newer and greenened castles. New tourism offerings might do well, I think, to recognise that and try to incorporate some of those experiences for people as they broaden their horizons and expectations from leisure breaks in the future. I am looking forward to hearing the members' champion in their local areas and what they have to offer. Of course, I am no different in promoting that wonderful part of Scotland, Ayrshire. We have got some of the world's finest golf courses, the greatest food to offer and spectacular beaches and castles along the coast. In my constituency, too, with the amazing Dean, Rowalin and Crawfordland castles, we are all offering something unique for visitors, as well as our historic Loud and Hill. We also lay claim to Scotland's big three, Wallace, Bruce and Burns, and the heritage associated with the giants of Scottish history can literally be felt and touched throughout Ayrshire. How should those offerings change after Covid? I mentioned that people are doing things differently and have different experiences that they might want to retain. Walking and cycling, urban walks even and storytelling, bringing our town's historical past to life, combined with flexible booking and the ability to mix and match those experiences to get the best value and the best use of their leisure time. They might also want to retain some of the measures that they put in place to help protect people. Still providing safe spaces for people and their families who might still value that and enjoy the space and security that it still offers. The industry will recover in Scotland and it will develop its offering to people from far and wide once again, always focusing on quality. It will need to innovate, to reach out to those new markets and new experiences that people may now want to be included when they come to Scotland. I am certain that the industry will go from strength to strength in the coming year. Once again, congratulations to my colleague Evelyn Tweed for bringing this debate, and I am looking forward to the rest of the contributions from other members. Thank you very much, Mr Coffey, and I call on Shannon Dowie to be followed by Christine Grahame for around four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I thank Evelyn Tweed for bringing this motion to the chamber. I would like to begin my contribution by noting the immense efforts made by Scotland's tourism sector over the past two years. Many businesses have struggled. They have had to cope with an ever-shifting landscape of restrictions and some, sadly, have gone under over the course of the pandemic. The sector is a backbone of the Scottish economy and it requires our support. Accordingly, I would urge every MSP to learn about your local attractions this week, give them some support and encourage people to visit. After all, if our representatives are not enthusiastic about visiting, then why would anybody else? Tourism—not at the moment. Tourism has a vital role to play in Scotland's recovery. That is without doubt. Scotland was actually on a roll prior to the pandemic, with a 33 per cent increase in visits between 2018 and 2019 and a 37 per cent increase in spend by tourists. Much of this tourism was domestic. In fact, 37 per cent of all overnight stays were undertaken by visitors from Scotland. Also, the UK-wide market still greatly outweighs the overseas market, with over a third of visits to Scotland coming from English, Welsh and Northern Irish visitors. Those figures will only have risen during the years of the staycation. A key priority now should be retaining those visitors and ensuring that Scotland remains competitive against cheap flights abroad in winter sun. Investments such as the Mountain Biking Centre recently announced in a Leithan are in encouraging development. Hill walking, mountain biking and kayaking, active tourism is a major market upon which Scotland has an infinite capacity to capitalise. That is down to both Scotland's Governments. After all, visitors often tie in a visit to Scotland with visits to other UK nations. As we go forward, it is really important to retain the active tourism market and encourage repeat visits. That is why it is reassuring to see the UK Government and the Scottish Government working together through the Borderlands deal. The £19 million that we have just seen invested in Carly Mill is a great example of how Westminster and Holyrood can work together to deliver world-class facilities. Not only will it bring together companies and athletes from around the world, it will build upon the success of the world mountain biking championship in Fort William and create a great local facility for the people of Peopleshire. Scotland's festivals are also returning in a welcome boost for the tourism sector. Having met many of them over the past months, I have seen how hard things have been for them, and it is great to see how excited they are about returning. Not only are these festivals important parts of the regional economy, they have a major role to play in bringing culture to parts of Scotland beyond the traditional tarp lands of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Events like the Boswell Book Festival, the Spectra Festival of Light in Aberdeen, Doon the Rabbit Hole in Cerdros or culinary celebrations like The Taste of Shetland, all of these attract visitors and fuel rural economies. Finally, local authorities have a big job to do here. Many do excellent work with tight budgets, but that is precisely the problem. Arts and culture fuel a huge chunk of Scottish tourism, yet those budgets are being cut by nearly every council in every corner of Scotland. The issues here lies with local government funding. They simply need more support from central government. Without a serious intervention, many more events and festivals may suffer. Once again, I urge all of you to get behind your local events and tourism businesses as much as you can. I will call on Christine Grahame to be followed by Paul MacLennan for round four. It goes without saying, though I will say it. Businesses dependent directly on tourists or indirectly on suppliers are simply for tourist football have had a tough time over the past two years. Thank goodness for government support here and through the UK furlough scheme, which let at least some of them keep ticking. Covid also had an upside as folk travelled close to home, rather than take flight, literally. Melodyn South Tweeddale in Lauderry was much to attract from the National Mining Museum of Scotland in Newton Grange to the small independent museum in Melrose, the Tramontium, narrating the nearby Roman settlement and the spread of the Romans across Scotland, even reaching the Isle of Skye. I do not have the reach, but I will check that out, Deputy Presiding Officer. There is Abbotsford, the eclectic home of Sir Walter Scott, also near Melrose. Incidentally, if you go through the armory, the shields on the wall, the shields for the Scott families right next to the shields for the Grahame family, with an E at the end, read into that what you like. Gala Shields, with the great tapestry of Scotland now located there and something that I find a bit better, a wonderful statue to the charismatic Robert Coltart, who divides Coltart's candy, and the famous jingle, Ally Bally Bee, which I think was the first advertising jingle ever developed. I think that is more interesting. Most of those can be reached by travelling along the borders, really. That is where I repeat my call for integrated ticketing for train journeys and why not bus day tickets, but with discounted tickets to those tourist attractions. If you are of an energetic frame of mind, there is ample scope to cycle many of the dedicated routes and have a go. It has been mentioned at mountain biking in Interlean again, Glen Tress alone. It is only partially open just now due to storm damage. Borders buses let you know you can, as it says, literally in the back of the bus, take your bike on this bus. For the hyperactive, the Pentland hills are yours for the taking. They will mind you treat them, they are hills, with respect and the livestock. If people gazing gets you going, then take a seat outside a pub or local hotel on People's High Street or Pericook precinct. Take your time over a glass of wine or coffee, or possibly both. Or if you wanted my rodeo dendrons at this time of the year in his alias, that is your gig, and it is mine. Take a ramble through Dwych and Kiley gardens, and after that you could pamper yourself with your aches and pains at nearby award-winning Stobol. That is my little tour of the tourist attractions in the Borders. My constituency is a hidden gem, a stone's row, short bus or train journey from this capital city. I invite all members to visit some of the attractions that I have mentioned and see for yourself, especially the minister, because I want to educate him about the benefits of the Borders and Midlothian. My hope, therefore, is that staycations in recent months become a habit, whether it is simply a day away or a local weekend. All the wee shops and businesses, the local pub, the local hotel, the B&B will benefit. With this week's weather, what more can you ask? Sunburn is not good for your skin anyway, and you will not lose your luggage. Incidentally, you are doing a bit for the local economy. Thank you very much, Ms Graham. The invitation to Stobol is surely in the post. Paul MacLennan, to be followed by Claire Baker for around four minutes, Mr MacLennan. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank Evelyn Tewd for bringing forward this debate this evening. I have to make a comment. I'm kind of disappointed that there's no colleagues either from the Labour Party and they've only got one colleague left from the Conservative Party. I'm disappointed in that, and I hope that that's putting the record. Mr MacLennan, I have called Claire Baker to speak next. She will be joining us remotely. That's right. My apologies. As co-convener of the cross-party group, I'm delighted to be speaking in this debate this afternoon. East Llewden is a tourist hotspot with a spectacular history and landscape. According to East Llewden's 2021 visitor survey, tourism provides a local economy with £280 million a year and provides 10 per cent of jobs in our area. As well as benefiting economically, tourism plays a key part in maintaining good wellbeing, mental health and providing key educational opportunities. In my visit for tourism months, I visited the Scottish Seabird Centre, which allows visitors to engage with the coastal wildlife, observe birds on the bass rock and enhance their learning. If you haven't had a chance to take a boat tour to the bass rock, please take the chance in the next few months. The bass rock is home to over 150,000 gannots at the peak of the season, making it the world's largest gullunate of northern gannots. If you haven't seen it, go see it at its spectacular site. The gannots spend most of the year on the bass rock arriving in late February and leave about the end of October, where they sit out on their long journey down to the west coast of Africa. Golf tourism is also huge in East Llewden, with gullun and north berwick seeing visits from all around the globe. We've also got Muirfield, Archfield and the Nations Club, among others who have hosted Scottish and British Open. Just recently, four of the East Llewden courses between gullun and north berwick were listed in the top 100 golf courses in Great Bitten and Ireland. Alongside golf, visitors are regular to the coasts of water sports such as surfing and to the wonderful fox-like facility just outside Dunbar. Of course, East Llewden is home to the National Museum of Flight and Concord, which is home to another 50 aircraft on the UK's best-preserved Second World War airfield. We're blessed with the wonders of Tantallian Castle, among others. Tourism plays a key part in a local economy, in restrictions and changing behaviour. We've also seen tourism's struggle across East Llewden and Scotland over the last couple of years. We've also seen struggles with Brexit and labour shortages in the tourism sector as hitting the sector extremely hard at the moment. The one thing that I have to mention, and it's briefing for the debate this afternoon in UK hospitality, stated as well, that the taxation museum imposed on hospitality is an unfair burden on the businesses, and I think that we have to raise that at the moment. UK hospitality has argued for reduction on VT for hospitality. It made the UK treasure to retain VT at 12.5 per cent. That's something that the Scottish Government and this Parliament have supported as well. We'll wait and see what the chancellor says in his statement tomorrow. Let's hope that they can do that. Just last week, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions said that tourism venues were struggling to cope with the lack of overseas visitors. Let's hope that we see that changing this summer. We've obviously seen behaviours over the last couple of years around people avoiding indoor venues and tourist attractions, as well as avoiding international travel. Now, with restrictions eased, again, we'll hope that we'll see that continuing to improve this summer. I think that what's been important is that Covid-19 business and support continue to tourism fund was published, which has seen the visit of Scotland allocated nearly £29 million for tourism businesses. I know that that went down particularly well with the Scottish Tourism Alliance. I attended a lunch last week hosted by the Scottish Tourism Alliance. The sector has been through a hard time, but the businesses and organisations that represented the event were very positive and enthusiastic about the future. Connectivity was a word that I heard many times, not only in the sense of travel but regarding the various sectors within the industry working together. Our leading visitor attractions, our comfort facilities such as the EICC, an SCCC attracting business tourism, our growing agritourism offering with its ambition to double the value of the sector to £1 billion. All those sectors work well together and that's something that we need to harness. Alongside attracting visitors to our wonder scenery and day visitors, our events and industry is growing too. We can all play our part in helping our tourism industry to recover from the pandemic. The benefits from the industry are endless. I join the chamber in supporting our tourism industry and championing the successful businesses that we have across Scotland. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I apologise that I can't be in the chamber this afternoon. I thank Hubs and Tweed very much for securing this evening's debate. Over the years, the Scottish Parliament has engaged with Scottish Tourism Months often with a debate like this. It can be a time for members to highlight their regions, encourage visitors, celebrate local businesses and festivals. However, this year, while members may wish to do that, we have to recognise and respond to the significant challenges faced by tourism during the pandemic and the uncertain and long road to recovery that they are facing. Although restrictions are easing and there is potential for growth, we saw a degree of recovery for the sector last summer as UK visitors increased in people holidays at home. That activity did not compensate for the losses experienced and the coming months will be challenging. Last week, it was a pleasure to attend the Scottish Tourism Month's business leaders lunch. The speeches were focused on recovery and they were positive about the contribution of the sector to our economy, to jobs, to community investment, but there were also words of caution and concern. The impact of leaving the EU and the ending of freedom of movement is contributing to labour shortages in certain areas, including tourism and hospitality. Combined with the pandemic, which saw many people return home, there is an acute shortage of workers. The Economy and Fair Work Committee has recently undertaken work on supply chains and justices appeared to be starting to ease as global trade recovered from the pandemic. The war in Ukraine, which we are all watching with horror and experiencing uncertainty and unrest, is contributing to rising costs, which all businesses and households have to deal with, and setting in our food security with the potential to impact on our food and drink sector, which is integral to tourism. Although some of those pressures may appear to be far away from us just now, the situation is very unpredictable. In the face of the turmoil, the Scottish tourism sector is trying to reopen and recover. Most experts do not expect a full recovery until 2024 or later. The sector has relied on overseas visitors. While UK tourists are very good news and they are crucial to sustaining the sector during the pandemic, they do not typically spend as much as overseas visitors or stay as long. Travel restrictions are easing, but the pandemic is still active around the globe. The Economic Intelligence Unit predicts a shaky recovery for tourism. They say that tourism has endured a terrible pandemic, and the bad news is that 2022 will only bring a partial recovery. Borders are reopening, but international travel will still be difficult. Compliance with climate change regulations, as well as higher fuel prices and wages, will also push up air travel costs in 2022. The report from the Scottish Affairs Committee yesterday on airports in Scotland, as well as concluding that support for Peswick airport ensured that there was not a level playing field across airports in Scotland, argues that differing Covid travel rules to other parts of the UK damaged the financial stability of Scottish airports. They are calling for a UK recovery plan for airports to be introduced. The Scottish tourism recovery task force was established to provide a strategic approach to recovery, which took the lead from business. While phase 1 of the recovery plan was funded, there is no financial support as yet for phase 2. While the Government agreed that the importance of phase 2 was not included in the 2020 budget, the Economy and Fair Work Committee have expressed concerns over the lack of financial support and are urging the Government to explore other options for support. I asked the First Minister about that at the recent conveners group. She emphasised the importance of confidence for the recovery of the sector, but it also needs investment. There needs to be a recognition of the supply chain businesses connected to tourism. If a large hotel chain is facing financial difficulties, that impacts on their laundry service, their catering suppliers, taxi firms and tour operators. The self-catering sector, still concerned about the impact of new regulations, must be valued as generators of local businesses. They are all interdependent. In addition to delivering phase 2 of the recovery plan, the spring statement is due tomorrow, and UK hospitality and others in the sector are calling on the Chancellor to continue with the VAT cut. To increase VAT at this point, risks nipping the shoots of recovery in the bud, and if other costs are rising, we all need to do all that we can to support a future for Scottish tourism. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate and congratulate my colleague Evelyn Tweed on securing it. The pandemic has been awful for us all and it has hit the tourism industry very hard. I want to thank the Scottish Government for the financial support that has been provided so far. In addition to Scottish tourism month's aims to engage, connect and inspire, we need the aims to be about recovery, rebirth and renew. For our tourism industry, that is obviously really important. As a representative of Scotland's most bony regions, the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway in the south Scotland, I am proud to shine a light on the sooth. The beautiful scenery, the world-class food and drink are fantastic outdoor pursuits and our enormous contribution to Scotland's national environment are really important. The Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway have something for everyone, from forest and family holidays, historic abys and castles, distilleries and cycle trails, to water sports and spa retreats, as my colleague Christine Graham has mentioned. With miles of stunning coastline rolling hills and beautiful forests, there is no better place to escape to. History lovers can follow in the footsteps of Robert the Bruce, Walter Scott and our national bard Robert Burns. You can also explore many wonderful ruined abys that are dotted all across south Scotland from Sweetheart Abbey to the world-famous Melrose Abbey. The south Scotland also boasts some great gardens, like Logan Botanic Garden. Located on the south western tip of Scotland, Logan is worn by the Gulf Stream and it is a place of tropical beauty with many plants that normally grow in antipody in countries. We have world-class whisky, gin and rum distilleries new as well, anandale, bladnawch, crafty, ninefold, oro, border, silkirk, dark art and still under construction the Moffitt distillery. Dumfries has applied to be recognised as a city as part of the Queen's platinum jubilee. When Perth, Stirling and Inverness received city status, they went from strength to strength economically, socially and culturally, attracting people and lots of investment to their new areas. If Dumfries received city status, the town and our whole region could benefit similarly. The south really is Scotland's adventure playground. Of course I will. Will the member join me in applauding the great work that has been done in the South Asia Council with the launch of the tourism website Discover South Asia? I am aware of what has been launched in South Asia and I welcome it. I welcome her for bringing that intervention so that we can highlight that as well today. In addition to the cycle routes at Glen Tress that Christine Grahame talked about, we have many of the seven-stain cycle routes in the south as well, in Dumfries and Galloway, but also in the borders. The award-winning seven-stain mountain biking trails are some of the best mountain biking that is available in Scotland. We also have the southern upland way. Scotland's only official coast-to-coast long-distance footpath, running from the Atlantic Ocean to the North Sea, from Port Patrick in the west coast to Cove on the east coast. We have the Galloway International Dark Sky Park. It has been named a gold tear park for its breathtaking and rare stargazing conditions. We also have the Galloway Southern Airshire UNESCO biosphere, which is the first UNESCO biosphere in Scotland and is part of a family of 700 biospheres around the world. Those are all fantastic resources and really help to put South Scotland on the map, and they are all hugely important to the economy of Scotland. More can be done. Strunar Water Sports Association are involved in the development of Strunar Waterfront. Loch Rhine is such a beautiful and peaceful Loch. It is the potential for development in tourism that has huge opportunities. In closing, I want to pay tribute to the work of the South Scotland Destination Alliance, South Scotland Enterprise, Visit Scotland, DNG and the Scottish Borders Council and the many organisations that are working to promote tourism across the south. I ask the minister to do all he can to commit to ensuring that South Scotland is promoted as a world-class tourism destination as we recover from the pandemic. Thank you very much, Ms Harper. I now call on the minister to respond to the debate for around seven minutes or so, Mr Arthur. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I begin by congratulating Evelyn Tweed in securing what has been an excellent debate. Indeed, the theme of Engage, Connect and Inspire is apt for the contributions that we have had in the debate. We have all been engaging. We have all connected as with a sense of place in various locations around Scotland, and we have all been inspiring as well. Evelyn Tweed was absolutely right to speak about brand Scotland and to recognise Scottish tourism as an economic and social powerhouse. I will come on in some of my later remarks to touch with some of the economic support that the Government has been providing, but Evelyn Tweed was absolutely correct to go and raise issues around sustainability. I would just draw the Parliament's attention to support that has been provided, including a £15.2 million rural tourism infrastructure fund, where 66 projects have been awarded funding since 2018. Also, the work that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy is undertaking and leading the visitor management strategy group. Indeed, the recent announcement of an additional £3.9 million to support over 200 new countryside ranger posts this summer season is something that I am sure it would be very welcome. I am going to try to touch on as many members' contributions as possible. Both Paul McClellan and Willie Coffey spoke about wellness and, indeed, reminding us of the very challenging experiences that we all faced when restrictions were in place during the pandemic. The lack of opportunities that we have, although Evelyn Tweed very eloquently describes some of her experiences of tourism and the staycations in her own area. However, we all welcome the opportunity to travel a bit further afield. Indeed, Mr Coffey spoke about some of the attractions in his area. I will give him Bruce and Burns, but as the MSP for Eldersley, I am not going to a seed ground there, as far as William Wallace is concerned. Christine Grahame gave us a fantastic tour of her constituency, and I very much look forward to being further educated by Ms Grahame in due course. Yes, I am certainly happy to give way, feel about to be educated. Christine Grahame. No, it is fatal to turn round and look at me because I am going to intervene. Can I invite the minister to liaise with the minister for transport to pursue, which I am going to bang on about till something happens, integrated ticketing, train, bus and local attractions, while you and your cabinet colleagues are at this, trialling across the borders and seeing how good it is? I will ensure that Ms Grahame's quest is suitably conveyed to the transport minister. I very much look forward to visiting Ms Grahame's constituency in due course. I was also heartened to hear, in our reference to Abbotsford House, a family connection. The genealogical references have been solely missing from Ms Chambers since the retirement of her dear friend Stuart Stevenson. I want to recognise the contribution from Emma Harper. Again, a very powerful contribution at championing in the south of Scotland. I am sure that Emma Harper is aware of the value that we place on the south of Scotland. We legislated for the south of Scotland enterprise in the last session, so the borderlands support is there. South of Scotland could have no greater champion by Emma Harper, and I know that she will continue to do so in her position throughout this session of Parliament. Finally, I want to go and touch on the contributions of both Claire Baker and Sharon Dow. Sharon Dow recognised the immense efforts of the tourism sector over the past two years, and she was absolutely correct to do so. Indeed, Christine Grahame touched upon the importance of the furlough scheme. Claire Baker also touched upon the economic impact that tourism has faced, and she has also crucially stressed the importance of overseas visitors. I completely recognise the points that Sharon Dow has made. We want to encourage as many people from across the United Kingdom and these islands are more broadly as well from Ireland to come and visit Scotland, but I also recognise a very important contribution that visitors from overseas make. However, as it has already been touched upon, the sector is a key part of Scotland's economy. In 2019, day and overnight, visitors spent almost £11.6 billion in Scotland. Pre-pandemic, the tourism sector contributed £4.5 billion gross value added to Scotland's economy, around 3 per cent of total GVA. It also employed 229,000 people. That is almost 9 per cent of employment in Scotland or one in every 11 jobs. The pandemic and the measures necessary to contain the virus have had a profound impact on the sector. For instance, GDP in the accommodation and food services sector, which comprises a large part of our tourism sector, was almost 84 per cent below its pre-pandemic level in May 2020, compared to 21 per cent below the economy overall. By December last year, GDP in the sector was still almost 13 per cent below February 2020 levels. While restrictions have lifted and conditions are improving, it is important to recognise that the sector is still recovering from the shock, particularly those parts that rely on international visitors. It is important that we continue to build confidence in these markets, letting them know that Scotland welcomes them. We have already taken steps to start this process. Recognising that we have had to build consumer demand, we commenced an international marketing campaign in 2021 as part of our phase 1 tourism recovery programme. We hope to see the results of this campaign in the 2022 season. Phase 1 of our tourism recovery programme also supported nine other projects with up to £25 million set aside for this. Some of those are now complete and some are on-going. One particular highlight includes our days out incentive fund, which provided £1.57 million to businesses to offer up to 50 per cent off and subsidised tickets to local attractions. The scheme was designed to encourage more visits in the off-season, and we saw more than 140 attractions sign up. It is our sincere hope that this recovery programme will support a strong bounce back for the tourism and hospitality sector over the next few years. Not only will it help the sector to recover, but it will help us to start to deliver better for Scotland outlook 2030, the national tourism strategy that has not been fully realised in light of the pandemic, and it will help to shape our approach to supporting the sector's growth through the new national strategy for economic transformation. We will therefore continue to work with the industry and key partners as we consider how best to support the 13 proposals put forward for phase 2 of this programme. Tourism has previously been a key sector for supporting employment, particularly in rural areas, as has been touched on in the debate. Pre-pandemic tourism represented a larger portion of employment in rural areas than for Scotland's economy overall. For example, tourism employment accounted for around 17 per cent of the workforce under Gail and Bute in 2019, 15 per cent in Highland and 11 per cent in Edinburgh. It is clear then that tourism is helping our rural economies to thrive. Not only is this sector valuable to the economy, but it also has the potential to support important Government policies. For example, it is estimated that 24 per cent of children were living in relative poverty after housing costs in 2017 to 2020, and there are a huge number of families in Scotland who consequently never experienced even a short break. Our ScotSpirit holiday scheme therefore, also part of our phase 1 recovery measures, involves the sector working with charity partners to provide short breaks to low-income families, disadvantaged young people and unpaid carers. Although those trips are supported through Scottish Government funding, it is important to have good collaboration with the sector who could support those families when they visit. Although addressing climate change will create challenges for the sector, tourism also has the potential to support our climate change targets. Our Destination Net Zero programme therefore aims to support Scotland's tourism sector to transition to a low-carbon future through globally recognised leadership. Not only is it the right thing to do, but with consumers now being much more conscious of their carbon footprint, it is important that we offer low-carbon, guilt-free experiences. Our Scandinavian neighbours already pride themselves on that, and their tourism economies remain strong. It is also important to recognise that the sector has experienced challenges in restarting after the pandemic. Recent data from the business impacts and conditions survey indicates that 48 per cent of accommodation and food service sector businesses were experiencing shortage of workers compared with 37.5 per cent of businesses with more than 10 employees in the economy overall. Non-UK nationals have historically been a critical part of the workforce, and 2019-16 per cent of the workforce was made up of non-UK nationals. That is almost double the Scottish average. Visa requirements are now making recruitment a challenge from this pool of able and willing candidates. Unfortunately, in 2019, more than half of employees working 53.3 per cent in the sustainable tourism sector were paid less than the real living wage. Although a commitment to the living wage may go some way to making jobs more appealing, sometimes there are other contributing factors such as there being perceived little opportunity for career progression, demanding errors or the sector being seen as offering unstable employment following the pandemic. We recognise all of those challenges and are committed to working with the industry and the UK Government as we seek to address them. Although we have come some way since the initial lockdown in March 2020, industry, unfortunately, continues to report low consumer confidence in visiting local attractions. Let me conclude by picking up on the point that Sharon Dowey made very eloquently. As elected representatives, we have an opportunity to lead by example, demonstrating that we believe that it is safe to visit those places once more. Scottish Tourism Month affords us an opportunity, therefore, not just to celebrate achievements but to publicise our many local attractions. As others have, I would encourage you all, therefore, to visit your constituency's attractions, to listen to the experiences of the operators and to reassure your constituents that the Scottish Government believes that it is safe to once again to be out there and about for leisure purposes in your area. With around 80 per cent of our overnight visitors coming from out within the UK, our example is bound to make a difference in building local confidence. To conclude, I would again like to thank Evelyn Tweed for securing this debate and, in Scottish Tourism Month 2020, to let's celebrate the very best our sector has to offer. We have shown that we can be resilient. Now it's time to flourish once more. Thank you very much indeed. Minister, in the interest of pre-empting a point of order, I should point out that Willie Coffey has put in the blue jeans chat function that Wallace was born in Ayrshire. Eldersley didn't exist in the middle ages. Eldersley did, and it is in Ayrshire. I'm sure that the battle between the minister and Mr Coffey is set to rage for the remainder of the session, but that concludes the debate and I close the session upon it.