Why our Trends aren’t just predictions – they’re opportunities

By Vicki Miller, VisitScotland Chief Executive

In the world of tourism and events, knowledge really is power.

How else can a destination take that competitive edge, stand out in a busy and noisy travel landscape, and remain front of mind, without knowing what its visitors want and how that fits with its offering?

I’ve spoken before about how we are using data and insights to ensure we are reaching the right audiences at the right times, offering the right support to businesses, and prioritising the markets where we see growth and potential.

While this approach is nothing new to VisitScotland, in today’s fast-changing travel landscape, it is more critical than ever. It is the driving force behind our key priorities of market development, place and destination development, and business and experience development.

To sustainably grow Scotland’s visitor economy, we must continuously assess what works, what doesn’t, where new opportunities lie and what challenges we face.

But as well as understanding tourism and events in Scotland today, we must also anticipate what it may look like tomorrow. What will our visitors want in the months and years ahead? What experiences will be capturing their imagination and how can Scotland meet those evolving needs and desires?

Our recent Trends report is a valuable piece of that puzzle. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including our own Scotland Visitor Survey, feedback from partners, horizon scanning and worldwide travel trends, our report highlights the experiences and interests that we believe visitors to Scotland will be seeking in 2025.

It involves studying the consumer environments, monitoring changes, and aligning Scotland’s strengths with what we see will be draws for visitors in the foreseeable future.

Grouped into two themes, our overarching trends include Passion Travel - experiences related to personal interests or a particular event such as celebrating a special occasion and Wellness Travel - experiences that enhance physical and mental wellbeing.

Under that we’ve identified individual trends such as Celebreaktions, combining milestone celebrations with a holiday; Gig Tripping which speaks to music fans planning travel around concerts of festivals, or Outdoor Therapy which recognises the benefits on our wellbeing of enjoying Scotland’s great outdoors.

These insights aren’t just predictions — they’re opportunities. They enable tourism and event businesses to adapt, promote relevant experiences, and even develop new offerings tailored to what visitors are seeking. This is particularly important as businesses try to navigate the challenging operating environment which we know is impacting domestic tourism.

But as an organisation, we don’t just simply report on Trends, we also use them to inform and influence our own activity ensuring it is relevant and competitive. Whether that’s working with places and industry to shape experiences we know visitors want or creating inspirational content for our channels and partners which positions Scotland as a must-visit, year-round destination.

A fitting example is our recent viral social media post at Taymouth Marina, which perfectly illustrates the Outdoor Therapy trend in action. The 15-second video, offering a first-person glimpse into Taymouth Marina’s outdoor spa experience, has been viewed over five million times, generating an influx of interest for the business, outdoor experiences, and the local area.

This success shows the power of understanding what visitors want and using that knowledge to engage and inspire them.

And that is why we believe it is crucial that we share these insights widely. Why you’ll see evidence of these trends on our channels, hear about them at industry events, read about them online or in the media.

Having that knowledge, holding that power, ensures that we can work together to position Scotland as a must-visit, year-round destination – today and in the future.