Mike Cantlay, the chairman of VisitScotland, said: 'The optimistic outlook for the year ahead is particularly welcome as we head into the traditionally busier summer months … the next three years being unprecedented milestones for both urban and rural businesses and we expect they will shape the industry for many years to come.' Following the release of the Gibson film, 20% of US tourists said it was the reason for their visit to Scotland, and visitor numbers to the Wallace Monument near Stirling soared from 30,000 to 200,000 a year.īrave features the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Billy Conolly and Emma Thompson, and Scotland is also pinning hopes on the Ryder Cup and the Commonwealth Games, both in 2014.

Officials are now looking to the release later this year of Disney Pixar's animated Scottish feature Brave, which they hope will have a similar effect on the travel trade as Braveheart, the 1995 Mel Gibson epic on the life of William Wallace that enraged historians and entranced a new generation of holidaymakers. Tourism businesses are the most confident they have been since the start of the economic downturn, but there is a clear rural and urban split with high fuel and transport costs hampering growth in the countryside.

Tourism has been at the forefront of a slight improvement in economic activity across Scottish business between January and March, according to a survey by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.

Scotland the brave documentary 2014