By Ian Findlay, industrial reporter

SCOTLAND’S TOURISM minister Frank McAveety has said the country is too small to need 15 independent tourism bodies as it is “confusing for visitors and it is confusing for the industry.”

The minister told The Courier yesterday that the planned merger next April of the 14 separate area tourist boards with VisitScotland to create an integrated tourism network was necessary if Scotland was to do even better keeping up with the global competition.

“Scotland is a small country in global destination terms, although it has fantastic assets, but our visitors can face a bewildering selection of brochures from 14 separate area tourist boards and VisitScotland,” said Mr McAveety. “Despite some successes, the area tourist board structure was being badly stretched.

“Tourism is one of the key sectors of the Scottish economy, one which could grow by 50% by 2015. The benefits could be felt all across the country—in cities and in rural areas. We believe that is a prize worth fighting for.”

Mr McAveety is scheduled to visit Dundee tomorrow for a series of engagements, including the opening of the Discovery Film Festival and the presentation of an award to the city’s Sensation science centre.

He will also host a lunch to which representatives from large and small companies in the industry in the area, Angus and Dundee Tourist Board and other groups and organisations have been invited.

The minister has already met tourism groups in other areas of Scotland in a bid to ease concerns that areas could lose their identities as their own area tourist boards are swallowed up by the new integrated tourism network.

Mr McAveety said yesterday that Angus and Dundee had enjoyed a busy year with hotels and B&Bs reporting brisk business.

Top-class attractions, like Sensation and Glamis Castle, had reported increased visitor figures. Tomorrow Dundee would be hosting Scotland’s first International Film Festival for Children and Young People—a major event that has attracted tourists from near and far.

“So, against this picture of success, why has the Executive decided to merge Angus and Dundee Tourist Board (and the other 13 area tourist boards across Scotland) with Visit- Scotland?” he said. “Why would we decide to change this winning formula?

“The answer is that we need to do even better to keep up with global competition.”

To achieve this, he said, VisitScotland had been given an extra £20 million over three years to reach new markets and tourism businesses had been challenged to match £12 million of that increase.

The Executive had also given Visit- Scotland an extra £3 million over two years for quality assurance.

“From April 2005, the 14 separate area tourist boards will be merged with VisitScotland to create an integrated tourism network—one organisation operating through 14 tourism hubs with each of them the centre for tourism activity locally,” said the minister.

He said Dundee’s partnership with the business community had driven it forward as a destination for tourists and a “stronger and even more focussed Dundee” would not just benefit the city, but the whole of Scotland.