From Outlander to dining with lords, Scotland's new look for tourists

They’ll absorb the majesty of Glencoe and rare beauty of Mull, swing by St Andrews keep eyes peeled for the Loch Ness monster and seek out a ceilidh in Stornoway.

On the way, they’ll sip whisky at an exclusive tasting session in a ‘typical’ Scottish pub, they might learn to play the bagpipes, dine in a private castle or peek behind the scenes of one of the nation’s major museums, accompanied on the way with a constant commentary from their personal guide.

The 25-day countrywide tour is the longest bespoke private excursion organised – so far at least – by Edinburgh-based Lindsay’s Highland Tours.  

But, adds the firm’s MD Steven Lindsay, it’s part of a growing trend in this new post-covid world of tourism where, for a growing number of international visitors, Scotland is their 21st century version of an old fashioned ‘Grand Tour’.

“The 25-day tour is the longest we’ve done so far,” says Steven, whose firm has just announced it has doubled its turnover amid a surge in transatlantic tourists.

“Visitors now want something more personal, and we are definitely seeing an increase in longer tours.

“They want to come for a ‘big’ holiday to explore Scottish ancestry and the scenery,” he adds. “But they also want something more bespoke, that gives them a different type of experience.”

Talk of personal guides, dining with lords, mingling with locals and enjoying exclusive access to galleries and museums conjures images of the Grand Tours of years past, when the well-heeled headed to the Continent accompanied by a knowledgeable ‘cicerone’ to explore culture and take in the sights.

For them, Grand Tours were a whistle-stop rite of passage chance to become absorbed in culture and language, to mingle with society and return home armed with souvenirs and stories.

Likewise, today’s Scottish ‘grand tourists’ want far more from their travels than just nice scenery, woollen mills and a dram at a distillery.

Indeed, tourism insiders say they are witnessing surging demand for carefully crafted tours that showcase a different side to Scotland, taking visitors from dining in castles one day, to herding sheepdogs on a northeast farm the next, swimming with basking sharks off Oban and stargazing at Galloway Forest Park the next.

Often, tourists will be seeing a side to Scotland that most locals scarcely knew existed.

Such as one tour company which arranges for guests to toast cocktails with Lord Bruce, a direct descendant of Robert the Bruce, at his Fife country pile Broomhall. There they can view the family’s collection of priceless artefacts including the Scottish king’s sword – a rare treasure that few Scots ever have the chance to see.

There are also private and after dark tours that locals won’t even know exist. Such as curator-led behind the scenes experiences at Glasgow’s Burrell Collection and Kelvingrove Museum, meet and greets with Outlander actors who perform personalised clan battle re-enactments, and secret visits to normally shuttered distilleries, such as newly reawakened Rosebank Distillery in Falkirk which is yet to open its doors to domestic visitors.

Signs of a shift from mountains, lochs and glens tourism began to emerge before the disruption caused by the pandemic.

However, it is now said to becoming far more prevalent as international visitor numbers soar beyond pre-pandemic levels.

According to Office for National Statistic international passenger survey figures released on Friday, Scotland welcomed its highest number of international visitors ever last year, with 3.9 million inbound visits to Scotland in 2023, beating the previous record of 3.7million in 2018.

Inbound visitors spent £3.5 billion, a rise of 13% on 2022 and 41% on 2019, with visitors from North America accounting for 24% of all inbound visits and 39% of spend.

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Hopes are high the upward trend will continue:  a new Hainan Airlines route has launched between Edinburgh and Beijing boosting the number of flights from the capital to China to the highest ever.While a new Emirates Edinburgh-Dubai service is being seen as crucial to attracting more Australian tourists who tend to stay longer and spend more money.  

This month alone, there will be nearly 600 transatlantic flights between Edinburgh and North America, including 200 United Airlines flights to Newark, Chicago and Washington, Delta’s 124 flights to Atlanta, Boston, and New York and WestJet’s 58 to Toronto, Calgary and Halifax.

On top of that, Air Transat is flying passengers between Glasgow and Toronto, while earlier this month the first ever Airbus 380 Super Jumbo landed at Prestwick Airport. It is thought to be the first step towards newly formed British flight operators Global Airlines making the Ayrshire facility its Scottish base for new transatlantic passenger routes.

With so much activity, efforts are underway at national tourism organisation VisitScotland to develop new offerings that can spread visitors’ spending across the country, avoiding tourist hot spots becoming too congested and encourage visitors to explore other areas, such as the Borders, the northeast and Dumfries and Galloway.

Denise Hill, head of intermediaries marketing at VisitScotland, who specialises in connecting tour operators with Scottish businesses, says there has been a clear shift in visitors’ expectations.

“For years we have seen tour operators and travel agents in US putting together itineraries for visitors filled with all the iconic visitors’ attractions like castles and distilleries.

“They’ll always want the distillery or castle, but they are also looking for local experiences like an afternoon on a farm with sheepdogs, a half day walking experience, or maybe a two-hour chocolate experience with a chocolatier in Aberfeldy.

“The post pandemic world is a different one, where international travellers are thinking more about what impact their tourism can make,” she adds.

“Visitors want to see big sites but increasingly we are being told they want to engage with community more and want to do things more authentically Scottish and local.”

At Lindsay’s Highland Tours, launched by Steven five years ago with his father George, business is going so well there are plans to take on more staff.

He says many clients are still inspired by Outlander and exploring their ancestral roots, but also want a more ‘authentic’ Scottish holiday which takes them closer to locals.

“Travellers are often a certain age, either close to retiring or retired, they have wealth, and they don’t want to be sitting on a big bus with other people – not that there’s nothing wrong with that,” he says.

“They want something more bespoke, they want to go to the pub that local people go to for a whisky tasting or learn to play the bagpipes.

“And they love meeting locals.”

At the top end, tour operator Abercrombie & Kent offers visitors an 11 day private tour package costing from $23,995 per person.

And an eight-day bespoke luxury golf tour organised by Connoisseur Golf and involving helicopter transport between some of Scotland’s top courses, will cost in the region of £18,000.

But industry insiders point out that even wealthy visitors are still seeking experiences that connect them more with the land and people, and are often just as happy mucking about on a farm with highland cows.

At Leith-based Cashel Travel, which specialises in bespoke tours for small groups as well as corporate clients, budgets for companies bringing large groups to Scotland can stretch to £500,000.  

One recent private tour involved a bagpipe workshop at the National Piping Centre, curator-led tour of the Burrell Collection, a private tour of Edinburgh Castle and private dinner at the National Trust for Scotland’s Georgian House.

A sign of how well the post-pandemic recovery is going, it posted a 49% increase in turnover to £9.45 million for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023 and record-breaking profits after tax, up 267% year-on-year.

“We have seen a huge increase in business and things are looking equally good for this year,” says chief executive James Aitken.

“We are seeing a lot of new business from South America and South Africa. Mexico is coming up and there is interest in Saudi Arabia – if we can get them to come here, they spend a lot of money.

“There are many new offerings such as new distilleries and places to visit, but tourists are also looking to dine with a laird, take part in tastings or go foraging.

“Visitors are not coming to Scotland for the weather,” he adds, “it’s about the scenery, the wilderness, the mountains and the experiences.”