SCOTO | A conscious choice

Why make a conscious choice?

Communities across Scotland own and operate a range of tourism services and experience ready for you to enjoy. By making a conscious choice on your travels, any spend you make will have important benefits that are felt across the host community.

SCOTO members are unlike other tourism providers because they are owned and operated by the communities they serve. Every penny spent with our members is reinvested back into local services, generating immediate and long-lasting benefits for that host community.

Community Tourism is delivered by professionals but also invariably engages volunteers who invest their time with a real passion for their local area, making your experience memorable. These enterprises are highly innovative and entrepreneurial in everything they do.

What Do Scottish Community Tourism Enterprises Offer?

Community tourism operates in all areas of the visitor economy

Stay

Overnight accommodation from hostels to self catering and Air BnBs

Eat

Cafes, pop-ups, community pubs and distilleries

Buy

Shops, crafts and provisions

Do

Experiences, activities, heritage and arts centres

Enjoy

Function spaces, events and festivals

Find

Services - such as information, toilets, ATMs, bike hire, baggage handling and storage and directions

What happens to the money you spend?

When travelling, any spend contributes to one of Scotland’s most important industries, worth over £11.6 billion for the national economy. You can make a conscious choice to spend with a SCOTO Community Tourism enterprise and in so doing that spend will bring great local benefits which are hugely important to these communities, many of which are remote and rural. These include:

Social

providing much needed jobs and training for local people and helping young people stay in the community

Environmental

improving the community’s natural capital, enhancing access to it and seeking to address climate change impacts

Economic

expanding the local offer, retaining much needed services and providing income streams to sustain other vulnerable activity

Cultural

conserving assets, developing new cultural activity and keeping local traditions alive

Place-based

developing and reinforcing the local sense of place and distinctiveness and providing responsible means of access

Joan Bishop, Chair, Dornoch Area Community Interest Company

“Promoting tourism in a town is all about partnership and communication. Local organisations which are small or large, not-for-profit or for-profit can benefit from increased numbers of contented tourists.”

Patricia Kent, Callander Youth Project Trust Manager

“It’s about employability. What happens when you leave school is crucial – the Hostel provides a great opportunity for young people to learn about the world of work. We provide a service for visitors, but also support our own young people."