Professor Alan Fyall featured in The Sunday Herald

Page published: 24 January 2012

BU’s Professor Fyall gives expert advice on how Edinburgh can maximise its Tourism potential.

BU’s Professor Alan Fyall has featured in an article by Scottish newspaper The Sunday Herald, in which he warns that Edinburgh must increase its “miniscule” city marketing budget of £1.7 million in order to remain competitive in the national and international Tourism market.

Despite the recession, Edinburgh’s Tourism trade has proved quite resilient. 2011 provided a healthy year in which hotel occupancy rates remained high and the number of visitors to the city increased.

However, Professor Fyall states that in order to grow the city’s marketing budget should be “at least three times” more than its current figure, and he supports the case made by the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group for increased investment in the city’s capacity to attract visitors.

Professor Fyall adds that Edinburgh also needs the increased budget to compete with upcoming competitors. He states the city “faces a threat from the big English northern cities of Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds. They have woken up to tourism’s potential and boosted themselves with far bigger marketing budgets.”

The whole article can be read on The Herald website.