Evaluation of the Tourism Innovation Approach

The Tourism Innovation Approach (TIA), is a multi-faceted, integrated approach to stimulating change in the tourism industry in Scotland, through a range of interventions to inspire, drive and channel higher levels of innovation in product and service development. The approach was formulated through a range of interventions: the Innovation Ambassadors Programme; the Tourism Innovation Group (TIG); toolkit workshops; Tourism Innovation Development Awards (TIDA); a Tourism Innovation Day (TID); and a learning journey to California. The evaluation was designed to identify the changes in business performance and economic impacts, which arose from the interventions.

The evaluation involved desk research, questionnaires covering each of the interventions, stakeholder interviews and an assessment of economic impact carried out in line with Treasury standards.

The evaluation found that the Tourism Innovation Approach has received strong endorsement from programme participants, key stakeholders and public sector partners. It is viewed as an example of good practice that has resulted in stronger relationships between Scottish Enterprise and the tourism industry. The findings of the evaluation strongly suggest that the Tourism Innovation Approach as a group of programmes represents a cost-effective use of public sector resources to generate economic impact. Net additional GVA of £6.1m has been generated so far, ten times the costs of the interventions as a group, with cost per net job created of £3,200 – a favourable result.

Recommends the continuation of the programmes. Suggests that that product innovation should be an important component of and emphasis for future interventions.