Experienced researchers with expertise across many sectors - from tourism to utilities and food and drink to sustainability

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23rd August 2024
The Summer edition of the Scottish Tourism Index continues to show that 2024 is another challenging year for domestic tourism in Scotland

The August 2024 Scottish Tourism Index provides an overview of how the Scottish home holiday market is looking so far this year - and the prospects for the season ahead. Some 1,003 Scots were interviewed on the 1st and 2nd of August with the primary purpose of establishing the characteristics of Scots’ holiday-taking attitudes and behaviours. As surveys are undertaken at identical times each year, it provides a directly comparable set of measures year-on-year, ensuring we can look back at the same time in previous years as well as forward on the same basis. Behaviours and opinions change throughout the year, but by the end of July, we have a clear picture of how the season is looking.

Overall holiday taking by Scots is almost identical to what we observed this time last year - 62% have already taken holidays and 75% of the population expect to do so at some point this year. Whilst this suggests a continued buoyancy in the holiday markets, more concerning is that these increases appear to be boosting overseas destinations rather than the domestic markets: whilst a third of Scots have already taken a holiday or break in Scotland (33%), this is 3 percentage points lower than in 2023 (36%) suggesting a decline in home holidays in 2024 over 2023. And this trend is likely to continue - whilst 48% anticipate a Scottish holiday at some point this year, this is 7 percentage points lower than was claimed at this time last year. Overseas holidays continue to show growth on the other hand : +1 percentage point to Europe and +5 percentage points further afield.

The challenging economic situation continues to provide a barrier to domestic holiday taking in particular with value for money on Scots holidays being described as poorer than a decade ago by almost half of Scots. Of course there are many other trends and nuances to these findings which we will continue to track throughout 2024. You can download the full analysis on the link below.

12th June 2024
A Scotland-wide survey of the population suggests that when it comes to the Euros and Scotland’s chances, there’s a lot of optimism out there ..... but laced with a healthy dose of pessimism!

As an independent consumer research agency, the team at 56 Degree Insight regularly undertake major surveys to understand the views and attitudes of the Scottish population. On the eve of the Euro 2024 Finals Tournament in Germany, it feels as if Scotland is gripped by football fever. We wanted to understand a bit more about how we felt about the tournament - and in particular, Scotland’s chances. Who do we think will win the tournament, and what do we think about the participation of our nearest neighbours from south of the Border? And given its timing, so close to a General Election, how does interest and support vary across the three major parties in Scotland?

Between June 8-10, we surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,001 Scottish adults aged 16+ using our regular Scotland’s Viewpoint survey. You can download and read the results from the survey by clicking on the link below

28th May 2024
The Spring Scottish Tourism Index suggests that 2024 will be another challenging year for domestic tourism in Scotland

The Spring 2024 Scottish Tourism Index provides an overview of how the Scottish home holiday market is looking so far this year - and the prospects for the season ahead. Some 1,004 Scots were interviewed in late April with the primary purpose of establishing the characteristics of Scots’ holiday-taking attitudes and behaviours. As surveys are undertaken at identical times each year, it provides a directly comparable set of measures year-on-year, ensuring we can look back at the same time in previous years as well as forward on the same basis. Behaviours and opinions change throughout the year, but on previous experience, by late April, we are beginning to get a clear picture of how Scots holiday behaviours are likely to pan out.

Overall, the holiday taking picture is very similar to this time last year - as then, 40% of us have either taken or booked holidays somewhere for 2024, and 75% of us expect to take holidays in 2024. However more concerning is that the proportions who have taken home holidays so far is lower than last year at this time (18%) and 40% expect to take a Scottish holiday or break during the year: this Tim e last year, 44% expected to do so. Outbound foreign holidays continue to increase however with 41% of us expecting to visit Europe this year and 12% going further afield.

The challenging economic situation continues to provide a barrier to holiday taking - though domestic breaks seem to be suffering most in this regard with larger numbers complaining about more expensive domestic holiday prices than we have seen in any of the recent previous years at this time. Of course there are many other trends and nuances to these findings which we will continue to track throughout 2024. You can download the full analysis on the link below.

21st May 2024
Project 18-40: Understanding the Younger Traveller

Over the past few months we’ve been busy working with our tourism consultancy partner Blue Sail on ‘Project 18-40: Understanding the Younger Traveller’, to get to grips with the characteristics, motivations and behaviours of UK-based Generation Z and Millennial travellers – an area of the population that is often overlooked in more established visitor segmentation models.

On the back of that research, today we’re launching a new visitor segmentation solution with seven discrete segments which profiles and sizes the younger traveller and which aims to help all of us in the tourism industry identify growth opportunities for the domestic overnight market among younger adults.

You can find details of the seven segments and findings from the research by clicking on the image below:

12th March 2024
Making tourism more accessible - survey suggests a real opportunity for Scottish tourism

Last week, VisitScotland reminded us that one in five people across the UK live with a disability or impairment and contribute to a collective spending power of £249 billion per year. The purpose was to remind Scottish tourism businesses of the importance of finding ways to make their businesses as accessible as possible.

But what do we know about this large segment of the population in Scotland - what are the barriers they face when it comes to taking holidays, what are their concerns, and how can Scotland’s tourism industry better address these concerns?

In late January, 56 Degree Insight worked with Dr Carol Sargent from Sargent Group Consulting to design some key questions and incorporated them in our quarterly representative survey of 1,000+ Scots - Scotland’s Viewpoint.

Key findings to emerge show that there are opportunities to not just make accommodation more accessible, but to improve planning, getting around a destination, information on activities and food and drink and show this community they are being listened to, encouraging these households with people living with health conditions and impairments to book holidays in Scotland.

Read more by downloading the detailed infographic, available by clicking the image below

15th February 2024
The latest Scottish Tourism Index suggests some small signs of recovery for domestic tourism in 2024

The January 2024 Scottish Tourism Index provides an overview of how the Scottish home holiday market might look for the year ahead. Some 1,006 Scots were interviewed in late January with the primary purpose of establishing the characteristics of Scots’ holiday-taking attitudes and behaviours. As surveys are undertaken at identical times each year, it provides a directly comparable set of measures year-on-year, ensuring predictions for the year ahead can be fine tuned by comparing against previous surveys results. In the report from the survey (downloadable by clicking on the image below) we provide some contextual analysis of the extent to which the economic situation might continue to dampen and shape holiday demand. We then look back at Scots’ holiday behaviours in 2023 and then forward to 2024 to establish where we may see potential growth as well as continued challenges.

When the Scottish Tourism Index was launched in 2020, the main driver of consumer behaviours was Covid-19. As we emerged from the Pandemic, the economic impacts it left behind along with the energy crisis, the war in Ukraine and Government fiscal policies have meant that the cost of living crisis has replaced Covid as the main determinant of consumer holiday behaviours. Last year, whilst more Scots rediscovered foreign holiday destinations, this was often at the expense of home holidays as smaller family budgets constrained domestic spending on hospitality. At the start of 2024 there is some initial evidence that this spending squeeze may have ‘bottomed out’ and although still likely to constrain what we do in the immediate term, our disposable incomes are beginning to show some signs of recovery - and the home holiday market may start a journey back to recovery..

Read more by downloading the detailed infographic, available by clicking the image below

19th December 2023
What is Scotland’s favourite Christmas TV advertisement of 2023?

Earlier in December, 56 Degree Insight undertook an online survey of 1,002 Scottish residents to uncover their views on the Christmas TV advertisements from the 8 main supermarket chains this year - which one was their favourite?

But we went beyond general preference to see how each performed on a series of typical key campaign evaluation metrics:

• VISIBILITY (spontaneous and prompted awareness and recognition),

• ENGAGEMENT (likeability, salience, trust, tone, interest, relevance and warmth)

• ACTIONS taken - how many were more persuaded to shop at each supermarket,

• and how did the ads impact the BRAND APPEAL?

There are winners in each category - however we do have an OVERALL WINNER - the most popular advertisement amongst the largest proportion of Scots this year.....

14th November 2023
The latest Scottish Tourism Index suggests a downturn in home holidays in 2023

The October 2023 Scottish Tourism Index provides an overview of the holiday behaviours of Scots this year, focusing on domestic and international travel patterns. Over 1,000 Scots were interviewed in late October and 65% of them had taken a holiday so far - likely to rise to 72% by year-end. However, there's a slight decline in holidays taken within Scotland compared with 2022, On the other hand, the survey suggests that European destinations are witnessing a resurgence among Scots - especially Spain and, to a lesser extent, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and Greece.

The survey backs up the findings from the recent survey of tourism businesses undertaken by 56 Degree Insight for the Scottish Tourism Alliance - economic factors continue to significantly influence holiday decisions, with large proportions of Scots affected by the continued high costs of living. The survey saw these impacts peak in April and there are encouraging signs in this survey that these negative impacts are slowly decreasing. Indeed, three in ten Scots were able to take more holidays than they initially feared at the start of the year.

In terms of domestic holiday trends, there's a notable decrease in the number of breaks taken in Scotland, with 52% taking fewer breaks than in 2022 and 45% opting for shorter durations. Economic constraints have led to a shift away from serviced accommodation towards self-catering and reduced spending on many activities, especially eating out. The findings suggest that the trend of reduced domestic holidays and increased interest in European destinations is likely to continue into 2024 - with long haul destinations also seeing recovery for the first time since the pandemic.

Read more by downloading the detailed infographic, available by clicking the image below

1st November 2023
How’s Business - Autumn survey illustrates the difficulties faced by many Scottish tourism businesses this year

During October, 56 Degree Insight conducted the Scottish Tourism Alliance’s key Autumn survey of tourism businesses. This survey looks back at the tourist season over the past year - but also looks forward at prospects for the remainder of the year and into 2024.

Whilst there has been some optimism driven by the return of overseas traffic - especially from the USA and some key European markets, this has been offset by declines in domestic tourism. And there is a large amount of pessimism about what the short term future has in store.

Jim presented the results at the STA’s Annual Conference in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on the 31st October - the presentation and the full report produced, can both be downloaded from the STA’s website here

20th September 2023
Remote working, Workcations, Digital Nomads - what does the blurring of the lines between business and leisure travel mean for Scottish tourism?

Workcations are a work and travel trend that combine working and taking a vacation. They're on the rise, thanks in a large part to the increased location flexibility and rising worker burnout. For many, it has reshaped the way people think about work and leisure, allowing them to explore new places while staying productive in their careers.

It's a relatively new trend in the UK and consequently, we don’t know a lot about it – what is the potential scale and how can the tourism industry benefit? Working in partnership with Jemma Reid from JR Events, Sales & Consultancy and Yvonne Wagoun from White Stag Tourism, the 56 Degree Insight team incorporated a range of questions in the Summer 2023 wave of the Scottish Tourism Index to better understand the workcations trend as it applies to the Scottish adult population.

You can read more by clicking on the link below:

1st September 2023
A Taxing Decision: What are Scots’ views on the potential introduction of Visitor Levies in parts of Scotland?

With the 'Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill' under consideration which, if passed, will mean that Scottish Local Authorities would be able to introduce a visitor levy in Scotland from 2026, 56 Degree Insight worked with the Scottish Tourism Alliance to investigate the views of the Scottish population on the introduction of such a tax.

Questions were included in the August 2023 Scottish Tourism Index - our nationally representative survey of over 1,000 Scots - and as a similar set of questions were asked in the October survey last year, it provides an opportunity to determine whether or not public opinion has progressed over these 9 months.

You can read more by clicking on the link below:

28th August 2023
Extreme Heat: what are the likely impacts on the timing of future overseas holidays by Scots?

Since the middle of July, popular tourist destinations in and around the Mediterranean have suffered from merciless heatwaves that have caused devastation to some local communities as well as impacting on those visiting on holiday. And it’s not just been Europe with record heat also impacting parts of the USA and Canada, and most recently the cause of the heartbreaking scenes in Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

In the August wave of the Scottish Tourism Index, we asked Scots whether or not these weather impacts in the peak season may force them to reconsider when they take future holidays to these affected areas.

You can read more by clicking on the link below:

24th August 2023
Scottish tourism in 2023 - continued grounds for cautious optimism – but with lower spending and reduced budgets

At the beginning of August, the 56 Degree Insight team ran the third of the 2023 quarterly waves of the Scottish Tourism Index survey.

Now more than half way through the year and well into the main summer period, the cautious optimism we reported in April has solidified with trip taking at home and abroad ahead of the same point last year – and forecasts for the rest of 2023 suggest these trends will continue. However, the harsh realities of the economy continue to play a part with Scots attempting to spend less than in previous years, cutting back in several areas such as eating out, visiting attractions with an entrance charge and seeking the best value and deals they can find.

Read more and download our infographic by clicking on the link below.

14th July 2023
Is it a Land Down Under, or are we Big in Japan? Which destinations are at the top of the Bucket List for holidays amongst Scots?

We’re now well into the main summer holiday season in Scotland, with many families currently enjoying their holidays both at home and abroad.  But where are our favourite holiday destinations – and which locations top our ‘bucket list’ for future holidays?

In our most recent Scottish Tourism Index, we asked these questions to our nationally representative sample of over 1,000 Scottish residents.  Which Scottish destination is the national favourite?  And what about overseas destinations?  And we’ll also see the emergence of further flung destinations in our bucket list of places we’d love to visit.

Read more and download our infographic by clicking on the link below.

Four Years’ Old!
16th June 2023

Four years! It's hard to believe that 56 Degree Insight launched four years' ago today. Such a different world back then - when 'Coronavirus' might have been something encountered in a sci-fi movie - and before Boris Johnson became PM (his tenure has been somewhat shorter than ours!).

It's been a blast for Duncan Stewart and myself - thank you to all current and past clients who have helped us to grow and become established as a research agency. We are both enjoying the world of research and insights more than ever before.

Yesterday, we celebrated our 4th birthday with a trip down to London to catch up with former colleagues as well as some who are now part of our 56 Degree Insight world. It was especially nice to catch up with Kantar UK MD Amy Cashman and meet up with many others in More London Place - too many to mention! Then lunch with Kieran Ferrol and Manuella Barbé followed by drinks with Will Goodhand and then a liquid meet-up with Paul Griffiths and Mike Brown.

We then headed to the 38th Floor of the Gherkin for a fabulous evening hosted by our excellent survey software provider QuestionPro - XDay London. Great presentations from the speakers, superbly hosted by Aseem Badshah, Usman Khawaja and Oku Egho - really enjoyed listening to a former colleague from many years' ago, Mike Stevens illustrating the positives (and negatives) from AI in the research process.

Great to meet you all yesterday - and thank you again to everyone who has provided us with so much support and encouragement these last 4 years......

LATEST!
31st May 2023
What is the potential for accessible tourism in Scotland?

As the populations in developed countries evolve to an increasingly older profile with higher proportions suffering from impairments and disabilities, the tourism industry has often struggled to keep up to the pace of ensuring that all aspects of the tourism experience are as accessible as possible. This is also the case in Scotland, although importantly, more and more businesses have tried to provide a more accessible experience - especially over the last couple of decades.

Commissioned by VisitAberdeenshire, 56 Degree Insight are currently working with tourism businesses in the area, providing bespoke advice and consultancy to help them to optimise their research and insight gathering to better understand their customers. In discussions with one such operator, Dalriada Luxury Lodges located just outside Stonehaven, it became clear that there was a need for more information and understanding of the needs of those with different types of impairment - how can they as a business provide a best in class experience in this area?

We were keen to help by increasing the amount of information available, and as a starting point, in April, we added a question about impairments in the respondent's household to the Scottish Tourism Index. In this and subsequent surveys, we will be able to to analyse tourism patterns amongst those with different types of impairment. This first analysis illustrates that the demand for holidays is just as high amongst most with impairments as it is the wider population - and that there is a real potential amongst the domestic markets, especially amongst those with mobility impairments.

Click on the image below to find out more…….

13th May 2023
What are the latest prospects for Scottish tourism in 2023?

We’re delighted to be able to share the latest results from our quarterly monitor of Scottish opinion on all things holidays and breaks - the Scottish Tourism Index. The latest statistics on the holiday intentions of the Scottish population were gathered in late April and provide slightly greater grounds for optimism than was the case in the January Index. However, the challenges posed by rising costs continue to impact on our holiday decisions this year.

Go to the ‘Scottish Tourism Index’ page on our website by clicking on the image below - and download the latest findings:

4th May 2023
What do Scots think about the Coronation

After all of the hype and build-up, the Coronation of King Charles III is almost upon us. But what does the Scottish population think about it all? What are the levels of interest. In late April, we asked a nationally representative sample of 1,006 Scots to provide their opinions. Click on the image below to find out what they had to say……

24th March 2023
Fireside Chat with the MD of QuestionPro UK

We enjoyed a half hour chat with Aseem Badshah, UK MD of our favourite survey software QuestionPro. For those interested in knowing a bit more about our backgrounds and the ethos behind 56 Degree Insight, you can view it here:

20th March 2023
Making a difference? – what actions do Scots perceive as most likely to reduce their carbon footprint

We have recently explored the population’s perceptions on which of a series of potential behaviour changes would do most to reduce their carbon footprint and which would be less impactful.

Click on the image below to find out more

13th February 2023
Forecasting Tourism Behaviours - the predictive possibilities of the Scottish Tourism Index

With the Scottish Tourism Index released on a quarterly basis and each wave containing claimed holiday taking behaviours of the Scottish population, just how accurate are these claims? To what extent can we predict likely annual outcomes from the survey? We have analysed the predicted holidays claimed by Scots for 2022 in each of the April, August and October surveys, and compared with the final outcomes recorded in January 2023. The results provide a great deal of reassurance about the strength of the Scottish Tourism Index as a predictive tool. Read more by clicking on the image below:

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