Edinburgh Tourism Action Group

Scottish Tourism Observatory – Website Launched

tourism observatory scotland

The aim of the Observatory is to make data for tourism in Scotland easy to find and to use.

This first phase of the Scottish Tourism Observatory is just the start of our journey to improve tourism data in Scotland. The work that’s been done has laid the foundation for future development to meet more of the data needs of tourism stakeholders.

The Observatory will provide data on tourism in Scotland, focusing both on visitors and the industry, including topics such as seasonality, employment and the visitor economy.  It also provides data on the wider context, with sections on UK and global tourism.

Initially, the focus has been on making existing data more available. 

Visit the Tourism Observatory website

For more information on this project visit visitscotland.org

Tourism Observatory

en_US

Tourism Observatory is a service that captures the Demand (Requests) and the valid Direct Reservations in hotels and accommodation providers and vacation rentals in specific geographical areas of Greece.

How it works?

Bookonline now booking engine.

tourism observatory scotland

Hotel Availabilities Channel Manager

tourism observatory scotland

Hosthub Vacation Rental Channel Manager

Nea mesa tourism marketing & sales.

tourism observatory scotland

Data Appeal

tourism observatory scotland

OTA Insight

City college university of york europe campus.

tourism observatory scotland

BookOnline Now

Hotel availabilities, city college, bookonlinenow graphs, data analysis and sample hotels.

The analysis is based on the cumulative and average data from a number of 8-10 properties using BookOnlineNow booking engines per examined Region.

Demand and Reservations Terms

Demand is a Request made on the booking engine on a specific date (Request Date) and Reservation is a valid reservation made through the booking engine.

tourism observatory scotland

Demand and Reservation Trends

  • The report details out the week-by-week changes of Number of Requests (Demand Trends) and Number of Reservations (Reservations Trend) for each examined region compared to the Reference Week.
  • Benchmarking (Zero (0) Point) Zero (0) Point is considered as the Average Number of Requests and Number of Reservations made the first 2 months of 2020 (Reference Week - Zero Point).
  • For a comparative version, we may add graphs that compare the collected data with the previous year’s data points.

Demand and Reservation Period Comparison

  • The report details out the week-by-week changes of Number of Requests (Demand Trends) and Number of Reservations (Reservations Trend) made through the booking engine compared to the same period last year.

Booking Window

  • The report details out the Arrivals Booking Window of reservations made from the booking engine in a specific time period.

Top 10 Countries

  • The report details out the Top 10 of the countries from which the most searches (Demand) and the most reservations (Reservations) are made in a certain period of time.

tourism observatory scotland

Hosthub Graphs

Data analysis of vacation rental bookings.

The analysis is based on the cumulative and average data of a total of 6,000 vacation rentals worldwide using the Syncbnb channel manager.

Vacation Rentals Reservation Year Comparison

The report details out the week-by-week changes of Number of Reservations (Reservations Trend) compared to the same period last year.

HotelAvailabilities Graphs

The analysis is based on the cumulative and average data of all hotels using HotelAvailabilities channel manager in Greece.

ΟΤΑs Reservations Period Comparison

The report details out the week-by-week changes of Number of Reservations (Reservations Trend) made through OTAs compared to the same period last year.

The report details out the Arrivals Booking Window of reservations made through OTAs in a specific time period.

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Visitor Reseach

Visitor Research

Good data can inform good management decisions and is the all-important evidence for investment decisions. Here you'll find links to information and insight to help you understand who your visitors are and what they like.

Ask SCOTO if you need specific information or if you have something you'd like to share that could help others.

The Scottish Tourism Observatory

As a key action agreed by STERG the Scottish Government funded the establishment of the Scottish Tourism Observatory aiming to make tourism data for Scotland easy to find and to use.

The Observatory is under development and has various data available under different categories.  They are seeking to grow this through time so do check back for new content.

Much of this data is also provided on the VisitScotland.org website. 

VisitScotland's Research & Insights

VisitScotland has extensive information and insight about our visitors to help inform your activities and future plans

Find out about visitors from: UK and Overseas

Find out all about the visitor of tomorrow: Trends For Tomorrow

Regional Data

VisitScotland hold data and research on all of Scotland’s regional destinations. There is good analysis of data through time and scope to compare different regions to better understand your region and its key characteristics.

Regions: Research on your area

UNWTO Tourism Data

The World Tourism Organisation is a United Nations agency, and it provides statistics and insights on key indicators for inbound and outbound tourism and global, regional and national levels.

https://www.unwto.org/tourism-data/unwto-tourism-dashboard

Scottish Government Statistics

The Scottish Government have 250 datasets to explore from key facts to detailed information about Scotland, as well as linked data from main Scottish organisations like Scottish Natural Heritage and Visit Scotland.

https://statistics.gov.scot/home

Do you want to be a SCOTO Networker, Supporter or Enterprise?

Find out more about how you can join SCOTO

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Royal Observatory Edinburgh Visitor Centre

tourism observatory scotland

Top ways to experience Royal Observatory Edinburgh Visitor Centre and nearby attractions

tourism observatory scotland

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

DragonChowhound

Also popular with travelers

tourism observatory scotland

Royal Observatory Edinburgh Visitor Centre - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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THE 5 BEST Scotland Observatories & Planetariums

Observatories & planetariums in scotland.

  • Art Galleries
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  • Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, and popularity.

tourism observatory scotland

1. Mills Observatory

mom2781

2. The North Harris Eagle Observatory

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3. Royal Observatory Edinburgh Visitor Centre

JeySC

4. Coats Observatory

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5. Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium

H7144IBstever

6. Visitor Centre Burghead

tomalli68

7. Planetarium

tourism observatory scotland

8. James Gregory's Meridian

9. city observatory, calton hill, what travellers are saying.

DocTealady

Visitor Centre Logo

Technology Science & People

“The night sky is always there, inexhaustible and fundamental to the understanding of nature. It puts before us considerations we would never have thought of, but for it.”.

Ralph Sampson Astronomer Royal for Scotland, 1910-37

Public Events Leaflet

Public Events

Pencils

Primary Schools

Student

Secondary Schools

Home Learning

Home Learning

communities

Communities

Our next event, events at the royal observatory.

Our events programme runs throughout the year, and includes:

Our Astronomy Talk series is running a little differently this year with two different strands of talks.  Astronomy Talks for All  in November and March is for those with very little or no background in astronomy and technology. December and January brings you our  In-Depth Astronomy Talks  which aims to bring a deeper dive into the work of our scientists and engineers and is more suitable for an audience with some prior knowledge.

Come and hear the story of Edinburgh’s Royal Observatory and explore the iconic Victorian telescope dome at our public astronomy evenings.

Occasionally we run special events with partners around Edinburgh and as part of wider festivals or events.

Mailing List

Join our mailing list to stay up to date with our upcoming events and activities throughout the year

Privacy Overview

Telescopes for beginners | free mobile app

Galloway Astronomy Centre

Galloway Astronomy Centre

Craiglemine Cottage, Glasserton, Wigtownshire, DG8 8NE

Enjoy a stargazing break at the Galloway Astronomy Centre and experience the fabulous dark skies of South West Scotland!

From the on-site observatory, home to a huge 16″ reflecting telescope, guests can enjoy tours of the heavens viewing distant objects, including galaxies and nebulae.

Non-residents may also book private tours in advance, which can be tailor-made to meet your level of experience and interests.

Stay & gaze - this location benefits from dark skies, relatively low levels of light pollution, is astronomy friendly and suitable for stargazing breaks.

Weather forecast

Weather forecast for Whithorn (2.6 miles away) updated 15/03/24 at 04:00.

Local light pollution

Galloway Astronomy Centre is estimated to have light pollution levels similar to adark site dark site location based on the latest data from the VIIRS satellite.

Urban light pollution example

The above demonstrates the estimated effect of light pollution - graphics created using Stellarium .

Light pollution map of Galloway Astronomy Centre

Best time to visit

The Moon has a big impact on the visibility of celestial bodies in the night sky. Try to plan your stargazing when there is no bright Moon at night as this is when the skies will be at their darkest.

The below chart shows when the skies will be at their darkest at this location and therefore the best time to visit. Moonlight is shown in light yellow and the Sun's twilight in light blue . Midnight on the date shown is shown as a white line with sunset to the left and sunrise the next morning to the right. A black background with stars shows the best times for stargazing. See our dark sky calendar for more details.

Moon phase on Fri 15th Mar

Fri 15th Mar

Moon phase on Sat 16th Mar

Sat 16th Mar

Moon phase on Sun 17th Mar

Sun 17th Mar

Moon phase on Mon 18th Mar

Mon 18th Mar

Moon phase on Tue 19th Mar

Tue 19th Mar

Moon phase on Wed 20th Mar

Wed 20th Mar

Moon phase on Thu 21st Mar

Thu 21st Mar

Find more dates.

If you are planning to visit this location check our dark sky calendar to find out when is best!

Events nearby

The night sky this month – planetarium show.

Friday 5th April 2024 from 19:00pm to 20:30pm

Dark Space Planetarium, Kirkcudbright, DG6 4EG (18.8 miles away)

Friday 3rd May 2024 from 19:00pm to 20:30pm

Friday 7th June 2024 from 19:00pm to 20:30pm

Friday 5th July 2024 from 19:00pm to 20:30pm

Friday 2nd August 2024 from 19:00pm to 20:30pm

Beta This is a new service. Your feedback will help us to improve it.

UNWTO International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories

The UNWTO International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) is a network where tourism observatories come together to monitor the economic, environmental and social impact of tourism at a destination level. The purpose of this network is to support UNWTO’s commitment to sustainability and growth.

Across the world, there are currently 30 tourism observatories, from China to South America. These all operate with the same goal: to provide relevant and useful data to support sustainable tourism in their destination.

A cyclist travels along the road next to Loch Assynt

Our aim is for the Scottish Tourism Observatory to become a member of this network, as it will open up opportunities for support and learnings.

To become a member of INSTO, there are 11 mandatory areas which must be monitored. A priority for the Scottish Tourism Observatory team is to work together with stakeholders to identify the most relevant indicators for Scotland and sources of data in these areas.

  • Tourism seasonality
  • Destination economic benefits
  • Local satisfaction
  • Accessibility
  • Climate action
  • Energy management
  • Water / waste water / solid waste management

For more information please visit the UNWTO INSTO website 

Related content for Responsible Tourism

Responsible tourism, responsible tourism goals, responsible tourism data.

Annual sustainability reports

Our annual sustainability and biodiversity reports outline the measures we are taking to help make Scotland more sustainable.

Leaders in sustainable tourism

The Scottish Government wants to make Scotland Europe’s most sustainable destination. This is an aspiration of which we are proud to be a part.

We write sustainability and biodiversity reports every year. They show the measures we have taken to help drive this plan within the tourism industry.

Annual sustainability report 2022-2023

Published November 2023

Annual sustainability report 2021-2022

Published November 2022

Annual sustainability report 2020-2021

Published October 2021

Annual sustainability report 2019-2020

Published February 2021

Annual sustainability report 2018-2019

Published December 2019

Conserving biodiversity in Scotland

We have a responsibility for future conservation of biodiversity in Scotland. We also need to publicly report on our related activities, under:

The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004

The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011

Our biodiversity report 2017-2020

Related links, our sustainability policy, annual and corporate reports, our destination climate action plan, responsible tourism.

IMAGES

  1. Scottish Tourism Observatory launched

    tourism observatory scotland

  2. Scottish Tourism Observatory

    tourism observatory scotland

  3. Coats Observatory

    tourism observatory scotland

  4. The Scottish Tourism Observatory & UNWTO INSTO

    tourism observatory scotland

  5. Royal Observatory Edinburgh

    tourism observatory scotland

  6. Edinburgh’s City Observatory reborn as arts destination : October 2018

    tourism observatory scotland

COMMENTS

  1. Data and Analyses for Tourism in Scotland

    Data and analyses for tourism in Scotland. The Scottish Tourism Observatory aims to make tourism data for Scotland easy to find and use, and to enrich the data available. New content and updates will be added throughout the year, so please browse, and please check back as our content grows. Using the site.

  2. Scottish Tourism Observatory

    The Observatory will present data on tourism in Scotland, focusing both on visitors and the industry, including topics such as seasonality, employment, and the visitor economy. It also provides data on the wider context, with sections on UK tourism and global tourism. Interactive dashboards and visualisations provide ready-made analyses of data.

  3. Scottish Tourism Observatory

    The Scottish Tourism Observatory project was born out of the development of the national strategy - Scotland Outlook 2030: Responsible Tourism for a Sustainable Future. It was recognised that a robust evidence base is crucial for planning and decision making. The aim of the Observatory is to make data for tourism in Scotland easy to find and to ...

  4. Scottish Tourism Observatory launched

    The Scottish Tourism Observatory website has now launched. It's currently in its beta phase - an early stage of development which will continue to be tested, improved and built upon. The aim of the Observatory is to make data for tourism in Scotland easy to find and to use. This first phase of the Scottish Tourism Observatory is just the ...

  5. International Tourism Statistics

    These positive indicators point to a promising recovery in Scotland's tourism sector. A total of 3.2 million visits were made to Scotland by international visitors, staying for 29.7 million nights and spending £3,151 million. Though visits were down 7% compared to 2019, the number of nights went up by 9% and visitor spending by 24% in nominal ...

  6. Scottish Tourism Observatory

    The Observatory will provide data on tourism in Scotland, focusing both on visitors and the industry, including topics such as seasonality, employment and the visitor economy. It also provides data on the wider context, with sections on UK and global tourism. Initially, the focus has been on making existing data more available.

  7. Home

    The displayed results are based on real data that are analyzed and represented graphically by the companies participating in the Tourism Observatory. This analysis is done on a weekly basis (during the period when Greece presents high tourist demand) and fortnightly (during the period when Greece presents low tourist demand) based on the total ...

  8. Visitor Research

    The Scottish Tourism Observatory . As a key action agreed by STERG the Scottish Government funded the establishment of the Scottish Tourism Observatory aiming to make tourism data for Scotland easy to find and to use. The Observatory is under development and has various data available under different categories.

  9. Royal Observatory Edinburgh Visitor Centre

    The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh is unique among UK scientific establishments in that it houses on a single site a university astronomy research group, an establishment of a UK Research Council and a Visitor Centre. The Visitor Centre is open for pre-booked school groups and special events only. For full details of all our public events and how ...

  10. About Our Visitors

    A better understanding. Scotland welcomes millions of visitors every year and our Insight department carry out in-depth research and a variety of analytical tasks to help better understand this diverse market. Not only do the results feed in to our own activities such as marketing strategy and campaign planning, but this information is of huge ...

  11. THE 5 BEST Scotland Observatories & Planetariums

    5. Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium. 25. Observatories & Planetariums. By F5158LZmartinp. Excellent film to begin with, and a very varied range of interactive stations, some on screens, some hands on, which... 6. Visitor Centre Burghead. 36.

  12. Using the site Scottish Tourism Observatory

    Information about the Observatory and the data it provides and how to use it and navigate the content . Skip to main content. Beta This is a new service. ... Scotland's national tourism statistics Information to help you use the national tourism statistics. The impact of COVID-19 on data and statistics ...

  13. The 9 Best Spots for Stargazing in Scotland

    9. Isle of Skye. It should be no surprise that we're finishing the list of stargazing spots in Scotland with the Isle of Skye. This beautiful Western isle is one of the darkest places in Scotland. It boasts nine incredible Dark Sky Discovery sites, so there is no shortage of options for Isle of Sky stargazing.

  14. ROE Visitor Centre

    Description. _ga. 2 years. The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.

  15. International visitor numbers for 2022 revealed

    Inbound visitor statistics. The Office of National Statistics has released the International Passenger (IPS) tourism statistics for 2022. It revealed that last year there were 3.2 million visits to Scotland from overseas visitors, compared to 3.46 million visits over the same period in 2019. With no restrictions on international travel last ...

  16. UNWTO International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories

    The UNWTO International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) was created in 2004 with the main objective to support the continuous improvement of sustainability and resilience in the tourism sector through systematic, timely and regular monitoring of tourism performance and impact and to connect dedicated destinations in order to better understand destination-wide resource use ...

  17. Galloway Astronomy Centre

    Craiglemine Cottage, Glasserton, Wigtownshire, DG8 8NE. Enjoy a stargazing break at the Galloway Astronomy Centre and experience the fabulous dark skies of South West Scotland! From the on-site observatory, home to a huge 16″ reflecting telescope, guests can enjoy tours of the heavens viewing distant objects, including galaxies and nebulae ...

  18. The Scottish Tourism Observatory & UNWTO INSTO

    To become a member of INSTO, there are 11 mandatory areas which must be monitored. A priority for the Scottish Tourism Observatory team is to work together with stakeholders to identify the most relevant indicators for Scotland and sources of data in these areas. Tourism seasonality; Employment; Destination economic benefits; Governance; Local ...

  19. Scotland Visitor Survey 2023

    The visitor survey is typically undertaken every three - four years. The last visitor survey was completed in 2016 with thousands of visitors taking part. The survey planned for 2020 had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. We will run the Scotland Visitor Survey 2023 from March - October 2023. Results are due in 2024.

  20. VisitScotland's Annual Sustainability Report

    Leaders in sustainable tourism. The Scottish Government wants to make Scotland Europe's most sustainable destination. This is an aspiration of which we are proud to be a part. We write sustainability and biodiversity reports every year. They show the measures we have taken to help drive this plan within the tourism industry.