American golfers helped support a big rise in North American visits to Scotland this year, up by a third.
Scotland’s ‘home of golf’ campaign ahead of the Ryder Cup boosted visits from the US and Canada to 510,000 during the year to June 2014, compared to 385,000 for the same period last year.
Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing said Scotland’s ‘Year of Homecoming’ campaign had also proved effective.
"The people at Scottish tourism’s front line, the staff in our hotels, cafes, restaurants and tourist attractions, are delivering results and providing a memorable experience for visitors from home and abroad," he said.
It contributed to an overall rise of 18% in overseas visitors to 2.6million, although the number of domestic visitors from other parts of the UK fell slightly.
Over the past two years, 80 new direct air routes have opened including scheduled flights from Chicago and Philadelphia, while WestJet has recently announced a daily service to Glasgow from Halifax, Nova Scotia from May.
"This is the year that we predicted Scotland would welcome the world and it seems we have done just that. As we head into the 2015 Year of Food and Drink and beyond, we will look to develop and build on all we have achieved," said VisitScotland chief executive Malcolm Roughead.
"It is our turn to get out there and take Scotland to the world and ensure every single corner of the globe has heard of all we have to offer."
