Setting up a tourism business

4 minute read • Last updated: 25 February 2025

Find all of the general advice you need to begin a business in Scotland. From 1-2-1 help offered by Business Gateway to advice on managing staff, finances and marketing, this list of advice articles and how-to guides will help you get what you need.

If you’re looking for dedicated help for your type of business, check out our dedicated support by sector section with advice for accommodation, attractions, events, food and drink and active and outdoor businesses.

Finding an idea

Check if your business idea is viable

Every business begins with an idea, but even great ideas need a sense check before they can go any further.

Find out how to develop your idea into a successful business proposition with this step-by-step guide. It will help you check if there is a market for your business, whether people want or need what you are offering, and whether this will translate to people actually spending money on or engaging with your product.

Find out from Business Gateway if your business idea is viable.

Create a business plan

Your next task should be to create a business plan. This is essential to any successful business but it can be hard to know where to start.

Business Gateway offers some useful insight on the purpose of a business plan, what to include, how to write it and provides a template for you to follow.

Business plans – Business Gateway

Guide to writing a business plan

Find funding opportunities

Funding can help get your idea off the ground in the early stages as well as help support your development through new initiatives and adaptations for the future. Learn more about finding the right investment for you and your business with our funding opportunities advice.

Review research and insights

You may need research information for your business plan, particularly if applying for funding or a bank loan.

VisitScotland have a wide range of statistics across topics and regions and research for different markets, trends and more. Take a look at our regional statistics or browse all of our tourism research and insights.

Organising finances and managing risk

Woman working at computer in reception area — Lothianbridge Caravan Park

Managing your finances

Financing is essential for getting started as well as maintaining and developing your business over time.

With your financial support in order, you will still need to make sure your ongoing cash flow and budgeting is in order. Business Gateway has more information and advice on:

understanding your cash flow
managing your invoicing to make sure you are paid quickly
diversifying and adapting your business to reach new customers
identifying your main costs
reducing your operating costs

Risk management and business continuity

When running a business, it’s essential that you prepare for situations that might impact you. This could be anything from tough economic conditions to severe weather.

This is especially true for events with set dates and times. You will need to plan for anything that might impact this as it could be difficult to respond effectively on the day itself.

Business Gateway can help you better understand risk management and why it is so important. There is also information available to help you assess and minimise risk and test your plans once ready.

Find out more from Business Gateway about risk management.

Finding and developing staff

Staff and volunteers – HR advice and resources

Running a business needs a dedicated and passionate team. For some businesses, this could be full time/permanent staff with additional support required at peak times. For other businesses such as events, this might be a core staff in the initial planning stages with seasonal staff and/or volunteers brought in for the delivery of the event itself.

Before recruiting your staff, it is important to understand the basics of human resources including:

the recruitment process
working hours
training
health and safety
paying, payroll and taxing

Find out more about Volunteer Scotland and the opportunities they offer.

Training and development

It is essential for your staff and volunteers to have a standard level of training in key subjects.

Things can change quickly when running a business. This could be new technology, digital opportunities or even changes in your legal requirements.

Check out the Tourism and Hospitality Toolkit, which was designed by the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) for micro, small and medium-sized Scottish businesses. The toolkit offers practical solutions to help you overcome challenges including staffing, legal compliance, and maintaining a safe and productive work environment.

Business Gateway provides a list of upcoming webinars, events and podcasts that might be helpful to keep you and your team up-to-date.

View Business Gateway's available training options.

Skills Development Scotland lets you sign up for a free Employer Hub account with online tools including:

skills management to develop your people and working practices
role comparison to match existing skills to future needs
skills profile to review your team’s skillsets

Find out more about Skills for Growth.

Managing projects

Project management provides businesses with a method of planning to help deliver a specific task or set of goals within given time constraints. It is usually a temporary piece of work that falls outside day-to-day work tasks to help carry out complex work or data within the business.

What are the benefits of project management?

Helps work to be completed on time by allowing staff members to solely work on a specific project.
Ensures a good level of quality to help meet requirements and expectations.
Helps the project run smoother with a single point of contact.
Keeps costs, timeframes and resources to budget.

Top tips for project management

It’s important to learn the basics when it comes to project management work. This includes:

Objectives – make sure to define your overall goals and objectives at the start of the project. Failure to do this could result in a lack of focus.
Constraints – this could include any factor of a project which could cause limitations or delays, eg funding or lack of resources. Before starting the project, make sure you know what resources and budget you have without overspending to help deliver successful results.
Lifecycle – this defines the project’s start and finish dates on when goals and objectives should be carried out within a specific timeframe.

Project management stages

Initiation

This is the official starting point of when a project kickstarts. This can be triggered by a Project Mandate which highlights the purpose of the project and the authority to spend money on the work carried out. It sets out what needs to be done and the resources and budget available. All this information is captured in a project initiation document (PID).

Planning and development

This should be a clear process highlighting what needs to be done, who by and when. Costs and resources need to be taken into consideration throughout the whole project. This enables businesses to carry out a project plan and schedule when key areas need to be delivered by.

Production and implementation

This is when the project is put into action. It helps give an overview on what deliverables can be produced to determine the overall goals and objectives of the project.

Monitoring and controlling

Project work must be monitored throughout all stages. This helps mitigate any risks that may arise. Project performance should be closely monitored to see whether it is meeting the expectations of the project plan.

Closing

The final phase of the project requires the work that was carried out to be formally accepted. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean success, if a project has failed the overall requirements, they also need to be closed.

Discover the basics of project management.

Publicising your business

Online presence

An online presence is essential for promoting your business once you are set up. For the day-to-day running of your business, you will also need to set up business emails. Both for individual members of staff and for general enquiries.

You should set up a digital presence and establish how to operate your online payments and bookings. Part of this is making sure you are compliant with GDPR and data protection laws.

You will need to decide which online platforms will work best for you and your potential audience ie Instagram, TikTok, Facebook etc. You should also decide what to call yourself on these platforms and what “handle” to use for people to find you.

Take a look at Business Gateway's presence checklist for the things you are most likely to need.

Check your digital performance with Business Gateway's free digital health check.

Find out how to promote your business across digital channels.

Getting more help

Get 1-2-1 help

Not sure where to start? Fill in a short questionnaire about you and your business and someone from Business Gateway will get in touch to chat through your next steps. You’ll also get a start-up toolkit packed with resources, advice and events.

Start-up toolkit – Business Gateway

10-minute questionnaire – Business Gateway

Business Gateway has a number of other resources including naming your business, protecting your ideas and where to find more general business and support.

See all of Business Gateway’s advice on starting a business.

Other useful information

All businesses are different and might need information and support in other areas.

Visit the Business Gateway page on Spotify to find podcasts on the challenges facing businesses, which they discuss with organisations and experts.

Scottish legislation advice

Find the latest legislation advice. From short-term lets to visitor levy and Fair Work to package travel regulations.

How to measure your progress

Measuring progress regularly can help you gain key insights into how well your business is performing overall.

How-to

3 minute read

Pricing strategies

Review different pricing strategies and find the right one for direct sales and for selling through a travel distribution partner.