MTV 'a missed opportunity' to promote Scotland

THE Scottish Executive came under fire today for failing to put extra money into promoting Scotland as a tourist destination during the MTV Awards in the Capital.

SNP tourism spokesman Kenny MacAskill said VisitScotland had been forced to fork out from its existing budget to make the most of the occasion. And he claimed that meant the marketing during the MTV awards would be at the expense of other initiatives to boost the tourism industry.

"This was a great missed opportunity," he said.

"VisitScotland had to pay substantial sums to make sure they got adverts in the breaks, but that had to come out of their existing budget, which is down from £40 million last year to £33m this year."

Tourism Minister Frank McAveety said VisitScotland had used the awards to showcase Scotland from within its existing budget.