SCOTO CIC
Scotland's national infrastructure organisation for community-led tourism
What is community tourism?
It’s a question many people ask – and often because they like the sound of it and want to know more!
For SCOTO, which is working at a policy and grassroots level across Scotland, community tourism focuses on people, places and purpose.
Community led tourism is where a community enterprise or geographic community is directly involved in shaping and managing the tourism offers in their area and ensuring tourism derives tangible benefits locally.
Historically many communities have felt that tourism happens to them rather than with them but there is a growing sense that tourism can be a force for good.
Community Tourism Day 2026
Celebrating Community Tourism
On the 25 April 2026 we celebrated the second Community Tourism Day - read and listen to the messages, blogs and podcasts publised on the day!
How can we empower communities through tourism?
Many communities across the country feel that tourism happens to them rather than with them. But if their interests as a host community come to the fore and time is taken to understand what matters locally a very different dynamic can develop.
Visitors always have choices they can make, as do businesses, local residents and agency partners. And we can all seek to make better, more conscious choices that deliver what we want, but in so doing also deliver meaningful local benefits which empower Scotland’s communities through tourism.
For a visitor, it’s simple to ask, 'What can we do in your community?' But a bigger, more impactful question would be What can we do for your community?
This is a simple question that businesses and agency partners can also ask as choices are made on strategy, investment, supply chains, employment and sponsorship.
And at the very grass roots level this is a question each of us as an individual can ask at home in our own communities. What can I do for my local community to make it an even better place to live, work and visit? What skills can I offer? What time do I have? Could I become a local trustee? Could I spend few hours stewarding at a local event? Could I do a shift at the local information hub?
SCOTO is seeking to reframe the dynamics of tourism and place each individual host community’s interests at the heart of all tourism choices and decision-making.
What does it mean to be local?
Community Tourism: Blending what communities need and visitors seek
How can SCOTO Help?
At SCOTO, our work revolves around seven key activities
Forum & Networking
Providing a forum for networking and connecting with peers engaged in community led tourism
Resources
Providing an online learning and development resources for community led tourism
Programmes
Providing programmes of support for community led tourism including grants
Advocacy
Providing leadership that strengthens the representation of community led tourism initiatives in strategy, policy and delivery.
Promotion
Providing a promotional platform, targeting conscious consumers and ethical travelers.
Data
Gatheing data and intelligence about community led tourism in Scotland
Services
Undertake contracts and services to grow and develop community tourism across Scotland
From tourist to temporary local: Fight to make Scottish tourism fair
STV's Scotland Tonight programme, 9 June 2023
A focus on visitors
Be a temporary local
We have created a dedicated website for visitors to unleash their inner local, as we invite them to be inspired to embrace the local community spirit on their travels and to give something simple back that will make the community an even better place to live, work and visit.
SCOTO was established in April 2022 believing in:
Community Wealth Building
Community tourism can support economic and social growth and grow resilient communities that are then equipped to innovate and optimise further opportunities for development and investment. Read how our network uses community tourism as a tool for community wealth building.
Responsible Tourism
Community tourism underpins the concepts of sustainable and responsible tourism delivering more than economic return with due consideration to the social and environmental as well as economic impacts that tourism brings
Place Making
Community tourism is place-orientated and grassroots led and therefore integrates its development with other community priorities
Getting Involved
Be part of it
We welcome individuals, community enterprises and supporters to get in touch and find out more about the SCOTO Network, or to simply ask us for info. Discover more about SCOTO below:
