What we do

British Marine Scotland is the regional group within British Marine, representing more than 70 marine businesses in Scotland.

British Marine Scotland aims to feed back information relevant to the business environment and members in Scotland to British Marine, to further strengthen the marine leisure and light commercial sectors.  This local regional focus on Scottish businesses and their local business environments is vital, given Scotland’s geography, coastline and devolved government status. 

A large part of British Marine Scotland’s activity is representation, strategic leadership and partnering to promote the interests and development of the marine industry in Scotland.  British Marine Scotland Board members attend the Recreational Boating and Marine Tourism Cross Party Group and led on the development of Scotland’s Marine Tourism Strategies – firstly, Awakening the Giant (2015-2020) and more recently, Giant Strides (2020-2025).  These strategies have been vital to strengthen recognition of the value of our sector and to support investment proposals.  British Marine Scotland is now taking forward development of the Giant Strides partnership model to progress the aims and objectives of this new strategy.

British Marine Scotland considers the need for updated, comparable statistics for the sector as a priority and recently enlisted a number of funding partners to commission the third iteration of the Economic Value of Boating Tourism in Scotland Study.  These reports were previously produced in 2010 and 2016 and highlighted the size, concentration and value of the boat based Marine Tourism sector in Scotland.  These statistics, combined with the strategies, have underpinned and led public sector, government and the agencies’ thinking in terms of investing in marine tourism. The latest report shows that the sector has grown continuously over the last 5 yrs, despite COVID, and that demand remains strong and that marine leisure is a valuable player in Scottish Tourism

A review of labour, training and employment was recently conducted and underlines a need for more training and closer relationships with schools and colleges to ensure we have a strong workforce to support our current demands and those of the future. British Marine Scotland will continue to have a strong focus on employment and training over the next few years.

British Marine Scotland would like to thank the funding partners who supported the recent Economic Value of Boating Tourism in Scotland research:  Argyll and Bute Council, Dundee City Council, Highland Council, Inverclyde Council, North Ayrshire Council, Crown Estate Scotland and South of Scotland Enterprise.

Why Join British Marine Scotland

Membership of British Marine Scotland strengthens the voice of the sector in Scotland and offers greater opportunities for networking and information sharing.

British Marine delivers a number of specialist marine sector training courses and each can be delivered in Scotland depending on demand.  If there is a course you are interested in, please let us know, it may be possible to arrange delivery in Scotland.

British Marine Scotland - Have Your Say

If you would like to be more involved in British Marine Scotland or have a suggestion or an issue you would like to raise, please contact a Board Member or contact: