Tourism slump in Scottish Borders, according to new figures

Tourism numbers have fallen in the Scottish Borders, according to figures released by Visit Scotland.

The latest figures show only 1% of three million tourists from overseas who vistited Scotland came to the Scottish Borders in 2016, with only 3% of eight million tourists visiting from the UK.

Tourism employs thousands of people in the Borders and the industry is worth £72 million.

Tourism hot-spots such as Kailzie Gardens, near Peebles, have seen their numbers halved.

An action group made up of 550 tourism businesses in the Borders has been established to try and tackle the imbalance.

The Scottish Borders Tourism Partnership is preparing to launch a plan to rebrand the Borders as a major tourist destination. They hope the strategy will increase the number of tourists and boost the local economy.