Tourism has been very much in focus in Scotland in the last week, in a positive way.

Donald Trump’s presidential election victory naturally dominated the headlines, and has major implications on the business and economic front including the potential for higher tariffs for the likes of exports of single malt Scotch whisky to the US.

The dollar surged in the immediate wake of news on Wednesday morning of Mr Trump’s victory, as financial markets reacted in a positive way overall.

Part of the reaction was relief that there was a decisive election result, rather than a close call and all the associated uncertainty that might have gone with that in terms of contested counts and so forth.

And Ben Lofthouse, portfolio manager of Henderson International Income Trust, noted: “Mr Trump has campaigned on a mandate that includes further tax cuts for US companies, and less government regulation, which are generally taken positively by investors.”

During a somewhat tumultuous week in which Mr Trump dominated the headlines, and not for the first time, we had two attention-grabbing stories in the key Scottish tourism sector.

The first was a rallying call from Marc Gardner, general manager of Crerar Hotel Group’s Oban Bay Hotel, to boost winter tourism in seaside towns such as the one in which he operates, which see big declines in visitor numbers........

© Herald Scotland