To see ourselves as others see us? Well now we can!

Visitors’ positive views revealed in survey

SCOTLAND has climbed the rankings in an international survey after visitors praised the country’s natural beauty and tourist attractions.

the survey of 60,000 people ranked Scotland 15th out of 60 countries, up two places from two years ago.

the most popular descriptions of the country were ‘fascinating’, ‘exciting’ and ‘relaxing’ – although 5 per cent of people surveyed rated it as ‘boring’.

the main words selected to describe Scottish people were ‘hardworking’, ‘honest’ and ‘skilful’ – but 632 of the those surveyed said Scots are ‘aggressive’ and 369 claimed they are ‘lazy’.

Some 9 per cent of people believed the Scottish Government is ‘unpredictable’, 5.5 per cent rated it as ‘unstable’ and 3 per cent said it is ‘corrupt’.

the country which topped the anholt-Ipsos nations brands index was Germany, followed by Japan and Canada. the UK as a whole was in sixth place.

Culture Secretary angus Robertson said: ‘Scotland is blessed with natural beauty, vibrant cities, rich historical sites, white sand beaches and rolling hills, and it is great to see everything we have to offer being recognised by citizens from across the world.

‘It is also encouraging to see that governance in Scotland has also scored well internationally.’

Scotland’s overall score out of 100 was 65.3, compared with 62.6 in 2020. On natural beauty, it ranked seventh out of 60 countries, while it was 12th for tourism, after its score rose from 68.7 in 2020 to 72.3 last year.

the scoring and ranking of overall governance improved from 62.9 in 2020 to 64.9 in 2022, taking it from 13th to 11th place.

the survey was carried out over July and august last year.

Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos, said: ‘this year’s results remind us that chaos damages countries’ reputations – and stability is rewarded.

‘Britain sees itself fall again, now dropping out of the top five for the first time. Russia has been punished for its war by global public opinion, dropping from 27th place last year to 58th now. Germany remains world no 1 one yet again. In uncertain times, there is something to be said for predictability.’