ST ANDREW,UNITED KINGDOM - A Piper standing on Swilcan bridge at the St Andrews Golf Course in St Andrews,Scotland. High-end travelers who arrive by private jet have been powering the Scotland tourism sector. A proposal by the Green Party would ban private jets at numerous airports in the country. (Photo by Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)

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The biggest spenders in Scotland’s $15 billion tourism sector could be diverted to other destinations if a proposal to ban private jets from the nation's Green Party is adopted, according to multiple industry experts. They say increased visits by high-net-worth travelers over the past decade have provided the funds for tourism suppliers to upgrade their products and remain competitive on the world stage. The Scottish Greens specifically cited the increase in private jet arrivals as a reason to ban them.

Experts say a wide swath of Scotland’s tourism industry and the jobs it supports would see reduced revenues. In addition to golf and whiskey tourism, the rural areas have become popular for shooting, fishing, hiking, biking, and walking in the luxury travel segment. Just last week, VistaJet, one of the largest private jet companies, highlighted Scotland as a recommended destination for summer travel. Castles and manor houses, which have expensive upkeep, attract board meetings and celebratory travel. The money spent by visitors flows to local farmers and village shops. Experts say the country’s network of airports make those estates easy to reach via private jets and helicopters. Tourism in Scotland is responsible for one in 11 jobs, according to the Scottish Tourism Alliance.

The ban on private jets, which would affect most airports in Scotland, is part of the Green Party’s agenda, should they be part of a possible ruling coalition. While Scotland’s two busiest airports – Glasgow International and Edinburgh Airport – wouldn’t be part of the ban, they account for only about 40% of departures, according to the European Business Aviation Association. Secondary airports get the majority of private jet flights.

Airports where private jets would be banned under the Green’s proposal include Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Dundee, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Prestwick, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Tiree Airport, and Wick John O’Groats. The country's budget plans for 2028, announced in January, already called for a tax on private jets.

Not all parties in this week’s national elections are opposed to visitors arriving by private jet. According to a review of transportation policies by The Scotsman, "The Scottish Conservatives would lower the tax on long-haul flights to attract investment and jobs, while Scottish Labour would create a £5m air route development fund for new international routes, with North America and Asia a priority."

Peter Bates, an expert on luxury travel and former marketing head at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and Cunard Line, says a ban would hurt the Scottish economy. "The type of people who arrive on private jets don’t come in ones or twos," he says, adding, "They travel in small groups. Their economic impact is exponential, and that money flows outside the hotel. They play golf, they go fishing, shooting, they come to Scotland for whiskey tasting, and spending is a hobby."

Statistics from Visit Scotland show golf brings in over $1.8 billion annually, while the whisky industry generates over $120 million of visitor receipts.

Alex Shattuck, CEO of Perry Golf, which specializes in golf vacations, says his clients who travel by private jet spend, on average, three to four times more than his overall client base, which is already a well-heeled group.

He says they take expensive suites, have private drivers, spend more on dining, and make expensive purchases, driving money into rural economies. Shattuck and Bates say wealthy private jet owners sometimes follow up their golfing visits by returning to invest in properties and local businesses.

Bates says destinations such as Scotland face stiff competition in attracting high-net-worth travelers. “Scotland's tourism has been a fabulous success story. But everyone is chasing high-net-worth travelers because they are so valuable," Bates says.

UHNWs fly privately is “because they are time poor. They have limits on their time, and if you make it more time-consuming to get there, they will simply go somewhere else," Bates says.

A recent YouGov poll projects the Green Party could pick up three seats. It currently has eight, but as recently as 2024, it was part of a coalition government led by the Scottish National Party, which collapsed over climate targets, according to Politico.

Party Co-leader Ross Greer wrote, "Private jets are one of the clearest symbols of extreme climate and wealth inequality. The vast majority of people in Scotland will never go near one, but we all end up suffering from the damage they are doing to our climate. Thanks to the Scottish Greens, work is already underway on a private jet tax to make sure the richest start paying their fair share. The next step is to ban these toys of the super-rich from landing at our publicly owned airports at all. Airports owned by the public shouldn't be used to serve the whims of billionaires."

Ross also seemingly took a shot at the country’s highest spending visitors. He continued, “Their luxury lifestyles and pollution-heavy vanity trips simply aren’t worth the damage they cause to our planet. Whether they are hopping between their shooting estates, mansions, or superyachts, the result is the same - the public pays the price while the super-rich carry on as normal.” He called the upcoming elections "a chance to back real climate action and finally start holding the biggest polluters to account."

Aviation worldwide accounts for just over 2% of carbon emissions, and private jets account for just 2% of that 2%, according to Climbing Fast, an advocacy group for business aviation.

The European Business Aviation Association's Director of Public Affairs and Communications, Róman Kok, responded, "This proposal is not serious climate policy. Banning aviation is not the same as decarbonizing aviation. If we are serious about climate action, we need policies that help reduce emissions while preserving connectivity, investment, jobs, and innovation. You cannot measure socio-economic welfare in CO2 only. A credible transition has to look at the full picture, including how we keep communities connected and how we support the industries that develop the technologies that will make aviation cleaner."

Scottish Tourism Alliance CEO Marc Crothall says, "We have an aspiration for Scotland to be a world leader in 21st century tourism, and inclusivity is absolutely key….We need inbound international expenditure, and we know our inbound international audience spends far greater amounts of money than the domestic market," adding, "We've got a risk of putting off high wealth clients to choose to come in and out of Scotland…The people arriving on private jets spend a lot of money, especially on luxury Scottish products and experiences, and the knock-on effects of that, of course, being lesser spend."

Crothall says the potential knock-on effect of fewer private jet arrivals and less HNW spending would mean Scotland’s tourism businesses would have less to invest in their people and product. It would also reduce tax revenues that fund many of the Green Party's initiatives.

Rocco Forte Hotels Managing Director Richard Cooke says The Balmoral generated $250,000 in room revenue over the past 12 months from guests it picked up at Edinburgh Airport’s FBO. That doesn’t include spending in restaurants, bars, and other local businesses. They also represented a wide swath of nationalities, including the U.S., Mexico, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Brazil, the Czech Republic, China, France, and Germany.

He says while private jet flyers don’t make a large number on their own, they bring a multiplier impact. "All your film entertainment (top stars and directors), they only come on private jets," Cooke says. Screen Scotland says in 2024, the film and TV industry generated close to $1 billion and supported more than 10,000 jobs.

Cooke says private flyers stay one or two nights in Edinburgh before visiting other parts of the country. "They'll stay with us, and they'll stay in the luxury suite, and then they'll go off and explore in Scotland, and then go and buy land or buy castles, etc., so the people that come and stay with us, they invest a lot in Scotland."

Cooke agrees that there are plenty of other destinations that would roll out the red carpet for private jets. "Everyone is looking for the high-net-worth traveler and the high-net-worth guest. Everybody's after that. The reason we're all after them is that they're good for business and they move in circles, which helps continue growth," he says.

Trump Turnberry General Manager Nic Oldham says, “We are not one of the cheapest destinations. We need the wealthy visitors. It is certainly the wrong strategy for golf tourism.”

Oldham says the season for high-net-worth travelers in Scotland is short, but their hyper spending helps support “the ability to invest in keeping the product competitive.” He says, "Spain and Portugal are expanding with better golf courses, new luxury hotels, and better price points.

Oldham says guests who arrive by private jet spend three to five times as much as typical guests, buying bottles of whiskey that can cost over $10,000. What’s more, he says they don’t just stay in the resort. "An awful lot of them go out to local restaurants, they play local golf courses, they go shopping."

Oldham says most private jet users will simply go somewhere else if private jets are banned. "They are time sensitive. They have limited leisure time."

He believes the Greens' approach is short-sighted. He asks, “Why would you want to lose people who are investing in our country, helping to pay for our medical system and other services?”

Another executive, who declined to have his name used, says of the proposed ban, “It’s not about climate, and even less about private jets. Banning private jets wouldn’t move the needle on climate. (The Scottish Greens) are against anyone who has made a bit of money. They are anti-wealth. Private jets are just part of their rhetoric as a way to get attention." He noted that among current proposals by the Scottish Greens is a frequent flyer tax on airline tickets to “discourage excessive flying by the wealthiest travelers.”

The Green Party didn’t respond to a request for comment.