£1m drive to woo back tourists to Scotland

More than £1m is to be spent promoting Robert Burns around the world in a move by politicians to rebuild Scotland's flagging tourist industry.

The Scottish Executive will use the money to pay for a number of festivities which they hope will "outshine" the St Patrick's Day celebrations.

Scottish Minister for sport, the arts and culture, Allan Wilson, said the executive wanted to build on celebrations already undertaken by Scots on January 25, the Bard's birthday.

Possible festivities include holding a national Burns Supper, free access to theatres and museums and extended licensing hours.

MSPs are also considering holding a special Burns dinner at Edinburgh castle for VIP guests Tony Blair and George W Bush.

Mr Wilson said the plans were putting place to rebuild Scotland's tourist industry in the wake of the foot-and-mouth crisis and to boost the country's potential as a possible host for major sporting events such as the 2008 European football championships and the Ryder Cup.

"We are still looking into a number of ideas but believe this would be a great way to promote Scotland in every corner of the globe where people show a great interest in Burns' work," Mr Wilson said.

"Not enough has been done to promote Burns, one of our top national icons, and it's about time that something was done to change this."

The MSP said he intended to visit the Robert Burns World Federation congress in Atlanta next month where he hoped a number of ideas would be discussed.

But Scottish National Party MSP Mike Russell said the executive should be looking at ways to promote Scotland all-year round and not just on one specific day. He said: "I am all for a celebration of Burns and a promotion of culture - but what about the other 364 days of the year? To have this one day a year is simply not enough."