Heritage tourism

Are you interested in working at magnificent places including castles, abbeys, palaces, battle grounds, Iron Age forts, mills, and stately homes? Would you like to welcome visitors from all around the world? Are you passionate about sharing experiences, your knowledge and enriching people's lives? If so, consider a career in heritage tourism! 

Heritage tourism is a huge contributor to the Scottish economy, with millions of people from all over the world visiting our heritage attractions every year. Working in tourism allows you to welcome the world to Scotland and share the country’s incredible history and culture with a wide and varied audience. 

Visitor-facing roles such as tour guiding, retail, and admissions are key to the day-to-day operation of heritage sites. They can be busy at times, but also highly rewarding. Roles like this involve talking with visitors, working in shops, giving site tours, and assisting with visitor safety and security. These jobs often don’t require extensive prior experience or qualifications, so can also be a great entry point to work in a heritage environment. At a more senior level, you can be responsible for a specific site, or even larger regions, and work can involve motivating site teams and developing over-arching tourism strategies. 

There are also plenty of ‘behind the scenes’ jobs in tourism - fancy researching exhibitions about Scotland’s history or travelling abroad to capture new global audiences? Maybe you want to encourage membership to attractions, or organise both public and private events at these venues? All of this and more is possible with a career in heritage tourism. 

Customer service and communication skills are important for most roles within this area. Being passionate about where you work is also a bonus! 

Examples of jobs include: 

• Front of House Assistant 

• Site Steward 

• Tour Guide 

• Visitor Operations Manager 

• Communications Officer 

• Admissions Coordinator 

• Event Manager 

• Membership Assistant 

• Travel Trade Advisor 

• Tourism Development Manager 

You can apply directly for many visitor-facing on-site roles. Seasonal jobs are a great way to get started and get the experience needed for longer-term positions. Qualifications in tourism or event management can be useful for more senior roles.

Looking for vacancies? Check out the job postings on these websites: 

• Arival - International Tourism Job Listings 

• Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA) - Scottish Visitor Attraction Jobs 

• Historic Environment Scotland jobs - current vacancies 

• Museums and Galleries Scotland - jobs and opportunities 

• National Trust for Scotland - find a job 

• Scottish Tourism Alliance - Scottish Tourism Jobs 

• Travel Weekly - European Tourism Jobs 

Why not hear from those in the sector about some of the many roles available in tourism? Watch our series of videos to learn about tourism careers at Edinburgh Castle.

This is how the Managing Director of Mercat Tours describes their career:

"Tour guiding is a fun job because you get to share the passion for your city or town by telling real stories form the past. You also get plenty variety in your day and to be outside in the fresh air and meet people from all over the world.

One thing to know, is that pretty much anything that you enjoy can be turned into a job in tourism. It is open, it is welcoming, it is flexible, and wherever you go, as long as you've got the right attitude, you will get help to grow, develop, and be the very best you can be.

For example, if you are an outgoing person and love meeting people, then tourism is for you. You’ll be working with others in your team and welcoming people from across the world who are visiting your destination.

Not only that, if you are keen to travel, you can take your job in tourism and transfer it to anywhere in the world so you can work and travel at the same time.

You’ll also find real fulfilment in a job in tourism if you are a creative person. Marketing or social media your thing? Then you could get involved in web design, social media management, or communications. In this job you’ll use your creative skills to connect with people and to make sure they have a fantastic memory of your destination.

Whatever your passion and interests are, there’s a job for you in tourism!"