Scotland's tourism industry would undergo a massive change if the SNP gained power, Alex Salmond said yesterday.

The body currently charged with promoting Scotland to tourists, VisitScotland, would be renamed Welcome To Scotland, with local offices also changing their names to reflect their locations.

For instance, this would lead to the Aberdeen branch becoming Welcome To Aberdeen. "We want continuity between what's happening to promote tourism at a national and a local level," Mr Salmond said.

Funding for the organisation would also come from the Scottish Executive's enterprise budget as a reflection of the industry's importance to Scotland's economy.

A spokesman for the SNP said another key difference from the current set-up would be that the new tourism body would only be responsible for marketing Scotland, rather than regulating the entire industry.

He said: "Welcome To Scotland would concentrate on getting visitors here. Everybody knows that the tourism is vital for Scotland and we've got huge potential to do really well.

"If we could market Scotland more effectively across the world, that would benefit Scotland in a way that VisitScotland has not managed to do."