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I want to move on to talk about hydrogen, which will probably not surprise you, cabinet secretary. The Climate Change Committee says that hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels will have little role in transportation, and that electrification will dominate, even when it comes to heavy goods vehicles. I disagree with that and we can see throughout the globe that others also disagree with it, because some countries are making massive investment in hydrogen, particularly in the use of hydrogen in heavy goods vehicles. Do you agree with the Climate Change Committee? I reckon that, if you do, you will be in deep trouble with one of your constituents, Dick Winchester. Do you think that we need to utilise hydrogen to its utmost, particularly for HGVs and heavy lorries such as the bin lorries in Aberdeen, for example? Do you think that hydrogen has a part to play in those big vehicles?

Today, I am sitting in the great city of Aberdeen, where we have had some great experiences for tourists this year. The tall ships were mentioned—that was a fabulous event for visitors, for Aberdeen and for the north-east. We have had more cruise liners than ever come into the port of Aberdeen. One reason why I am sitting in Aberdeen and not in the committee room is that this is the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Offshore Europe conference and exhibition week. Visitors here get good value for money and it is definitely worth every penny coming to visit Aberdeen and the north-east.

We heard earlier about what some folk describe as overtourism and about price gouging. Can we learn lessons on attracting more visitors over the piece while not repelling folk with high prices at certain times? Let me give you an example. As I said, this week is Offshore Europe week, but an event called Aberdeen restaurant weeks is also taking place. Until 14 September, more than 70 venues, restaurants and cafes in the city have good deals on food, at a time when they could be price gouging because of the Offshore Europe event. The leadership for the food event is from Aberdeen Inspired, which is the business improvement district. Should there be more of that rather than less of it in order to attract return visitors?

Thank you. I do not know whether Gordon Watson and David Hope-Jones want to come in briefly.

I have a question for Marc Crothall. This morning you seemed to be more positive about the Aberdeen visitor levy than some of the other witnesses, unless I am picking you up wrong. If I am right about that, will you give us your reasoning for being more positive about what Aberdeen is doing in that regard?

Thank you very much. I have one final question, which is about conversations that I have had with trade members in recent weeks about the impact of employer national insurance contributions. People are freely admitting that they are paying less in a lot of cases, but others are saying that it is impacting on training and the ability to bring new people in. I know that you have a lot of asks of the Scottish Government and the UK Government, but this seems to me to be the biggie in the equation, certainly in this city. Has the change had a major impact on wage points, training and recruitment? Short answers would be good, because I know that the convener wants to finish. I ask Marc Crothall to respond first, please.

Can I stop you there? I agree with you that people in the main will pay what they can afford, but if you are a business person who is coming to, in my example, Aberdeen, for an event that they cannot get out of, they could be price gouged. That is not happening here at the moment, which is a wise move on the part of businesses in Aberdeen.

It is not just a case of what you can afford to pay. Sometimes, you have no option if you have to go to a place anyway. Sometimes, businesses—here in Scotland and elsewhere—get that wrong by price gouging, which makes it less likely that folk will return. Is the Aberdeen restaurant weeks event and Aberdeen Inspired’s approach the right thing to do to get return visitors?

My questions are for VisitScotland, in the main. Earlier this morning we heard a lot about overtourism in certain areas. Many people have said that in its marketing VisitScotland concentrates on certain areas and not others. I have to say that people here in Aberdeen and the north-east often feel aggrieved at the approach taken on your website and in other communications. That feeling was particularly evident in the run-up to the tall ships event in the north-east. Would it be wise for VisitScotland to review its website and marketing, and to highlight other places that are not currently facing overtourism?

I hope that folk will come and visit Aberdeen during the restaurant weeks. Thank you.

You say that you are an all-Scotland organisation. I take that at face value, but how would you convince hoteliers, business people and the likes of Aberdeen Inspired here in my city that you are an all-Scotland organisation, that you listen and that you will adapt if they think that you are not getting it quite right for this north-east corner?

I might come back to you on some of those points at a later date, Mr Dickson, and I am sure that other folk will be glad of the offer that you have made.

I have a brief final question. We have talked about the different places where marketing takes place. We heard earlier about various markets and market changes, the importance of the United States and a move towards the Canadian market. One thing that has always perturbed me is that I do not think that we necessarily make enough efforts in certain places, including Germany. We get a lot of German tourists, but I think that we could get a huge number more. Folk who come from Germany tend to come back. Do we have the right balance when it comes to targeting our marketing efforts?