Swiss beat Scotland for Bollywood riches!

SCOTLAND'S rolling glens and scenic lochs have already lost out to eastern Europe and are now losing the battle to attract India's lucrative film industry, movie chiefs have warned.

In the last decade, more than 20 Bollywood films have been made in Scotland, but in recent years the Indian film industry has rejected the Highlands in favour of cheaper countries such as Switzerland.

Last month, the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern travelled to India to court Bollywood and there are fears that Scotland isn't doing enough to attract high-profile Indian movies.

Bill Doyle, location director of Scottish Screen, said:"Four years ago there were quite a lot of Bollywood films coming here - that has now tailed off.

They tend to go to Switzerland now if they want mountains, because Switzerland in the summer is quiet, keen to get visitors and everyone drops their prices, whereas in Scotland prices tend to go up in the summer.

In recent years Scotland has lost millions of pounds' worth of location filming revenue to eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Poland.

"It is not just the benefits to the economy while you are filming - it is all the tourists that come after, 50% of Scottish tourists come to Scotland because of movies."