Two conversations during the past fortnight have sparked this plea. One was in Burnley, East Lancashire when a student mentioned to me that she had never been to Scotland. “You must visit”, was my hospitable suggestion. “But it’s very cold up there isn’t it?” she asked. Now there may be the occasional variation in temperature between the North West of England and my home city of Edinburgh, but that is usually almost negligible. It’s certainly not worthy of mention. Yet, this image of a land of persistently darkened skies, snowclad streets and a thriving warm-wear industry persists. Just for the record, I think she has now been sufficiently persuaded to take the plunge and make her first foray north of the border – I am confident she will do so without any wardrobe extremities.Then last week in Glasgow, I met the head of an English Language school who told me that there were two barriers to attracting students from warmer climes to Scotland – one was the perception that we speak a weird and contorted language (that is for another time) and the other, yes you’ve guessed it. Scotland is too cold. Now here is the thing. We are not talking about perceptions of England here, just Scotland.Now I have my own theory about this, and it is borne out of many years experience of far distance travel. It is us Scots who are our own worst enemy. This business of self-deprecation may be an endearing feature of our character, but it may also be costing us millions of pounds in potential revenue.How many times have I heard a Scot abroad tell people that the weather at home is awful? Now I am not questioning their honesty or integrity, it’s just that every time they do that they reinforce the view that Scotland occupies a cold and dark corner of the world. Then when I hear a Scottish celebrity, interviewed on national television invariably make a comment about the cold and dreich conditions back home I cringe. It is often said in humour, but merely serves to put someone else off making that trip.Now people don’t come to Scotland for its tropical weather, so to create an impression of a country permanently swathed in sunshine would be wrong. But why mention the weather at all. Last weekend, I welcomed two guests from Frankfurt (they had left behind an average daily temperature of 33 degrees centigrade) and when we emerged from Edinburgh airport, the female half of the partnership paused, breathed in deeply and said: “That lovely Scottish air. I’ve missed it so much.” A move to Scotland for her would be a dream come true. Are we missing something here?Then, and I may begin to sound like a tour operator; I took two Australian guests around Edinburgh later in the week. They were mesmerised by Edinburgh’s beauty, its friendliness, its cultural range and its extraordinary light. The weather was only mentioned by friends of mine we met on route. “What about the rain?” they would enquire. “Actually the weather’s been fine.” Was the usual response from my antipodean friends. They’ve now left to tour the highlands and I hope they enjoy every minute of it. I expect they will.Australia is wonderful country and I live to visit it. But I also know thanks to a depleted ozone layer, 20 minutes in the hot sun can seriously burn your skin. Every country has issues with its weather. High seasonal rainfall, flooding, drought conditions, forest fires and hurricanes – these are some of the extremities other nations have to deal with. Why don’t we in Scotland thank our lucky stars for once and see our unpredictable weather as a blessing – not a curse? We have to change the record. It’s simply good for businessLet’s talk positively about what we have in our favour instead of focusing on the negative. You don’t hear other nations talk endlessly about their weather – yet for some it can be a matter of life and death.It’s all very well complaining to each other about our climate but when every visitor to Scotland is greeted with negative weather forecasts and asked daft questions like why on earth did you come to Scotland? It is time to change our script.Now here is a different perspective:* Scotland has fresh air and the farther north you go the purer that air is.* We have glorious lochs and a generally plentiful supply of water that can be drunk from our taps and compares favourably with the finest bottled water.* Our countryside is lush and green – thanks to our guaranteed annual rainfall* We have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world* We have scenery that quite literally takes your breath away.Scotland may in fact become the ideal escape from the excesses of global warming. On second thoughts let’s keep that to ourselves.So let’s get the message out to our staff, our friends and our customers. Stop whinging about the weather. Let’s spread some positive messages about our country and let’s be its best ambassadors. Let’s challenge those who define Scotland only by its weather.People from all around the world choose to live and work here – what should that tell us? We should welcome them with open arms, applaud them for making a great decision and remind them, and ourselves, of the abundance of good things we have.In our travels, in telephone conversations and in our marketing let’s promote Scotland as the place to be – not just among our neighbours south of the border and foreign language students – but people the world over…especially the Scots.It could be the best business move we ever make.