I CAN'T begin to describe how excited I am about attending the Brave premiere in Edinburgh.

Giddy doesn't cover it.

With the deer that has taken up residence in the trees behind my house, I feel like I could break into an Enchanted-esque warble at the drop of a curtain.

Embarrassing, I know, but I'm a huge fan of Disney animations – and the fact that Brave is set in Scotland heaps on my excitement.

It's little wonder that the Scottish Government and VisitScotland are going all out to promote Scotland on the back of the film, tipped to generate £140 million for the economy.

After all, Braveheart has done more for tourism in Scotland than any multi-million-pound advertising campaign or First Minister in an ill-fitting kilt could.

The only aspect that niggles is my experience of being a tourist here.

I was tempted to take a photo of a sign outside an Oban hotel that advertised – along with en-suites, no less – gas central heating and double glazing.

My, my. What other little luxuries could you expect to find in that home-from-home? Carpets? Low-level cistern lavatories?

I stayed at a sizeable hotel in Perthshire last weekend. It was comfortable and friendly enough, but its tweeness was overwhelming.

"Breakfast is served between 8.30 and 10am – we're a bit more relaxed on a Sunday," trilled the receptionist.

Remind me never to book a mid-week break for fear of being turfed from my slumber at sunrise.

I'm all for championing small businesses, but the arrival of a Premier Inn in either town would surely make hostelries buck up their ideas.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when a wealthy American or Asian traveller checks into what we consider a good three-star hotel that makes you choose between a bath or a shower and doesn't have 24-hour reception.

I looked into a 'staycation' for my forthcoming summer holiday.

Paying £129 for a Freedom of Scotland travel pass covering many train, bus and ferry services seemed reasonable.

But I'm not one for roughing it – I'd rather be at work than camp – so I baulked at accommodation prices on some Hebridean islands and west coast villages.

In the end, we booked a luxury city break in Madrid for half the price. Spain needs the tourist cash, too.

Given Scotland's jaw-dropping scenery that no CGI artist could faithfully capture, we certainly have the raw materials.

Yet our tourism industry needs to be brave to operate on a par with international standards if we are indeed to become the best small country in the world.

It's a small world, after all.