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A new daily flight from Edinburgh to Dubai has been welcomed by tourism chiefs.

Emirates Airline announced the year-round service from Edinburgh will begin in early October and becomes the third daily flight from Scotland to Dubai.

The Middle Eastern airline already flies to the UAE from Glasgow twice a day.

Transport Minister Humza Yousaf described the announcement as "excellent news".

He added: "It will give Scottish businesses even better access to global markets, thanks to the number of onward destinations on offer from Dubai.

Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, said: "This is a very welcome announcement and great news for Scottish tourism.

"The link between Edinburgh and the world's busiest airport presents a whole new wave of market opportunities for Scotland's tourism industry, both from a visitor and business tourism perspective."

Malcolm Roughhead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: "VisitScotland is delighted to welcome Emirates' move to increase its daily services between Dubai and Scotland.

"The recently-launched campaign, Scotland Is Now, extends an invitation to visit, live, work, study and invest in Scotland and these investments will not only benefit Scots wishing to travel to Dubai for leisure or business but help increase inbound tourism from UAE, Australasia, China and further afield."

The route will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER in a three-class cabin configuration, with eight private suites in first class, 42 lie-flat seats in business class and 304 seats in economy class.

Hubert Frach, Emirates' divisional senior vice president, said: "We're increasing our capacity to Scotland to meet growing demand.

"And by introducing a daily flight to Edinburgh, it will complement our current double daily flights between Dubai and Glasgow.

"Edinburgh is a very popular leisure and business destination, and the new service will offer our customers from across our global network, particularly from key inbound markets such as Asia and Australia, a direct option to the city via our Dubai hub."

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: "This is a fantastic announcement as we welcome another world-renowned airline to Scotland's busiest airport - a clear statement that Edinburgh Airport is the gateway to Scotland."