Piotr looks to future thanks to virtual help
The founder of an outdoor adventure business in East Perthshire has described how six weeks ago he feared his enterprise was over.
But since then, he has found a way forward. Piotr Gudan set up the Alyth-based company Outdoor Explore nearly six years ago.
Outdoor Explore offers bespoke kayak tours across central Scotland on lochs, rivers and the sea, as well as archery sessions, guided hill walks, mountain bike trips and paddle sport courses.
But Piotr had not factored in COVID-19 and in March (at a point where he with six other independent outdoor operators were about to launch a new website, Perthshire Adventure, linking their businesses in a one-stop-shop), the Perthshire tourism market vanished overnight.
Piotr, a firefighter in Blairgowrie with young family, said he felt “intense”personal psychological pressure at seeing his business in ruin.
“The 2020 bookings diary was empty, I faced the hardest business time in my life. It looked like everything was over. Stress levels were through the roof.”
But his collaboration with the members of Perthshire Adventure has proved to be a lifeline.
“Six weeks ago I had never heard of Zoom,”he said. “But members of our group began regularly talking to each other that way online and it was a breakthrough.
“We are not in competition, we all have the same goal: to get through this. And being able to meet online has accelerated what we were getting done when we could not go out physically.
“With Zoom meetings we were able to share ideas, discuss grants that had appeared, support each other and develop new twists on how we operate in future.
“Yes it’s a long game ahead, coronavirus is a tricky one, but we are looking at a way forward.”