Growing crisis for Scotland’s museums
Dozens of museums and heritage attractions across Scotland are at risk of closure within months due to the prolonged impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The future of around half of the country’ s museums is said to be under threat without a fresh injection of emergency funding to help offset the impact of social distancing restrictions and hygiene measures which either dramatically cut visitor numbers or prevented some attractions from reopening this year.
Operators are warning it is “increasingly likely” that some museums, including“wellknown venues around the country, “may now never reopen.
Local communities may be asked to take on responsibility for the running of some attractions in future due to the increased costs involved in keeping them open to the public while visitor numbers have plummeted.
Some of Scotland’s museums are said to have lost up to 90 per cent of the income they were expected to generate in the current financial year.
Officials running civic attractions in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Borders, the Highlands, Falkirk, East Lothian and the Western Isles were involved in research which found that many venues were “not considered economically viable” and had already been "vulnerable” to closure before the pandemic struck in March.
Five leading industry bodies have joined forces to warn of a looming crisis amid fears that Scotland’s cultural heritage and reputation as an international tourist destination could suffer long-term damage without a significant bail-out.
Attractions run by local authorities are said to be at particular risk of closure due to the spending pressure on councils
and the increased costs involved in running them.
The impact of the pandemic on the finances of university is also said to have left their historic collections and attractions in “a very vulnerable position.”
The new warnings have emerged days after an official report for government agency Historic Environment Scotland revealed the widespread impact of the pandemic on heritage bodies and organisations.
Around one in four of those surveyed said that the future of historic buildings, monuments and collections was currently at risk.