Visitscotland to close every tourist information centre
Visitscotland will close its network of information centres over the next two years as it phases out face-to-face contact with tourists, in a move described as a “hammer blow” to the industry.
The national tourism body runs round 25 centres across the country with all to close as more money is invested in digital online guides. UK Government Minister for Scotland John Lamont was among those to criticise the move, urging the Scottishgovernmenttoconsidertheimpactonbothbusinesses and visitors.
Atotalof170staffwillbeaffected–120permanentworkersand 50 seasonal employees.
Visitscotland said there will be no compulsory redundancies and staff have been offered a range of options including reskilling, redeployment and voluntary redundancy.
The organisation said the move followed significant changes to the way people plan their holidays with most using onlineresourcesandtravelspecialists to research and book all aspects of their trips. This includes arranging accommodationandactivitiesbeforethey arrive at their destination.
Tiktok, Youtube, online travel websites and tools like AI are among the ways people now find and plan holiday experiences, it added.
Themovecomesamidunprecedentedvisitornumbersinparts ofscotland,withtouristleaders in Skye last week revealing that uptoonemillionvisitorsaredue to arrive on the island this year.
A spokesman for Skyeconnect, a destination managementorganisationontheisland whichrepresentstourism-relatedbusinessesandworksonprojects to deal with high levels of tourist demand, said: “This is another hammer blow for the tourism industry in Scotland. It’stheresultofthescottishgovernmentcuttingvisitscotland’s budget and comes on the back of Government cuts to Destination Management Organisations, the Highland Ranger serviceandkeyruralinfrastructure funds.
“The centre in Portree is always busy during the tourist season with visitors seeking information to enhance their time on Skye. It seems tourism and the rural economy is being abandonedbythescottishgovernment.”
Following last December’s Scottish Government budget, Visitscotland capital funding for 2024/25 went down by 67 per cent, from £7.9m to £2.6m with revenue funding down 4.5 percentto£38.6mcomparedto £40.4m this year, according to the Scottish Tourism Alliance.
All Visitscotland information centres – known as icentres — will operate as usual until the end of September as part of phased two-year closure programme.
Lord Thurso, chairman of Visitscotland said demand for icentres had reduced while demand for digital information continued to grow. “In order to continue building demand and growingtourismandevents,itis vitally important that we target channelsweknowvisitorsuseto influencethemtovisitscotland. “By evolving our work in this way, we will be able to invest in the activities that will accelerate sustainable growth in the visitor economy, helping create jobs, sustain communities and attract investment for the future.”
It’s another hammer blow for the industry. It’s a result of the Scottish Government cutting budgets