Tourist information centres reopen

Perthshire’s two VisitScotland iCentres are set to reopen.

The tourism organisation started a phased reopening of the centres on Monday, July 20. It means Pitlochry’s centre will reopen on July 27, while the site on Perth High Street will follow at some point in August.

The phased approach is due to the team at VisitScotland having to make internal changes to every one of the 26 iCentres to ensure that they are adapted for physical distancing, but also to continue to give visitors a warm welcome.

There will be a range of safety features installed including Perspex screens, hand sanitisers and signage to ensure physical distancing.

The reopened iCentres will initially only offer an information service to visitors with the hope of reintroducing ticketing, accommodation booking and retail as soon as safe to do so.

Manuela Calchini, head of information at VisitScotland, said: “Our iCentre staff have been working to get the centres reopened and are looking forward to being able to help visitors with face-to-face enquiries for the first time in four months. The information services never really closed however, and I’d like to pay tribute to the team for all its hard work in getting to this point.

“Our iCentres are a significant part of the community and we understand that there will be a desire to open them as soon as possible – we share that desire and want to support the tourism industry and communities as we come out of lockdown, however the safety of our staff and visitors is paramount.”