‘Westminster responsible for criminal damage to Scotland’s tourism industry’ according to travel expert

Broadcaster and author, Simon Calder led this year’s stage line up at Scotland’s national tourism conference in Glasgow today.

Speaking at the Scottish Tourism Alliance Signature Sessions 2019, he said “The travel industry is in complete disarray: flights from Edinburgh to Germany for £13 on 1 April, or a week’s package in Malta for £180. Westminster is committing criminal damage against Scottish tourism.”

News of the potential impact of this week’s events at Westminster casts a further shadow over one of Scotland’s most important economic drivers at a time when the landscape has become increasingly challenging for Scotland’s tourism businesses; a ‘perfect storm’ of rising costs, the threats posed by Brexit, a recruitment crisis and impending introduction of a tourist tax across local authorities.

The event, organised by the industry’s representative body, the Scottish Tourism Alliance has been built around the theme of futureproofing tourism and saw a host of experts and leading opinion formers in the world of travel and tourism take to the stage to deliver valuable insights around the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, opened the conference with the industry address, highlighting tourism priorities for the coming year including promoting tourism as a career of choice, supporting the Borderlands Growth Deal through £85 million funding and working towards the Year of Coasts and Waters in 2020. A new Tourism Strategy will also be developed in partnership with the STA and the Scottish Government will be working to ensure the UK Government’s Tourism Sector Deal meets the needs of industry.

Senior figures from from Yotel, TripAdvisor, LogainAir and Geotourist discussed how technology is changing all aspects of our travel experience, from tourists’ research into destinations, to booking and communicating their experience of them and the importance of food and the importance of Scotland’s recently launched Food Tourism Strategy. Delegates also learned more about the impact of current squeezed consumer spending on our tourism economy and how businesses can adapt to this.

Sustainability was a buzzword at this year’s event, with Session 2 of the day focussing on how Scotland can become more responsible in the way we do business and grow our tourism economy. The event also saw the launch of the STA’s rebrand, with Ian McAteer, Chairman of The Union Agency who delivered the project, unveiling the organisation’s new identity.