Scottish Tourism Alliance letter to First Minister of Scotland in response to announcement of the Scottish Government’s route map to lifting restrictions

The Scottish Tourism Alliance has written the below letter to the First Minister of Scotland following today’s announcement of the Scottish Government’s route map to lifting restrictions.

Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon MSP
First Minister of Scotland
The Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Cc

Fergus Ewing MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism
Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture

21 May 2020

Dear First Minister

Following today’s announcement, as Chief Executive and Chair of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the representative body for Scotland’s tourism industry, we write to you today to highlight the deepening crisis for Scottish tourism and the need for immediate support from the Scottish and UK Governments to avoid the imminent collapse of the sector.

The support offered to date by both governments has been welcomed but it’s not enough and we know that from our weekly conversations with the Cabinet Secretary he understands that it is not sufficient to meet the levels of outgoings of the majority of tourism businesses.  Mr Ewing has acknowledged the significant gaps in support offered to date and I know that he continues to highlight this to colleagues at Westminster as do we through our dialogue with the UK Tourism Minister and the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Pubs and restaurants who can cater outdoors will be encouraged to have heard in your announcement of the Scottish Government’s route map of lockdown today that they will be allowed to open in Phase 2 providing they are using those outdoor spaces with social distancing measures in place.  We are however disheartened at the suggested phasing for the opening of other parts of the tourism sector and without specific reference to accommodation types in the route map.

At this juncture there remain many hundreds of tourism businesses receiving no significant grant support, particularly those whose rateable value sits above the £51k threshold.  These medium to large businesses; hotels, bars, restaurants and visitor attractions are the lifeblood of Scotland’s tourism industry and major employers.  Their monthly hibernation costs range from £10k per month to £350k and with no income or support, they are now collapsing.

Without those businesses, Scotland’s tourism product is significantly compromised; we will never be able to compete on a global stage and our vision of being the world leaders in 21^st century tourism which was announced and endorsed by you at the Scottish Tourism Alliance Signature Conference in March is simply unattainable.

A stark number of tourism businesses are being turned down for hardship and other grants. These businesses will also not survive more than a few weeks.  For those who have received support, this has dwindled and is putting put many smaller businesses at risk of closure.

Scotland’s tourism industry needs urgent financial support and a package for longer term support; there is a very real risk that many tourism businesses will not survive the period between now and a likely reopening date.  This is a sector that delivers £7BN to Scotland’s GDP and 218,000 jobs across all of our communities.

The reality of the gradual ease of lockdown restrictions outlined today will most likely mean that the majority of the tourism sector will have missed the entire summer season which is critical in terms of generating enough revenue for tourism businesses to survive the shoulder season.  Without a long-term package of support for recovery, any businesses that do survive the next 12 weeks by using their own reserves are unlikely to stay open for much longer beyond that. It cannot be underestimated just how many tourism businesses will close within the next few weeks, given that they have no early opportunity to open.

The UK Government Job Retention Scheme has provided a welcome cushion for many employees, however the stark reality is that the businesses which employ them will be unable to continue do so without a long term furlough package of support and additional measures to enable them to continue to trade in 2021 and beyond.  The Prime Minister has dismissed demands to extend furlough in Scotland beyond October; it seems likely that many tourism businesses may not open much before this date, certainly not in a way that will make any significant difference to their income and long-term viability and I would therefore ask that the Scottish Government considers specific support for the sector in this regard.

Without immediate and longer-term support, Scotland will experience mass unemployment with the gradual collapse of Scotland’s tourism sector.  This is happening now and the crisis will continue to unfold over the coming days and weeks with more businesses closing, job losses in the thousands, mass redundancies and irreversible damage to what is one of Scotland’s most important economic drivers. Thousands of redundancies will be announced within the coming days.

In relation to long term recovery, the STA is working with Benny Higgins in his capacity as Chair of the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery and we have engaged more than 100 stakeholders across the industry to gather views on what interventions could make a positive difference to Scotland’s economy from a tourism perspective.

We concur with Mr Ewing’s assertion that we are not ready to explore recovery in detail yet; we must focus on navigating our way out of the crisis.  That will be entirely dependent on the support of the Scottish and UK Governments.  Without it, our industry will not survive.

We ask that you give your urgent consideration to the following:

1. Enabling certain parts of the tourism economy to open sooner than has been set out in today’s route map for example, self-catering, sailing, caravan parks and hotels providing they are able to demonstrate that they can conform to the agreed standards and protocols in a way that protects both their employees and customers, as has been the case with other UK devolved nations. Agreement of the protocol/minimum standards as a priority to allow tourism businesses to re-open.
2. Provision of an urgent support package in the short term to stop more businesses from closing and making employees redundant. We recognise that there has been a significant level of support from Scottish and UK governments and that future funding will need to come from the UK Treasury.  We would therefore expect the Scottish Government to be pushing hard for these monies to be made available.
3. A long-term package of specific support for the tourism sector due to loss of revenue from remaining closed during the high season as detailed in today’s route map.
4. The establishment of an overarching ministerial chaired industry task force as soon as possible, given the severity of the impact on the industry to which the recommendations of the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group (STERG) can be fed into to allow a robust recovery action plan to be developed.

We wholeheartedly support the Scottish Government’s focus and commitment to saving lives and protecting the health of our nation.  Our industry is 100% committed to reopening in a safe way that will continue to protect our employees, our guests and our communities and further the Scottish Government’s efforts to control and supress the Covid-19 virus.

We hope you will appreciate the magnitude of the crisis within the tourism sector and acknowledge that additional, specific support is required immediately in order for Scotland to maintain a tourism product that will support the recovery of our economy and allow our country to compete globally as a tourist destination.

Yours sincerely

Marc Crothall
Chief Executive – Scottish Tourism Alliance

Stephen Leckie
Chair – Scottish Tourism Alliance
Chief Executive – Crieff Hydro Family of Hotels