STA responds to news of meeting between Scottish Government and airport officials

It has been reported that the Scottish Government has met with airport chiefs this week to discuss testing procedures which may remove the need for travellers to quarantine.

We have responded to the media with the following quote this afternoon:

“The STA has been working closely with airport representatives, tour operators and our colleagues at Ukinbound over the last few weeks to elevate the importance of the introduction of a testing regime at all UK airports to revive the international market which Scotland so desperately needs.  The domestic market has now tailed off, bookings are down for the remainder of this year and well into 2021; it is absolutely critical that we are able to welcome international visitors, business travellers and golf tourists as soon as possible if we are to save our tourism industry from further decline and pull back from what is a very near cliff edge in the journey in this crisis.

There continues to be significant redundancies across all sectors of the industry and these are only set to increase, particularly in businesses that are heavily dependent on international tourism such as city centre hotels, golf resorts and tour operators.  It is vital that our international market is stimulated and that that the traveller and the public are given reassurance that we can offer a safe and warm welcome to all who wish to visit Scotland; quickly establishing a robust testing regime on arrival is in our a view a positive way forward.

The STA is currently gathering evidence with our colleagues in various trade bodies to demonstrate the severe impact that the loss of our inbound market is having on the industry and we will be presenting this to the Scottish and UK governments over the coming days.”