Press statement: Scottish Tourism Alliance responds to First Minister’s announcement around new measures and further support for hospitality

Marc Crothall, Chief Executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance said:

“The announcements which came last week from Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Government have impacted businesses severely over the past few days, removed public confidence and significantly reduced demand; the damage is done.  However, the Scottish Government’s announcement of financial support today will be welcomed along with the late intervention and secondary announcement from the UK Treasury that funding for the devolved nations will be made available.

It remains to be seen what level of support from the UK Government will be allocated and how this will be distributed; we await more information on how the Scottish Government will distribute the £100M to support the hospitality industry.

There is no doubt that robust and meaningful support from both governments is needed to cushion impacts being felt across the wider tourism industry and supply chain, freefalling costs and business losses and to protect jobs which are vital to a sector which has experienced the very worst of labour market conditions over the past 12 months.  Business within our sector will simply not survive over the coming weeks with such a level of reduced demand.

Our industry will continue to do as it always has done which is to support the public health messages, strengthen all health and safety requirements in line with any updated government guidance and do our utmost to protect our staff, customers at guests as we reach what is deemed to be a critical juncture in suppressing virus numbers.

We will continue to gather evidence from businesses to strengthen the case for immediate and impactful financial support from both governments and do our very best to ensure that funds are allocated to the businesses in greatest need as quickly as possible.”