| From Riddell Graham – VisitScotland
Director of Industry and Destination Development – VisitScotlandFollowing a meeting of the High Level Tourism Working group (STA, Scottish Government and the main pubic economic development agencies) which reports directly to the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Tourism, it has been agreed to modify our approach to our response to the current COVID-19 crisis. Following the principles outlined by Gordon Dewar in his bronze silver and gold approach used to deal with emergencies at Edinburgh Airport we plan to slim down the STERG to a core group.
This group will meet regularly, agree actions and communications to and from industry.
Please be assured we are not trying to cut anyone out and will ensure that all of you will be kept fully in the loop in relation to any actions arising from group meetings.
As you know all the main industry groups are members of STA and or sit on the STA Council. This will be a direct conduit for industry to raise questions, points of concern and receive STERG briefings.
As a quick update from a VisitScotland perspective:
- The revised business survey is being issued today to our 15,000 business database Our Insights team has modified the questionnaire to include specific questions on length of survival, staff redundancies and what support they urgently need.
- We have provided all 4500 businesses in our quality assurance scheme with a free year for the 2020 season and to retain the star rating result.
- We are working closely with all the main online travel agencies and web booking engines to clarify their cancellation policies and business interruption insurance and looking ahead, asking them to work with us to share their data on enquiries and bookings as we move out of this crisis phase. This will enable Vicki Miller our Marketing Director and her team to plan more precisely the right time to recommence significant marketing activity.
- We continue to work closely with the comms team in STA to ensure our messages to industry are consistent and coordinated.
|
