Press release: ASVA recruitment video shines a spotlight on careers in Scotland’s visitor attractions sector
The results of the most recent survey by ASVA: The Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions, published at the beginning of June, underlined the extent to which visitor attractions of all types across the country continue to be affected by staffing challenges, and the significant impact these are having on operations and visitor services. With the aim of helping alleviate these very considerable issues – which are not only limiting attractions’ performance but also their post-pandemic business recovery efforts – ASVA has produced a recruitment video to shine a spotlight on the outstanding career opportunities the dynamic attractions sector offers.
The short film Why Choose A Career In Visitor Attractions? features footage from a range of ASVA member organisations and attractions – including Historic Environment Scotland, The National Trust for Scotland, The Real Mary King’s Close, Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, and Belhaven Brewery. The video features attractions staff speaking about what working in the sector is like, highlighting the wide and diverse range of roles and great variety it offers, the key skills that are most important to have – and what they love about their jobs. Watch the video here.
ASVA is encouraging its attraction members, and colleagues in the wider sector, to use the video to support their recruitment activities. The film is featured on ASVA’s website jobs page here, and has been shared with industry stakeholders including VisitScotland, Skills Development Scotland, and The Scottish Tourism Alliance.
ASVA is working with a number of partners to support recruitment in the attractions sector and encourage potential candidates to choose jobs and careers within it. The Association has, for example, been liaising closely with the Department For Work & Pensions (DWP) to raise awareness of the number and type of vacancies, and scope of career opportunities within the sector. These activities are designed to enable and encourage the DWP’s work coaches to share this information with jobseekers and inspire them to apply to attractions’ vacancies. The video will further support these efforts in the weeks and months ahead. The video will also be shared with academic institutions to ensure visitor attraction career opportunities are highlighted to students and alumni, supporting and encouraging recruitment into the sector.
ASVA CEO Gordon Morrison said: “The sector-wide survey that we conducted in May highlighted that, of the 850-plus attractions operating in Scotland, more than 55% are experiencing challenges recruiting staff. Ours is a sector that provides more than 17,000 jobs to the people of Scotland, and there a huge range of exciting roles available in every corner of the country. A common misconception is that working in tourism is a job, not a career. We hope this video goes some way to dispelling this. The range of fantastic job opportunities within our sector is unparalleled and, for those who want it, there is a hugely enjoyable and fulfilling career to be had working in some of Scotland’s most iconic, awe-inspiring venues, locations, and world-class experiences.”
