STA Advice – Using Your Voice at a Local Level
In our meetings with Scottish Government Ministers and policy advisers, we are asked to remind you about the importance of connecting with your local MSP/MP.
It’s important that there are as many routes as possible for your voice to be heard and the importance of engaging your MSP/MP in the issues that matter to your destination cannot be underestimated. This also creates an environment of understanding and appreciation of tourism industry issues in your area, which ultimately supports the STA in getting our asks across in a more efficient way. Connect locally, connect with the STA, use your local media to draw attention to these issues, communicate your messages via social media, engage with your destination group and the association that represents your sector within the tourism industry.
The associations for the various sectors of our industry sit on the STA Member Council and feed back the most important issues affecting your sector at our quarterly meetings. The STA then takes this forward to our meetings with Scottish Government, in the same we do when DMOs who are members of the STA come to us to articulate these local issues.
Tourism is one of the biggest employers in Scotland and it is more important than ever that we grow our industry, local employment, seize new opportunities and deal with our challenges as a collective.
Coming soon…
In 2020 the STA will be providing all our members with a MSP Toolkit.
The purpose of the toolkit is to help you to have productive discussions with your MSPs to highlight the importance of tourism in your community and the contribution it makes to the local and wider economy. It will also help you to present your MSP with a better understanding of the issues and challenges faced by your business and other tourism businesses and highlight opportunities to develop your local tourism product.
