STA continues cross party engagement to elevate challenges for tourism businesses

The STA met with Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland this afternoon to discuss the main issues which tourism businesses are experiencing as a result of the pandemic.

Mr Carmichael has a long standing relationship with the STA and an understanding of the tourism landscape in Scotland; this was a valuable opportunity to present more detail and evidence which we have coming in from our industry on a daily basis.

Introduction

• STA introduced the work of the Tourism Task Force and the next steps in relation to the publication of its recommendations
• We introduced Mr Carmichael to Scotland’s new tourism strategy, Outlook 2030 and the ‘overlay’ to that in terms of updates since the crisis unfolded
• Mr Carmichael was introduced to STA Chair/CEO Crieff Hydro Family Hotels and STA Board Director/Owner of Loch Melfort Hotel, Calum Ross who spoke about a new wave of redundancies in the Highlands and Islands, highlighting that decisions have been taken to make significant redundancies with the knowledge of the support packages that were announced by the UK Government last week.
• Stephen talked about the length of time that the sector will take to recover and also the misperception of tourism being buoyant, highlighting the plight of city hotels which are operating at a vastly reduced occupancy
• We also touched on the First Minister’s ask that ‘we should now all ensure that we limit our visits to bars and restaurants’ and the impact this will have on the sector
• We highlighted how unfair the restrictions are when businesses have invested heavily in making their premises safe for staff and customers and following government guidance
• Shared details of the ASSC survey last week which revealed that more than £70M will be lost within the sector before Christmas as a result of the recent announcements around single households
• We talked about the importance of a four nations approach, particularly in terms of businesses understanding and adopting the right guidance

Mr Carmichael shared his thoughts:
• Cited the view that there do not seem to be any governments globally that seem to have struck the right balance between the health of the citizen and health of the economy
• Public mood has got to a place where people are questioning the restrictions
• Agreed that The Chancellor’s measures will not work
• Concerned that nobody has taken the holistic view of the sector – hotels, food and beverage, tours, exhibitions, weddings, cruises, self-catering for example; these pieces all fit into each other and a solution that leaves some of these pieces outside of the jigsaw simply doesn’t work
• Mr Carmichael asked the STA what the shape of this package would look like

The STA reaffirmed our asks:
• Immediate, targeted grant support for businesses which haven’t been able to trade, for example international tour operators, events venues
• There needs to be a financial stimulus to get businesses through the next few months
• Continuation of VAT at 5% for the long term
• Clarity on support packages for businesses in local lockdown situations

Mr Carmichael asked us what parliamentarians can do to support our asks. We highlighted the positive relationship we have with the Cabinet Secretary and our continued conversations with the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland, the asks via the Tourism Task Force for a Ministerial Summit, our request for a round table meeting with Douglas Ross MSP, our recent meeting with Oliver Mundell MSP and our invitations to Willie Rennie MSP and Claire Baker MSP to attend the STA Forums in October.

Mr Carmichael has agreed to take our asks away, generate more political interest at Westminster and also try to establish a cross party working group, highlighting the importance of elevating these issues to the Treasury.

The STA will continue its cross party engagement with a meeting next week with the STA Board and Iain Stewart MP, Minister for Scotland.