STA Statement: Scottish Tourism Alliance responds to announcement of SNP leadership campaign results

Responding to today’s announcement of the SNP leadership campaign results, Marc Crothall, CEO of the Scottish Tourism Alliance said: 

“The STA would like to congratulate Humza Yousaf on his appointment as leader of the SNP; we look forward to having progressive and productive dialogue over the coming weeks to ensure that Scotland’s tourism sector is acknowledged and recognised as one of our country’s most significant export earners.

In his letter issued last week to the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, Mr Yousaf committed to having an open-door policy with business communities and offered assurance that economic growth is a priority.

It is not before time that the Scottish Government commits to putting the economy first to ensure fiscal sustainability.  For tourism, this means investment in our tourism product to ensure we remain globally competitive as a tourist destination and for the new government to work with our tourism industry to shape and deliver policies which will produce economic benefits rather than harms.  Mr Yousaf has said that building a prosperous and fairer Scotland is dependent on building a strong working relationship with business; we very much hope that he fully commits to working with Scotland’s tourism sector to implement positive solutions as a counter to the existing and proposed policies which are negatively impacting our sector.”