Inverness High Street unit occupied by VisitScotland’s soon-to-close icentre up for sale or rent
The unit occupied by the tourist information centre in Inverness High Street has been placed on the market.
It follows confirmation by VisitScotland that the centre will close in October 2025.
The national tourism organisation announced in March 2024 that its network of 25 iCentres, which provide tourist information and advice as well as local recommendations, would close over the next two years, prompting anger and concern.
• VisitScotland’s iCentre in Inverness High Street has a closing date
• Anger as VisitScotland announces all 25 information centres including Inverness to close
• VisitScotland iCentre closure programme slammed by Highland MSP
VisitScotland currently leases the ground floor of the mid-terrace three storey building in a prominent position in Inverness High Street.
The lease will expire in May 2027.
The space is being made available for rent at £45,000 per annum, or for sale, via chartered surveyors and property consultants, Graham and Sibbald.
The space amounts to 143.25 sq m (1542 sq ft).
When VisitScotland announced the closure of all its icentres, it maintained the demand for information centres had reduced while the demand for online information and booking had continued to grow.
It said the closures were part of a strategy designed to grow the visitor economy by influencing visitors in the planning stage of their trip, before they leave home.
But the announced closure of the centres, which also include a retail element, promoting gifts from local artists, designers and craftspeople, has provoked concern about the impact in the Highlands and Islands where tourism is key to the economy.
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant has called for a halt of the closures of vital VisitScotland centres in the Highlands - 12 of the centres facing closure are in the Highlands and Islands region.
She said the demand for the iCentres did plummet during the pandemic as no-one was allowed to travel for recreational purposes but they have increased year on year since then with 1.37 million people visiting a centre in 2023.