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VisitScotland iCentre closure programme slammed by Highland MSP Rhoda Grant, who argues its claims there is not enough demand simply don’t stack up





Rhoda Grant outside the Inverness VisitScotland iCentre. Picture: Office of Rhoda Grant.
Rhoda Grant outside the Inverness VisitScotland iCentre. Picture: Office of Rhoda Grant.

Halt the closure of vital VisitScotland centres in the Highlands, a local MSP has demanded after slamming the “astonishing” lack of government accountability over the move.

Highlands and Islands MSP Rhoda Grant was speaking after her latest plea to cabinet secretary Richard Lochhead to step in and halt the ongoing closure programme was “rejected out of hand”.

Mrs Grant, a Labour MSP, has been raising concerns with VisitScotland and with the Scottish Government since the closure programme was first announced at the end of March.

Under the plans, VisitScotland is closing all 25 of its visitor centres throughout Scotland, with the last set to shutter its doors in March 2026.

But with 94 per cent of VisitScotland’s core funding from 2024/25 coming from Scottish Government grant in aid, Ms Grant has been urging ministers to step in.

The phased closure programme began in September with the Centre in Stornoway being one of the first to close the following month. The closure programme is due to end in March 2026 as VisitScotland claims that the demand for information centres has reduced while the demand for online information and booking has continued to grow.

Twelve of the centres facing closure are within the Highlands and Islands region, including one in Inverness High Street.

Mrs Grant 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 1.37million people visiting a centre in 2023.

“Indeed eight of the centres have increased sales from their pre-pandemic figure including four in the Highlands and Islands region – Craignure, Lerwick, Rothesay and Ullapool.”

In her latest plea for a moratorium on closures, Mrs Grant asked specific questions on redeployment opportunities within the organisation; the commitment to no compulsory redundancies which is only in place until March 2025; the quoted footfall numbers; the fact that no real work has been put into diversifying the operations of the iCentres to try and increase numbers and offer a more attractive visitor experience; whether staff from the Stornoway iCentre have been redeployed, on or off island, or if they have taken voluntary redundancy and what will happen to the issuing of Citylink bus tickets for onward travel from the Stornoway-Ullapool ferry now that the iCentre has closed.

She continued: “I am astonished that having put very detailed questions to the cabinet secretary, his stark response addresses none of those concerns but instead bats the issue over to VisitScotland as an operational matter for them. The Scottish Government funds 94% per cent of VisitScotland’s budget but that appears to be of no concern to the SNP government.

“I say again, with depopulation being one of the biggest challenges facing Highland and Island communities it makes absolutely no sense to remove jobs and services from these areas.”

VisitScotland’s website has a section on Island Communities Impact Assessments and why they need to be carried out when decisions of this nature are taken. But Mrs Grant said that VisitScotland didn’t carry out Island Impact Assessments and instead carried out their own screening assessment. They claim the impact the closures will have on island areas won’t be significantly different to the impact they will have in mainland areas.

Mrs Grant said: “This will have a far bigger impact in island communities and will only seek to add to the depopulation of our islands which depend on tourism for their survival.

“I am seeking a meeting with the new chief executive of VisitScotland to encourage her to freeze this decision while the concerns of staff, customers and unions remain.”


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