£6m support fund launched for Scotland's inbound tourism businesses
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Scotland's hard pressed tourism industry is to to receive a £6 million funding boost.
The Scotland Inbound Tour Operators - Covid 19 Business Support and Continuity Fund is open to inbound tour operator and destination management companies that manage travel packages.
The funding is part of a wider package of support for tourism and hospitality businesses from the Scottish Government totalling £104.3 million pounds.
Businesses that rely on international visitors for income have been hit particularly hard by the impact of Covid-19, since the crisis began last year. The one-off fund will help provide financial stability over the next four to six months and to help firms prepare for late 2021 business.
The fund will be managed by VisitScotland, with input from the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the Scottish Destination Management Association (SDMA), the Scottish Incoming Golf Tourism Operators Association and UK Inbound, however applications are welcome from non-members of these groups.
It is one of nine funding streams administered by Scotland’s national tourism organisation on behalf of the Scottish Government.
VisitScotland have redeployed more than 100 staff from other roles to help process applications as quickly as possible.
Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on the tourism and events industries and they will need financial support for some time to come to help them recover.
“Ensuring as many businesses as possible survive and can recover is our main priority at present.
“International visitors are a hugely important part of our visitor economy and therefore it is critical the inbound industry is able to meet the demand when overseas travel can resume.
“As much of our available resources as possible are being dedicated to delivering the funding to businesses as quickly as possible.”
SDMA chairman Les Maitland said: “The Scottish Destination Management Association welcomes the financial assistance from the Scottish Government.
"Our members play a vital role in delivering the £2 billion of annual spend which comes from international visitors. Despite our members' revenues being typically down more than 90 per cent, financial support to date has either been very limited or not available whatsoever. This funding package will help support the survival of businesses through to the Spring when we hope the recovery will begin. To support that recovery we look forward to working with the Scottish Government to develop a clear plan for restarting the international visitor economy in 2021 and for collaborative funding to market Scotland to the world.”
Businesses can register an expression of interest any time before 5pm on Friday, January 29, via www.visitscotland.org/supporting-your-business/funding/inbound-tour-operators-fund
For further information of VisitScotland’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, go to www.visitscotland.org/supporting-your-business/advice/coronavirus
