Highland tourist information centres among the first to reopen as hospitality sector returns to life
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Scotland's tourist information centres are reopening to show that the nation's hospitality sector is back in business, with Aviemore among the first four iCentres welcoming post-lockdown tourists this week.
All Scotland's 26 iCentres are expected to be open by the end of August, with the second phase of reopening due to begin next Monday with five sites including Ullapool, Portree and Pitlochry.
The phased approach is due to the need to make internal changes to every one of the 26 VisitScotland iCentres to ensure that they are adapted for physical distancing.
Safety features include Perspex screens, hand sanitisers and signage to ensure physical distancing. Some scheduled reopening dates may change according to the availability of materials and suppliers.
The reopened iCentres will initially only offer an information service to visitors with the hope of reintroducing ticketing, accommodation booking and retail as soon as safe to do so.
During the four-month lockdown, VisitScotland’s iCentre staff continued to deliver visitor information through a range of other channels including a new messenger service, an iCentre telephone and email service, as well as other customer channels.
Manuela Calchini, head of information at VisitScotland, said: “Our iCentre staff have been working to get the centres reopened and are looking forward to being able to help visitors with face to face enquiries for the first time in four months. The information services never really closed however, and I’d like to pay tribute to the team for all its hard work in getting to this point.
“Our iCentres are a significant part of the community and we understand that there will be a desire to open them as soon as possible – we share that desire and want to support the tourism industry and communities as we come out of lockdown, however the safety of our staff and visitors is paramount.”
