Funding confirmed to protect Scottish tourism from Omicron

A financial package worth up to £9m for Scotland’s tourism sector has been confirmed by Tourism Minister Ivan McKee to mitigate the impacts of Omicron.

The funding will be administered by VisitScotland and will be split between affected businesses, including coach operators, day tour operators, hostels, inbound tour operators, outdoor/marine businesses and visitor attractions.

The £9 million funding package includes £6 million from the £375 million in business support that was previously announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and £3 million that has been repurposed from Phase 1 of the Tourism Recovery Programme.

Tourism Minister Ivan McKee said: ‘We recognise that the public health measures necessary to limit the spread of Omicron have had a severe economic impact, especially for affected businesses in the hard hit tourism sector.

‘We have now allocated up to £9 million to help ease the impacts of the pandemic on Scotland’s world-class tourism sector and ensure that affected businesses can survive what is clearly an especially tough winter period and be ready to trade fully in the spring and summer months.

‘We know this won’t cover all losses and will continue to press the UK Government for more comprehensive support.’

Chief Executive of VisitScotland Malcolm Roughead added: ‘Scotland’s valuable tourism industry is still facing significant challenges posed by the pandemic.   

‘This funding will provide crucial support to businesses affected by the necessary steps taken to tackle the spread of the Omicron variant.   

‘We recognise that many businesses are struggling, and we are working to ensure that those eligible can access this funding as simply and as quickly as possible. Further details on this will be shared next week.’

In related news, the Scottish government has announced a multi-million-pound package of support to help tourism and hospitality businesses recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Photo by Gary Ellis