Tourism businesses are currently facing a challenge not seen before. During this time, the Shetland Tourism Association is playing a much enhanced support role to members to assist them in accessing information and financial support quickly and effectively.
The Covid-19 crisis has brought the tourism industry to the ground - worldwide. Travel restrictions mean visitors cannot reach their destination to stay in accommodation, eat at local cafes and restaurants, visit attractions or take tours. There is no part of our industry that this has not had a significantly detrimental effect on.
At this stage, we are unsure of when the travel restrictions might be lifted but Shetland Tourism Association Development Officials are monitoring the situation daily and keeping up to date with the lobbying and other work being done by national tourism agencies such as Scottish Tourism Alliance and the Association of Scotlands Self Caterers.
Members are receiving regular, often daily, updates with information relevant to their circumstances. Having Nadine in post as Development Officer and Emma working alongside her (remotely) as Chair, we are continuing to provide one to one support and filtering the abundant daily news into what matters to our members.
The Shetland Tourism Association is keen to support the hundreds of other tourism businesses in Shetland during this crisis. The annual membership is £50 and while any sum of money is too much at the moment, this modest contribution will allow us to keep up to date information flowing - in both directions. The Shetland Tourism Association gathers details from members in relation to business lost and specific issues. This information is fed directly back to the local authority, VisitScotland and the Scottish Government so that the authorities have an accurate picture of the real situation people are facing.
While we cannot fix this problem, we can help to support you as we move through it together. If you are able, please do consider joining Shetland Tourism Association and joining our supportive community.
Get in touch by phone (07842 564921), email; info@shetlandtourismassociation.org or click the 'Become a Member' button at the top of the home page.
Stay safe. Stay well.
Join a community of business owners and operators who share your ambition to make your businesses more profitable, successful and innovative as we seek to maximise opportunities in the growing tourism sector in Shetland.