We are conscious that some ASVA members, including those within our Trade Membership, will not be eligible for the Visitor Attraction Support Fund. We would therefore highlight that the Local Authority Discretionary Fund, a fund which was set up to help businesses in Scotland who have not been eligible for previous business support grants, has been doubled from £60 million to £120 million.
This fund is managed by individual local authorities and funds are issued at their discretion. They will assess which businesses have not received support until now and are most in need.
Please check your own local authority website for more details of which businesses can get support through this fund.
For more information about the fund and links to the relevant webpages on your local authority website, please click here.
News
The latest ASVA Visitor Attractions Barometer report for November 2020 is available to view in the Members Area of this website, in the Statistics, Surveys and Research section.
Overall visitor numbers are down by 77.8% for the month when compared to December 2019 and the sector is down 72.8% for the full year (Jan-Dec). With the continued tightening of restrictions through the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework and ‘levels’ system, most attractions were heavily impacted by travel restrictions and indeed many did not open at all in the month of December (thus so many attractions reporting figures of ‘down 100%’ in the report). Unsurprisingly, for those that did remain open, outdoor sites generally performed better than most other types of attractions, as they were less impacted by restrictions, e.g. Outdoor/Nature attractions were down 26.1% and Gardens were 45.3% down, which is comparatively good performance when placed alongside Museums & Galleries (down 91.8%) and Castles/Forts (down 92.9%).
Figures for January 2021 will be collated soon and the Barometer report will be made available to ASVA members in early March. A full report for the 2020 year will also be forthcoming later next month.
We would encourage all ASVA members to participate in the monthly data collection exercise to ensure that we build up as complete a picture as possible of industry performance. If you so wish, you can submit your data for the report and request that your numbers remain confidential.
To ensure that your attraction is included in both the monthly and annual reports, please contact Hugh Sheridan at the Moffat Centre – hugh.sheridan@gcu.ac.uk or 0141 273 1611
Scottish Enterprise, on behalf of the Scottish Government, has launched a new Fair Work Employer Support tool.
Organisational re-structuring and adaptations to workplace practices is one of the challenges business owners are currently facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is well documented that Fair Work practices help companies become more resilient, improve their ability to manage change and continue trading during periods of uncertainty, such as those they are facing now. Fair Work has become a competitive advantage for business and an important issue for the health and wellbeing of the working population. It helps companies retain talent, improve productivity and profitability, and maximise the potential of their workforce.
The Fair Work Employer Support Tool has been introduced to provide practical support and advice to help companies navigate through change and importantly, build employee voice into their future decisions. It was developed with input from business partners, employers, and expert advice from the Fair Work Convention, and complements new guidance recently published by Scottish Government to support implementation of their Fair Work First approach.
It has been designed to help companies understand the benefits of adopting fairer work practice, highlight what good practice looks like, help them identify where they are in their own journey and provide practical advice on how to improve their own working practices. It enables organisations and businesses to self-assess their working practices against the five dimensions of Fair Work and uses a series of questions and statements to offer guidance and tailored resources that can help organisations adopt fair work practices into their own workplace.
For more information, please click here.