News

Yesterday (16^th Feb), in a statement to the Scottish Parliament the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced details of the review of current lockdown restrictions. During her statement she advised that the exit from the current lockdown is likely to be more cautious than it was last summer

Ms Sturgeon said that the Scottish Government is currently preparing a revised strategic framework, which she hopes will be published next week.  This framework will set out in more detail when and how Scotland might gradually emerge from lockdown. The revised framework will “aim to set out how we will use and balance all the tools at our disposal – restrictions and advice, vaccination, test and protect, and travel restrictions – to restore, on a phased basis, greater normality to our everyday lives.”

We know that members are very keen to get an idea about when lockdown may be lifted for our sector and we hope to have some clarity when the revised framework is published. In the meantime, we would highlight to members that, in her statement, the First Minister indicated that the Scottish Government is “likely to advise against booking Easter holidays, either overseas or within Scotland.” She also added; “For the summer, while it is still highly unlikely that overseas holidays will be possible or advisable, staycations might be – but this will depend on the data nearer the time.”

The First Minister also highlighted that the Scottish Government will be “driven much more by data than dates.”
 
On the back of yesterday’s statement, ASVA and ALVA have put forward a submission to the Scottish Emergency Response Group (STERG) requesting a review of the levels of financial support offered to our sector through the Strategic Framework Business Fund (SFBF). In the submission we call on the Scottish Government to recognise the impact that ongoing travel restrictions will have on our sector and to provide continual financial support for as long as restrictions impact our industry’s ability to trade at a viable level.

You can read the First Minister’s statement in full at this link.

Our friends at the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) have shared with ASVA their latest wave of public sentiment research they commissioned with Steve Mills of Decision House. It follows similar sentiment tracker research conducted last Spring and Summer to measure the changing public mood about the nature of the UK epidemic, and to gauge the effect on people’s optimism of the successful roll-out of the vaccine programme. ALVA have highlighted to us that the latest research has been modified to increase the numbers of people interviewed in Scotland, so we would highly recommend that ASVA members take the time to review the results.
 
Highlights from the research include:

• Over half our audience has begun to return to at least some attractions since the end of the first lockdown, but visits have primarily been to outdoor sites – members, families and young people most confident
• Confidence around visiting attractions is now more polarised compared with the first lockdown – whilst more will return quickly, there has been even greater growth in the segment unlikely to visit for a long time
• Indeed, around 40% feel less positive about visiting than they did during the first lockdown (18% feel more positive), with the impact of the virus now feeling greater for many – high infection rates, new variants etc.
• Concerns around distancing remain the focal point – pre-visit reassurance around limiting capacity (via pre-booking) and the ability to control distancing in practice will continue to be vital. The market is now much more accepting of mandatory mask wearing
• But when re-opening again, we need to remember that there are growing numbers who are questioning the value of the experience – we need to try to offer as full / normal a visit as possible
• With that in mind, it is important to note that anxiety around using facilities at attractions, while still high for many indoor facilities, is easing slightly – apart from interactives and audio guides
• The advent of vaccines is beginning to have some positive impact upon attraction visiting prospects, although this will be limited until the market feels that rollout to the wider population is complete
• In the short term, the impact of the vaccine is mainly in encouraging the fearful to at least consider a visit – moving people from ‘unlikely to visit for a long time’ to ‘wait and see what happens for a short while’
• As it stands, attractions are unlikely to see short term rapid increases in visits driven by a vaccination rollout – the impact of having the first vaccine dose increases the proportion saying they will visit any attraction from 44% to 48%, although the impact is greater (+7%) among those aged 55 or over
• There has been some growth in empathy with the plight of attractions – the lead up to reopening may be the optimum time to play on this altruistic message again
• There has also been increasing confidence around use of public transport to travel to attractions

You can view the full report here. We would like to thank Bernard and the team at ALVA for sharing this information with ASVA.

This week the Scottish Government launch a new Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Project Fund. If you are a zoo or aquarium in Scotland and are experiencing financial hardship which is specifically affecting your conservation projects, you may be able to apply for a grant of up to £400,000 per project to continue them.
 
The eligibility criteria are:

• the project is for the conservation benefit of native Scottish species
• the project is for promoting or developing understanding of scientific matters
• all reasonable actions have been taken to minimise costs while maintaining conservation project objectives such as the coronavirus job retention scheme, business rates holiday, tax deferral, statutory sick pay rebate, etc
• the project has budget monitoring and forecasting
• the organisation is in possession of a current full licence or dispensation under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, or have been inspected and granted an exemption under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 due to your small size

Applications will be accepted until Wednesday 10 March.

For more information, click here.

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.

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.