News

The launch of the new Historic Environment Grant fund makes express grants and interim works for heritage assets available to communities for the first time.

£2 million is available to communities across Scotland this year as a new project-based funding scheme was launched by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) on Wednesday 15^th March. Grants from £1,000 to £500,000 are now available as part of Historic Environment Grants which replaces a number of HES’s previous funding programmes including its Repair Grant and Support Fund schemes.

The funding is open largely to not-for-profit organisations such as charities, local authorities, religious bodies and community groups, to help further support Scotland’s diverse historic building stock, as well as supporting skills and the retrofit agenda.  

There are three funding streams available:

• express grants of £1,000 to £25,000,
• small grants of £25,001 to £100,000,
• large grants of £100,001 to £500,000

Expressions of interest can be submitted throughout the year through the Historic Environment Scotland Grants Portal, and applications will be accepted all year for express grants and three times per year for small and large grants.

To be considered for funding, applicants must be able to show how their project can contribute to key priority areas including engagement, place making, repair and resilience, climate action, skills and the economy.

To find out more about the funding, please click here.

As members will be aware, over a two-week period from 24^th February to 7^th March 2023, ASVA undertook a nationwide survey of Scottish attractions to establish confidence levels within the sector regarding prospects for the year ahead, as well as to gather intel on current challenges, investment priorities, cost pressures, staff pay & benefits and actions that the sector would like to see taken to further aid economic sustainability.

Responses to the survey were received from 117 organisations, representing more than 200 individual attractions, providing ASVA with robust and reliable data from which to ascertain how the sector is feeling about the season ahead, the actions being taken within the industry to combat current challenges and the measures that would be most welcomed from both the Scottish & UK Governments to support recovery after three difficult years for the majority of operators.

A summary report of the results has been drafted by ASVA providing intel on:

• The opening status of the sector come Easter 2023
• Visitor numbers and turnover forecasts
• Levels of financial reserves being held in the sector
• Sector optimism about the year ahead
• Investment levels and priorities
• Recruitment challenges
• Pay & benefits
• Cost pressures and actions taken within the sector to mitigate increasing costs
• Pricing policies
• Barriers to success
• And measures to boost economic sustainability

The survey results point to a sector that is slowly regaining confidence and recovering from a very challenging last few years, with 57% of operators optimistic about their business prospects for 2023, versus 21% who are feeling pessimistic. However whilst the majority are on the path to recovery, it is very clear that increasing cost pressures remain a significant barrier to success, with almost 40% of respondents reporting that they are scaling back, cancelling or postponing capital works this year in light of cost pressures and a not unsubstantial 15% reporting that they will not be fully open come the beginning of Easter due to staffing challenges and/or financial constraints. The results provide a very clear ask to both the Scottish and UK Governments to take more substantive action to reduce the ever-increasing costs of doing business to support the sector’s recovery in 2023.

The summary report can be viewed by clicking here.

The first 2023 ASVA Visitor Attractions Barometer reports, for January 2023, are now available to view in the Members Area of our website.

As with reports in 2022, this year, in consultation with our partners at the Moffat Centre, we have decided to continue to produce two reports per month to give you the best possible insights available. The first report will compare 2023 figures with those of last year. However, we are well aware that there were still periods in early 2022 in particular when trading conditions were far from normal. For example, for much of January 2022, we still had a considerable number of Omicron-related restrictions in place, which severely limited visitor numbers, particularly in indoor settings. We also know that members have valued, and continue to value, comparisons with pre-pandemic conditions when analysing visitor data, Therefore, we have decided to produce a second report in parallel with the 2023/2022 report. This second report will compare figures from 2023

with those of 2019, the last full year of trading before the pandemic struck in early 2020.

When comparing January 2023 figures to those of 2022, we can immediately see the importance of comparing data with 2019, and not just last year. Overall, visitor numbers to ASVA member sites were up just under 59% in January 2023, when compared with those of January 2022. However, this presents an entirely distorted picture of the ‘recovery’. It is only when we analyse the 2023 figures against those of 2019, that we clearly see that the sector has not yet reached the levels of visitation that we were experiencing pre-pandemic. In January 2023, visitor numbers were down just under 13% from those experienced in January 2019. This is actually as healthy a picture as we have reported for some time, so there are certainly grounds for some optimism here when looking to the season ahead. However, the January data alone does not provide us with enough evidence of patterns as yet to make any confident statements about the year ahead. What we can say with confidence is that it appears fully justified, for this year at least, that we continue to report figures compared not just with the year before, but also with 2019. Only by looking at figures from before the pandemic will we see just how much the sector has bounced back from the ravages of the last few years and the multiples crises we have been dealing with, and indeed continue to deal with.

Working with our colleagues at the Moffat Centre for Travel & Tourism Business Development, ASVA is looking to trial a new service with members, which will help us gather quick but meaningful intel on sectoral performance and prospects. We are highly conscious that members (and other stakeholders) value data and insights that are as up to date as possible, so the Moffat Centre and ASVA are looking to produce a monthly snap survey that will capture quick insights from across the sector, which we will then look to collate and share that very same month with members. The idea is that members will be presented with a ‘snapshot’ of current sector-wide performance as well as a gauge of confidence levels within the industry.  

We will be closing the first trial survey on Friday 24th March and results will be shared the following week. The survey has been designed to ensure that it can be completed in a matter of a few moments.  

At present this is very much a trial, and we would welcome any feedback from members on the barometer survey. Please contact our CEO, Gordon Morrison – gordon@asva.co.uk – with any feedback on the survey questions, or the report once it is published.  

Please complete the survey by clicking here.  

The new strategy builds on the achievements of the first strategy, which guided the collective work of the sector and Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) from 2012 to 2022.

Following extensive consultation, the 2023- 2030 strategy outlines a shared vision that: “Scotland’s museums and galleries are thriving, connected, and resilient organisations which are agile in embracing change. Trusted and valued by the widest diversity of Scotland’s people, our collections, and the shared stories we tell, are accessible and inclusive to all.”

The strategy supports museums and galleries to meet changing environmental, economic, and social contexts and to strengthen their invaluable role at the heart of Scotland’s communities.

Consultations with museums, galleries, and a wide range of stakeholders started in December 2021 to understand how to ensure the future success and relevance of the sector. Ten priority areas were identified and the strategy groups these priorities into three interlinking strands of Connection, Workforce, and Resilience.

At the strategy’s core is the need to ensure that Scotland’s museum and gallery collections are cared for, accessible, and shared through strong partnership working, both within and outside the sector, collaborating on vital and relevant work across the culture, arts and heritage sector as well as Scotland’s wider social and economic economy.

The three strategy strands interlink as do the ten priority areas as development across all these areas will help achieve the strategy vision.

Lucy Casot, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland said: “Our sector asked for an ambitious yet achievable strategy which reflects the social and economic contexts of the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, whilst highlighting the unique potential of museums and galleries. 

For us, it is important that the strategy is practical and grounded, supporting development across areas identified through consultations as essential for the future of our sector. MGS will champion and support all museums across Scotland to respond to the opportunities and collective ambition set out in the strategy.”

Culture Minister Neil Gray said:“We are fortunate in Scotland to have museums and galleries that care for and promote our rich cultural heritage so that these inspiring places can be accessed and shared by everyone.

“I’m delighted to welcome this new strategy which builds on Museum Galleries Scotland’s work with the sector to create a best practice model of collaboration and shared learning. This will ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy these fantastic collections.”

Mike Benson, Director of the Scottish Crannog Centre said:“The strategy captures and sets out a shared sense of mission for the sector in Scotland. It sees museums as places of activism, as places that are rooted in their communities, and as places that can build strong connections inside and out to create museums that anyone would want to be part of.

The strategy is a foundation for museums to develop a workforce that grows in skills and confidence in their role in creating a fairer, more equal society and how our collections matter as part of a changing world. It’s through a diverse workforce that we become better connected and more resilient.

I relish the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across the sector and beyond in delivering the work set out in this strategy.”

Today MGS also launches a new website designed to provide museums with support and inspiration to deliver the strategy. The website will help showcase the work of museums, helping to share learning and also spotlight best practice.

The strategy can be found on MGS’s website, which includes an introductory film, as well as case studies, and a short animated film which provides a simple guide on how the strategy is structured and how it will be delivered.

Last week, our CEO, Gordon Morrison, attended a meeting of the Scottish Alcohol Industry Partnership (SIAP) to discuss the possible ramifications of legislation which will potentially significantly restrict alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland.
 
As members may be aware, the Scottish Government has recently published a public consultation on potential alcohol advertising and promoting restrictions in Scotland. The public consultation, which can be viewed here, will run until 9th March 2023. 
 
The consultation paper is wide-ranging and covers potential restrictions on all of the major sources of exposure to alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland, including advertising outdoors, in-store, and through sports and events sponsorship.
 
ASVA will be responding to the consultation, and we would recommend that members do too, as the suggested restrictions could have a significant impact on Scottish Tourism. ASVA will provide further guidance to members in the coming weeks as to suggested responses to the consultation, but for now, we would recommend that time is taken to familiarise yourself with the proposals contained within it, which include prohibiting the sale of alcohol branded merchandise, prohibiting alcohol brands from sponsoring cultural and sporting events and restricting the visibility of alcohol in retail environments.
 
Members may also be interested to know that our friends at Scotland Food & Drink are hosting a webinar on Tuesday 31st of January at 11am with more information on the consultation and how to feed in your views. You can register for this webinar here.
 
Responses can be submitted to the consultation by clicking on this link. 

Our colleagues at the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) have just published a Local Visitor Levy Manifesto with Recommendations report, The Manifesto has been developed with the STA’s Council and Board – which includes representation from ASVA as well as from across the tourism, hospitality, supply, and business landscape The manifesto and report has been shared with MSPs, local authority chief executives and leaders, and key business stakeholders. 

The manifesto states that, in the event that visitor levy legislation is introduced, the tourism industry is committed to working closely alongside the Scottish Government and local authorities to ensure that it is executed in the most effective way and used as a force for good, with net revenue raised reinvested in local tourism priorities that contribute to making Scotland a world leader in 21st century tourism. 

It also makes it clear that, from an industry standpoint,  it is crucial that there is proper scrutiny, impact assessment and analysis ahead of the legislative process getting underway, with a key role for the newly formed Regulatory Joint Taskforce in considering the concerns from sectors around the significant cost or operational impacts of introducing the power to charge a local visitor levy. 

ASVA has played a contributory role in the development of the Manifesto, articulating that views on the introduction of a visitor levy are mixed in our sector, but that there is universal agreement that if such a levy is introduced that the funds generated from it must be used to benefit tourism in local communities. We are pleased to see that this is the central point of the manifesto. 

If you wish to read the manifesto, please click here.  

Relevant to some of our members, the deadline for applications for the VAT Refund scheme for museums & galleries has been extended. The deadline is now Wednesday 1 March 2023. 

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has just published new guidance on applying for the scheme, which can be found here. DCMS has also provided clarity on the eligibility of museums that operate with seasonal hours, with the scheme now extended to include applications from museums which are open seasonally.  

DCMS has advised that any enquires about the scheme can be made to vat33a@dcms.gov.uk.  

For more information and further guidance, click here.  

This week the UK Government announced a new “Energy Bills Discount Scheme” for UK businesses, charities, and the public sector from April 2023. The scheme comprises two elements – support for all businesses, charities, and public sector organisations, and support at a higher level for energy and trade-intensive industries. Critically, many attraction types are included in this latter group of eligible sectors, including museums, libraries and archives, historical sites and buildings, and zoos. 

The new scheme will mean all eligible UK businesses and other non-domestic energy users will receive a per-unit discount on high energy bills during the 12-month period from April 2023 to March 2024, subject to a maximum discount. The relative discount will be applied if wholesale prices are above a certain price threshold. For most non-domestic energy users in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, these maximum discounts have been set at: 

• Electricity – £19.61 per megawatt-hour (MWh) with a price threshold of £302 per MWh. 
• Gas – £6.97 per MWh with a price threshold of £107 per MWh.

As members will be aware, the UK Government is providing a package of support for non-domestic users through this winter, worth £18 billion per the figures certified by the OBR at the Autumn Statement. The new scheme has a cap set at £5.5 billion.  

Eligible organisations will need to apply for the higher level of support. Further guidance can be found here.  

ASVA is, of course, pleased that many attraction types are included in the list of eligible businesses for the higher levels of support, however there is also disappointment that the UK Government is reducing the current levels of support provided to businesses. We will continue to argue forcibly that further support for those in our sector facing huge energy cost hikes this year is paramount if we are to avoid further harm to the sector. 

The latest ASVA Visitor Attractions Barometer reports, for November 2022, is now available to view in the Members Area of our website.

As has been noted in previous reports comparing 2022 figures to those of 2021 presents some challenges, primarily due to the levels of covid disruption that were still being experienced through much of 2021. Whilst Scotland was ‘Beyond Level 0’ in November, under the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for Recovery, a number of covid measures, such as compulsory face coverings and the requirement for test and protect information in hospitality settings, remained in place. Consumer confidence in visiting attractions was also very fragile at this corresponding period in 2021, so visitor numbers to certain types of visitor attractions, particularly indoor sites with enclosed spaces, were considerably lower than they would be in a ‘normal’ year. This helps to explain why, when we compare visitor numbers across ASVA member sites in November 2023, with those of November 2021, the figures for this year are considerably up.  Visitor numbers were up by almost 40% for the month and over 93% for the year to date, January to November.

Comparisons beyond 2021 data is therefore needed if we are to better understand how the season has been for Scottish attractions in 2022. By comparing November 2022 to November 2019 – a year without restrictions or crises – we get a clearer picture on how the sector has actually fared.

Looking at November ’22 vs November ’19, visitor numbers across all ASVA attractions were down just over 11% for the month and 24% for the year to date. Whilst these are strongest visitor figures that have been reported collectively by ASVA members since the start of the pandemic, the sector as a whole is still down on numbers by almost a quarter of what would be regarded as a ‘non-crisis’ year.  

Looking more closely at the different types of attractions, for the most part, even with colder weather conditions, outdoor venues still continued to outperform their indoor counterparts in terms of speed of recovery of visitor numbers. Outdoor/Nature attractions were actually up considerably, by 25%, on the corresponding month in 2019, and for the year to date, numbers for this sector are up by 5% on where they were in 2019. When compared to the likes of Castle & Forts (down 42% for the year to date), Other Historic Properties (down 29% year to date) and Museums & Galleries (down 29% year to date), it can be seen that much of the sector has a long way to go to get back to pre-pandemic levels of visitation.

On top of this, increases in the cost of doing business, issues with recruitment & retention of staff and, of course, the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the consumer are undoubtedly now causing challenges which will inhibit the sector’s recovery as we move into 2023, particularly for those attractions who largely rely on local and domestic visitors.

ASVA continues to shine a spotlight on the conditions many of our members are facing to both the Scottish and UK Governments, including the very pressing challenges being faced that those venues where energy contracts are ending and they are facing financially crippling new bills. We also continue to highlight the importance of our sector to tourism in Scotland and to our country’s economy and cultural standing, to ensure that those in the corridors of power fully understand the very real need to continue to support our sector through challenging times.

The latest ASVA Visitor Attractions Barometer reports, for October 2022, are now available to view in the Members Area of our website.
 
As has been noted in previous reports, comparing 2022 figures to those of 2021 presents some challenges, primarily due to the levels of covid disruption that were still being experienced through much of 2021. Whilst Scotland was ‘Beyond Level 0’ in October, under the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for Recovery, some covid measures, such as compulsory face coverings and the requirement for test and protect information in hospitality settings, remained in place. Consumer confidence in visiting attractions was also very fragile at this corresponding period in 2021, so visitor numbers, particularly to indoor attractions, visitor numbers, were considerably lower than they would be in a ‘normal’ year. It is therefore no surprise that, when we compare visitor numbers across ASVA member sites in October this year with those of October 2021 – where there remained some restrictions in place and there was fragile consumer confidence – the figures for October this year are considerably up.  Visitor numbers were up by 38.9% for the month and a whopping 98.3% for the year to date, January to October.
 
Further analysis is therefore needed if we are to better understand to what extend visitor attractions are seeing a genuine recovery in 2022. By comparing October 2022 to October 2019 – a pre-pandemic year – we get a clearer picture on how the sector is actually faring now. Comparing October ’22 to October ’19, visitor numbers across all ASVA attractions were down 11.3% for the month and 24.8% for the year to date. Whilst these are strongest visitor figures that have been reported collectively by ASVA members since the start of the pandemic, the sector as a whole is still considerably down on what would be regarded as a normal year’s activity.
 
Numbers have, however, been gradually improving as the year has gone on, with public confidence clearly returning and there has certainly been a more significant return of international visitors than anticipated, with the high spending North American visitors in particular returning well, and spending plenty of money when with us. Never-the-less, the recovery is slow overall and somewhat inconsistent across different attraction types and locations. On top of this, increases in the cost of doing business, issues with recruitment & retention of staff and, of course, the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the consumer are undoubtedly now causing challenges which inhibit the sector’s recovery, particularly for those attractions who largely rely on local and domestic visitors.

ASVA continues to shine a spotlight on the challenging conditions many of our members are facing to both the Scottish and UK Governments, highlighting in particular the extreme challenges being faced that those venues where energy contracts are ending, and renewal figures being quoted are for eye watering sums of money. We also continue to stress the importance of our sector to tourism in Scotland and to our country’s economy and cultural standing, as it is clear that next year is shaping up to be another challenging one for our industry.