News

Scottish Tourism Leadership Programme offers outstanding, free, sector-specific development course

ASVA has been pleased to promote, over recent months, the fully-funded Scottish Tourism Leadership Programme to ensure our members take advantage of the outstanding and highly motivational professional and personal development opportunities for current and aspiring leaders in our industry.

We’re particularly keen to encourage attraction members to sign up for, and benefit from, one of the Programme’s final three courses – this is specifically designed for personnel working in the visitor attractions sector. The real-time online course is completely free, thanks to Scottish Government tourism recovery funding for this year, so we do hope as many representatives from ASVA attractions will make the most of the chance to take part.

It’s the first time that the acclaimed Scottish Tourism Leadership Programme has offered a course exclusively for our sector, so this is a particularly relevant and valuable training opportunity for our members.

The Visitor Attractions Sector course takes place on 19 & 20 January and 2 February, and the applications deadline is 9 January.

The course content, which aims to inspire and uplift, has been developed by Scottish Enterprise, the South of Scotland Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and Skills Development Scotland, in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University’s Professor Jane Ali-Knight and Kenneth Wardrop.

The course features speakers including Susan Deighan of Glasgow Life, V & A Dundee Director Leonie Bell, and Abbi Ollive, Head of Marketing, Sales and Programming at Castle Howard. Also included is a panel discussion involving Royal Yacht Britannia CEO Bob Downie, Professor Anna Leask of Napier University, and Scottish Tourism Alliance Strategy Project Manager Karen Christie. The course itinerary is available here.

In addition to the Visitor Attractions Sector course, applications are open for: Rural (South) course : 9, 10 & 23 February (30 January application deadline), and Pan-Scotland course : 2, 3 & 16 March (20 February application deadline).

You can find further information on the Scottish Tourism Leadership Programme and details of how to apply for all three of the courses here.

We’d urge line managers to encourage their team members to sign up for these courses and take advantage of the last of the Programme’s fully-funded places. If you know anyone who would benefit from the excellent training opportunity offered and the chance to connect with other tourism leaders or aspiring leaders, please do encourage them to apply.

In these very challenging times for our industry and sector, whilst so much uncertainty remains, we appreciate that it’s tough to make time commitments however whilst this funding support is still available, it’s an ideal time to sign up for these courses. They will certainly stand participants in good stead for the future, as well as providing a motivational boost to help individuals and businesses keep driving forward.

Those who have recently taken part in Scottish Tourism Leadership Programme courses have commented on how much they’ve valued the experience, and connecting with others working in the industry and experiencing the same challenges. Many participants have advised that, taking part in the Programme has not only helped them considerably through the course learnings they’ve gained, but has also given them renewed optimism and drive for the future – a welcome and much-needed additional benefit, given our sector’s current difficult circumstances.