We were asked to carry out consultations with 100+ Scottish tourism industry stakeholders to assess how recovery measures could best address both short and long-term challenges, such as climate change and the need for robust visitor management policies. We brought everything together in a series of policy recommendations which were presented to the Scottish Government in November 2021.
Make an independent assessment of Scotland’s tourism recovery priorities and approaches to date.
Gather diverse points of view from the country’s tourism sector on long-term priorities for recovery through multiple online workshops.
Review policy documents, reports and actions to date, to identify gaps and priority areas for future actions.
Recommend the most critical policy priorities and measures requiring investment, taking into account global best practice.
Bring all recommendations together in a report to inform government decision makers and industry leaders.
The ink was barely dry on Scotland’s National Tourism Strategy ‘Scotland Outlook 2030’ (for which TOPOSOPHY had supported the country’s tourism sector in developing the action plan), when COVID-19 struck.
In fact, the presentation event on 4th March 2020 was one of the last B2B events to take place in the country before lockdown stopped the sector in its tracks. Throughout 2020 and 2021, government efforts were understandably focused on supporting the country’s tourism sector through the darkest moments of the crisis. However, in early 2021, attention was already turning to how recovery funding could best help to address long-term challenges too.
With this in mind, we carried out an engaging series of workshops and interviews to allow stakeholders with diverse points of view to put forward their concerns and ambitions for the country’s long-term tourism recovery. We reviewed what was working well internationally, and put forward a balanced series of recommendations that would help get the country back on track.
Global Benchmarking and Best Practice Case Study Analysis, including ‘Net Zero as an opportunity’ on global priorities for tourism recovery
Delivered online interviews, focus groups and workshops with 100+ public-private sector decision makers from across Scotland
Multiple one-to-one stakeholder interviews with Scottish government and industry representatives to test and refine recommendations
Presentations of consultation findings, and recommendations report for the Scottish Government
Worked with the STERG to compile a 2-year recovery plan, together with key actions and investment requirements
Public-facing update report with detailed recommendations
Grounded in the comprehensive analysis of the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the tourism sector and the country's recovery needs, our project's outcomes have taken shape:
The Scottish Government has provided a £25 million Tourism Recovery Fund supporting a range of projects this year, and is currently considering the best approach to Phase 2 recovery work, covering the following 2 years.
The recommendations published in an industry update in November 2021, discussing the post-COVID-19 impacts on the tourism sector, and the country’s long-term recovery needs.
