Gurning about Visit Scotland and roadworks

One of our regular readers e-mailed us to point us in the direction of a recent editorial (February) in the Inverness Courier. Our correspondent draws parallels between the failure to reopen a major lay-by popular with tourists on the A82 beside Loch Ness and the decision to go ahead with the Streetscape work during the summer season in Nairn. The common problem being that tourism suffers in both areas through road works of the lack of them in Loch Ness’s case. Not exactly the same thing but we get what our correspondent is hinting at. The Courier stated:

‘It is already clear that officials at Transport Scotland fail to understand this argument, but more surprising is the silence from VisitScotland. Loch Ness is one of the jewels in its crown, so why is it not lobbying at the highest levels for emergency funds to allow work to be started immediately? And where does tourism minister Jim Mather stand?’ Full article here: Failed by officialdom

Here in Nairn we have our own problem with VisitScotland, namely the underfunding of Nairn’s Tourist Information hub. It’s worth reading the article in this week’s Nairnshire on the issue, perhaps Nairn will go it alone without VisitScotland in the future with a ‘Town and County’ tourist centre.

It is hard to see why VisitScotland couldn’t help Nairn a little more, perhaps if they didn’t have to pay £40,000 a year for their empty bothy up at Strathpeffer they might have a bit more cash to spare..

Our regular Gurnite also complained about the bonus culture at Visit Scotland but to be fair to Mr Phillip Riddle, the chief executive of the organisation he is quoted as saying he will relinquish his bonus for 2008/09 if he is offered one.

For many the damage has already been done by the bonus culture however, An article in Tourism Matters and the accompanying comments show the anger that some in the tourism industry feel towards Visit Scotland. Here's the original Herald article referred to on the Toursim Matters site. Troubled times for the industry in Scotland and the organisation that is the public face of Tourism in Scotland.