News

Funding support made available for attractions in Glasgow and Moray Speyside

Added: 20 May 2021

The First Minister announced that on Friday 14 May that, whilst most of mainland Scotland could move into Protection Level 2 on Monday 17 May, and some island communities could move straight into Level 1, Glasgow and Moray Speyside must remain in Level 3 for at least another week due to their high rates of COVID-19 cases.

Travel to and from Glasgow and Moray Speyside is therefore currently prohibited other than for permitted purposes. Visiting an attraction is not classified as a permitted reason. This means that visitor attractions in Glasgow and Moray should not be welcoming visitors from outwith their own Local Authority areas. Attractions in other areas should note too that they should not currently be enabling access to visitors from Glasgow and Moray. Information on Level 3 restrictions, detailing what is and is not possible, is available here.

Targeted financial support is being made available by the Scottish Government for affected businesses in Glasgow and Moray. The funding is being provided to businesses that are specifically impacted – ie. required to either remain closed or continue to operate under Level 3 restrictions but otherwise would have been permitted to open on 17 May had their area moved into Level 2.

Visitor attractions in Glasgow and Moray are eligible for funding support; the criteria for eligibility specifically states attractions are entitled to it. The grants will be paid automatically to businesses, there is no application process. The funding details are as follows:

Glasgow : If you operate a tourism business in Glasgow that the Scottish Government considers to be impacted by travel restrictions but are not specifically required to close or modify your operations by Regulation at Protection Level 3, you are eligible for:

• a one-off grant of up to £500 for properties with a Rateable Value of £51,001 or over; or
• a one-off grant of up to £250 for properties with a Rateable Value up to £51,000 or which pay Council Tax rather than Non-Domestic Rates

Moray : If you operate a tourism business in Moray that the Scottish Government considers to be impacted by travel restrictions but are not specifically required to close or modify its operations by Regulation at Protection Level 3, you are eligible for:

• a one-off grant of up to £1,000 for properties with a Rateable Value of £51,001 or over; or
• a one-off grant of up to £500 for properties with a Rateable Value up to £51,000 or which pay Council Tax rather than Non-Domestic Rates

More details on the funding support can be found here.

ASVA will continue to lobby the Scottish Government for further financial support for those businesses impacted by the latest restrictions. Throughout the pandemic, we have highlighted consistently that the level of financial support for our sector, whilst welcome, has not been at a level to support the sector through to recovery. We will continue to advocate for further support, not just for our members in Glasgow in Moray, but across the country, as it is very clear that there is no full recovery for our industry on the immediate horizon.

Today, a survey has been launched by ASVA and the Moffat Centre for Travel & Tourism , to capture up to date information about current business performance, recovery prospects and confidence levels within the attractions sector. We would urge all ASVA members to complete the survey (which can be found here), as the information gathered from it will be used to inform and shape ASVA’s ongoing lobbying efforts with the Scottish and UK Governments.