March 2021 - ASSC

ASSC Hustings

Posted on March 31, 2021March 31, 2021 by Fiona Campbell

With the election now less than a month away, the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers will hold its first ever virtual election hustings.

We have brought together candidates from Scotland’s five main political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament for you to question on their priorities for tourism in Scotland and how they can best support self-catering.

The past year has been incredibly challenging for all of those working in Scotland’s vital tourism industry, including self-catering. Nonetheless, we should be proud of the manner in which we have conducted ourselves, showing perseverance, tenacity and considerable patience in responding to the significant difficulties faced. The prospect of some self-catering reopening later this month provides some optimism for the future.

Looking ahead, the ASSC has published our first ever election manifesto entitled, Recovering, Reopening, and Revitalising: Building a Scottish Self-Catering Sector for the Future. This sets out our sector’s four main priorities for the next Scottish Government. This includes:

Introducing evidence-based short-term let regulations in partnership with industry that balance the needs of small business and local communities.
Dropping plans for a tourist tax to allow the industry to recover and to support families to have an affordable staycation in Scotland.
Supporting small businesses by enabling easier access to support funding while Covid-19 restrictions are in place.
Championing the benefits of holidaying in Scotland through self-catering and provide financial support to all operators who will continue to be impacted by household meeting restrictions.

The Scottish Parliamentary elections matter immensely to our sector and we will be working closely with many across the next parliament for the good of the self-catering and wider tourism sector. We hope that you use your vote on 6th May and that our hustings session can help you determine your choice.

We have five speakers from each of the main five parties represented in parliament.

Fergus Ewing, Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Tourism and who is the SNP candidate for Inverness and Nairn
Jamie Halcro Johnston, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Tourism and is the Scottish Conservative candidate for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch
Rhoda Grant, Scottish Labour and Cooperative candidate for Inverness and Nairn and is Scottish Labour’s tourism spokesperson
Laura Moodie, Scottish Green candidate for South of Scotland
Liam McArthur, Lib Dem candidate for Orkney

We will hear from each speaker on the panel for a maximum of five minutes before taking questions.

You can submit questions in advance: joyce@assc.co.uk.

Book Your Ticket

Update on Household Restrictions

Posted on March 31, 2021July 4, 2023 by Fiona Campbell

It is expected that tourist accommodation will reopen on 26 April (self-catering accommodation to be restricted in line with rules on indoor gathering). The prohibition of in-home socialising will continue to be kept under review at this date.

From 26 April – guests from one household can stay overnight in self catering

On the 17 May we hope to introduce the following easings – re-introducing in-home socialising for up to 4 people from up to 2 households.

From 17 May – four guests from two households can stay overnight in self-catering (in line with ‘up to four people from two households can socialise indoors in a private home or public space’)

Children 12 years and under not included.

The rules for self-catering are in line with the private dwelling socialising rules as set out in the levels framework. Please note that an updated version will be published soon. Overnight stays are in line with the wider socialising measures at Levels 3 and 4 and with mitigations. In-house socialising mitigations need to be stressed to reduce the risk of transmission – so physical distancing, hand washing, cleaning surfaces, ventilation etc., should still be observed.

With the increased transmissibility of the new variants of the virus single household restrictions are necessary, at least in the initial phases of a move out of lockdown.

This will mean that single-household restrictions will apply until the in-house socialising rules allow, and tourism and hospitality guidance to mitigate risk involving should also be followed.

The approach to reducing household restrictions will be gradual as we move through the levels to ensure continued suppression of the virus. We will keep the guidance around restrictions under review to ensure safety, but will not keep them in place longer than is necessary.

See answers to more questions here.

Scottish Tourism Index

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Fiona Campbell

53 Degree Insight have published their March survey findings confirming much of what we had understood to the current outlook for our tourism industry; not the mad rush to book or the huge pent up demand that we’ve seen reported by some media.

Whilst there is room for some optimism, the latest Scottish Tourism Index demonstrates that there are a number of challenges ahead to ensure home-base holidays (staycations) can provide the tourism industry with the much needed boost it needs in 2021

Some highlights from the research here:

Over a fifth of Scots are simply not thinking about holidays yet (22%) and 27% feel that holidays are something they won’t be planning for some time. These groups remained concerned about risks of transmission and would like to wait until the vaccine rollout and declining cases reach a level where they feel completely safe.
However, the remaining half of the population are more positive about taking a holiday this year – indeed 1 in 8 (12%) are desperate for a holiday and will take one as soon as they can. Members of this group feel they need to travel, to escape from the difficulties of the last 12 months.
Almost half (46%) of Scots are very likely or definite about taking a home holiday this year – and a further 24% are fairly likely – 7 in 10 Scots overall. This compares with around two in five likely to go elsewhere in the UK (42%), three in ten into Europe (29%) and 11% further afield
However the uncertainty of what will be possible this year means that only a small proportion of Scots have already booked a 2021 staycation (5%) while a larger percentage (32%) are just at the planning or consideration stages.
When asked to rate the importance of a different factors if they were to take a Scottish staycation high standards of hygiene and cleanliness were rated most highly. Mitigations to aid social distancing remain important but notably less so than in the summer of 2020. More important in 2021 were reassurances that there would be a range of places open to visit and where it would be possible to eat and drink.
While 17% of Scottish staycations are expected to be taken before the end of June, a larger percentage (51%) are expected to take place between July and the end of September, and 14% in the last quarter. Reflecting the uncertainty amongst consumers, 18% of those planning a trip are unsure of when.
As in 2020, rural locations continue to hold greatest appeal with the Highlands leading the way, followed by Argyll, Edinburgh & Lothians, Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire & Arran and Perthshire.
Also reflecting demand in 2020, self-catering accommodation continues to be the most popular for holidays planned for 2021 with 47% intending to stay in this type of accommodation. Small hotels are likely to be used by 44%, guesthouses/B&Bs by 33% and large hotels by 30% – and all other types of accommodation by less than 15% in each case.
Underlying these percentages there are shifts in accommodation preferences compared with pre-COVID. Self-catering in particular now has much greater appeal (+25% swing) as do campervans (+11%).
In terms of activities undertaken on holidays, 33% of Scots are more likely to consider visiting the natural outdoors on a Scottish holiday post-COVID-19, and a similar percentage are more likely to seek rest and relaxation. More active pursuits such as walking and cycling are also more popular with +26% appeal. In contrast indoor activities such as visits to arts and cultural venues and shopping for gifts and souvenirs will still have reduced appeal.
Considering Scottish community attitudes to the re-opening of tourism, although a degree of reticence remains (23% would at most only want small numbers of visitors), compared to 2020 there is a more relaxed attitude towards visitors generally with almost half (48%) pf the population feeling comfortable and ready to welcome visitors.

You can read in full here.