First, the digital age killed the high-street. Then it came for our pubs, clubs, and cinemas. Now, it’s robbing us of tourist visitor centres in Scotland.
VisitScotland has announced that it plans to phase out all its remaining physical tourist information centres, known as iCentres. This follows the organisation already downsizing its number of iCentres from 65 to 25 between 2017 and 2019.
The tourism board says no changes will be made until September, but from then gradual plans will be put in motion with the goal of having all the iCentres shut by 2026.
Visit Scotland said the move reflects a change in the ways people get their information, after a 42 percent decline in visitorship to the iCentres since the pre-Covid era. The board says that more and more people are doing the bulk of their research before they travel, and therefore minimising the usefulness of having in-person information points.
Lord Thurso, the chair of VisitScotland, said: ‘Prioritising a digital-first model of information provision allows us to reach potential visitors at those early planning stages when we can shape their future travel decisions.’
‘In order to continue building demand and growing the value of tourism and events, it is vitally important that we target channels we know visitors use to influence them to visit Scotland.’
But not everyone supports the move. It has been criticised by some, including MP John Lamont, for lacking accessibility for those who are not digitally fluent. Lamont lamented: ‘While online tourism is growing, it is not available to all and these centres from Lerwick to Dumfries ensure vital information can be accessed by those tourists, particularly the elderly.’
RIP to Scotland's tourist iCentres. You’ll be sorely missed by Americans trying to decipher directions given to them by locals in an accent they can’t understand.
Keeping up with the Scotsmen
We at Time Out like to keep an eye on the best stories from across the UK, which includes our friends north of the border. Did you see that Glasgow might become the first city in Britain to offer free public transport? Or that Edinburgh is officially the most sustainable city in the country? We’ve also got Time Out guides to both Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as Aberdeen, Inverness, and the Highlands.
Did you see that one of the UK’s most legendary nightclubs is closing for good?
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