Dismay as Perthshire tourist hubs shut shop

Remaining Perth city and Pitlochry VisitScotland facilities closed at the end of September.

The closure of Perthshire’s last remaining tourist information hubs, leaving the county without any facilities, has come under fire.

VisitScotland closed the Perth High Street office at the end of September along with its Pitlochry centre.

It had been part of a decision – made in March following a review of its information strategy – to close the iCentre network across the country.

The Aberfeldy, Dunkeld and Blairgowrie tourist information centres all closed before the pandemic.

Other VisitScotland offices which have closed, or are set to close, include Dumfries, St Andrews, Stirling, Aberfoyle, Ullapool, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

The Perth office employed three core members of staff who were offered voluntary redundancy or redeployment elsewhere in the organisation.

One Perth critic on social media Sue Macnab said: “Absolutely ridiculous decision. Not all tourists want to rely on their phones using up their data.”

And Eric Gordon added: “Very sad to see another High Street casualty, VisitScotland is closing all its remaining visitor centres.”

A VisitScotland spokesperson said this week: “After considering a wide range of research and insights which looked at how visitors plan and book their holidays, we found the majority of visitors plan all aspects of their holiday before they leave home, gaining inspiration from online sources or tour operators and travel agents.

“VisitScotland therefore has a much greater role to play in getting information to visitors at this earlier stage of their holiday planning.

“By doing this we can influence where, when, and how long, they visit.

“We remain committed to continuing to work with our partners, industry and stakeholders across the region to make Scotland a year-round sustainable tourism destination.”

VisitScotland also pointed to social media and county businesses as an alternative for tourist information.

The spokesperson added: “For VisitScotland, our future provision will focus on the channels we already use to inspire visitors to plan and book their trips to Scotland.

“VisitScotland already has great success in this area. Our social media accounts reach millions, our visitscotland.com website is a wealth of advice and inspiration.

“There are [now] no VisitScotland operated information centres in Perthshire.

“However, we know that many businesses and attractions throughout Perthshire provide advice and guidance to visitors as part of their welcome to the area and this will continue.

“Visitors will also be able to access information about local areas through our visitscotland.com website which is regularly reviewed and updated with inspirational content and advice.”

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