COVID-19 Business Support and Continuity top-up fund
Tourism top-up funding
The £9 million COVID-19 Business Support and Continuity Tourism Fund package included £6 million from the £375 million in business support that was previously announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and £3 million that was repurposed from Phase 1 of the Tourism Recovery Programme.
After discussions with Scottish Government and the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group (STERG), it was decided that the following sectors would be eligible for top-up grants:
The sectors covered by the Scottish Government announcement are those which were previously managed by VisitScotland and have been most significantly impacted by Omicron advice and restrictions
We've contacted businesses previously supported under all of the funds to claim the COVID-19 Business Support and Continuity (Tourism) top-up fund. This process is now closed.
To qualify for the top-up grant, a business was required to still be trading and to have been open and incurred a loss specifically between 8 December 2021 and 21 January 2022.
Eligible businesses received a top-up payment of £6,800 under the COVID-19 Business Support and Continuity (Tourism) Fund.
The £9m funding also provided additional grant to previous recipients of our Destination and Sector Marketing Fund. This was focused on the extension of the existing seasonal campaigns already planned and will help drive short-term demand in support of recovery.
Tour operators
A separate fund for tour operators was also opened after the Scottish Government announced a further £7.5 million for the sector in the Scottish Budget.
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said that the additional funds are in recognition that supporting this sector will help drive recovery in retail and tourism across Scotland.
There is not an application process but businesses which previously received funding and may still be eligible have been contacted directly by VisitScotland.
Events top-up funding
On 3 January, it was announced that part of the £19.8 million events funding package would go towards events businesses impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions put in place in December last year.
Eligible businesses, which have previously received support through the Event Industry Support Funds or the Pivotal Event Businesses Fund, and who had to cancel or postpone events between 8 December and 31 March, are receiving top-up payments through the Omicron top up funding for events businesses. There will be no application process.
Read our events funding story for more information on eligibility and criteria.