Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on our Scottish tourism industry
Coronavirus (COVID-19) arrived in Scotland in 2020. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the virus a global pandemic in March 2020.
Working alongside partners, we monitored the impact of the pandemic on our tourism and events industry. We supported the industry in their recovery from the pandemic. And we created the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group (STERG) to respond to the crisis.
In this section:
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) industry survey 2020
- Impact of COVID-19 on Scotland's events sector
- Additional research resources
1. Coronavirus (COVID-19) industry survey 2020
In October 2020, STERG requested that a full industry survey be undertaken on the following five points:
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To establish the effect of the first stages of the pandemic (March to October 2020) on businesses within the Scottish Tourism Industry
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To discover what worked well and what could have been better in terms of support offered
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To understand the issues facing businesses and what further support they needed over the next six months
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To establish what sectors / parts of the country may have performed better than others since re-opening after lockdown
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To discover what future individual businesses, have for the next six months
We appointed Progressive, an independent research agency, to undertake the survey on behalf of STERG. There were 2,974 responses to the online survey, which ran from 19 November to 6 December 2020.
- Responses by sector, size of business, region
- The effect of tourism sector re-opening in summer 2020
- Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Reduction in staff numbers
- Surviving the crisis / cash reserves
- Future plans
- Financial support
- Non-financial support
- Sources of support and advice
- Future support needs
- Next steps | Further analysis
1. Responses by sector, size of business, region
It can be seen below that the Self-Catering, B&B/Guesthouse and Hotel sectors responded most strongly to the survey with Visitor Attractions, Tour Operators and Tour Guides also responding well. 97% of businesses responding had been in operation for more than one year, with 3% being new start-ups.
2. The effect of tourism sector re-opening in summer 2020
Businesses were asked how the re-opening of tourism in July 2020 affected their business and 19% of respondents reported that their business did not re-open. 5% of these respondents stated that their business had now permanently closed with the majority (79%) stating that they would re-open when conditions improved. A further 16% were unsure what the future would hold.
35% of businesses claimed to do worse than expected with encouragingly 25% of businesses stated they had done better than expected.
Of those businesses who said that they had done better or worse than expected, 13% stated they had done better than the levels seen in 2019 with the majority (78%) stating that levels were below those of 2019. 9% thought their business levels were similar to those seen in 2019.
3. Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19)
Businesses were asked how much revenue they had lost so far this year due to COVID-19. More than half of all business responding (58%) claim to have lost up to £50,000 with more than 6% of respondents claiming to have lost more than £1 million.
4. Reduction in staff numbers
Of those businesses employing staff, 76% of respondents have reported a reduction in staff numbers. 35% stated they have made redundancies with 69% putting staff on furlough. Almost two thirds stated that they didn’t employ staff that they normally would.
Businesses were then asked how likely it was that staff numbers would have to be reduced further with two thirds stating that it was fairly or very likely.
Of those stating they are likely to reduce staff numbers further, the majority (77%) have stated this is primarily because of the effects of the pandemic.
5. Surviving the crisis / cash reserves
Businesses were asked a series of questions around how they were surviving the crisis. It can be seen below that many businesses are in a difficult situation with limited or no cash reserves to last over the winter period.
Businesses were also asked whether they had changed their business model in any way with a third (33%) stating they had already made changes to their business with a further 17% planning changes.
When asked what changes these were, targeting new markets (60%) was a popular response as well as looking at new ways at which to market and sell their product (67%).
6. Future plans
Businesses were asked about their future going forward into 2021. It can be seen below that 15% of businesses plan to continue trading as they are during the next 6 months, however, more than half of businesses will continue trading but on a reduced basis either due to COVID-19 (27%) or due to both COVID-19 and normal seasonal reductions in trade (26%). 17% plan to close until the spring of 2021.
In terms of surviving the crisis, it can be seen below that the majority believe they will get through the current situation (73%) albeit with some changes (45%). However, 10% of businesses (in addition to the ones who have already ceased trading permanently) believe their business may not survive with a further 17% unsure of what the future holds.
7. Financial support
Respondents were asked which financial support packages they had accessed so far during the crisis. Both the Furlough scheme (accessed in both time periods) and the Business Support Grant Fund were the most accessed support mechanisms alongside the Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan and Self Employment Income Support Scheme, however, 18% of businesses stated they did not qualify for any financial support.
8. Non-financial support
STERG were also interested in awareness levels for non-financial support that public sector and industry organisations were offering to businesses during the crisis. The graph shows a varying level of awareness of the support options available with advice and support from public agencies (65%), Industry initiatives such as Good to Go (66%) and lobbying of government by industry bodies (60%) having the highest levels of awareness. Only 11% claimed to be unaware of any support options.
Respondents (who were aware of the particular support option listed) were asked to rate it as to its usefulness. The top scoring aspects were: sector specific guidelines (mean score 4.04 out of 5); followed by lobbying of government by industry bodies (mean score 4.0 out of 5); results from industry surveys (mean score 3.9 out of 5); and communications from public sector and industry bodies (mean score 3.7 / 5). Other aspects were scored slightly lower and will be detailed in the full report.
9. Sources of support and advice
In terms of sources of support and advice, the following graph shows the proportion of respondents who had used the support on offer from public sector and industry organisations. It can be seen that the most used source is visitscotland.org* (62%), the Scottish Government website (53%) and support offered through communications from your sector or destination organisation (42%).
* please note that the survey was distributed via a link on the visitscotland.org website which may have influenced this figure.
The following graph shows which of the accessed information and advice sources were felt to be of most use to respondents (who had used them) with communications from your sector or destination organisation (28%) scoring particularly well, followed by the Scottish Government website (22%) and VisitScotland.org (17%).
10. Future support needs
Respondents were asked about the importance of 3 areas of longer-term financial support to their business i.e. access to cash (from bank etc), access to funding (UK/Scottish government) and investment in their business e.g. from the private sector. The initial graph below shows "access to government funding" was felt to be most important to businesses with 48% of respondents stating that it was "critical" – scoring it 5 out of 5 (with a further 18% scoring it 4/5). Access to cash was also extremely important to more than a quarter of respondents. Investment in their business was felt to be of lesser importance to respondents.
11. Next steps | Further analysis
This page represents a summary analysis of the majority of the survey. Analysis of additional survey questions not covered above include the quantity questions concerning increases/decreases in turnover and occupancy (which require a more detailed analysis) together with the themes identified from the open-ended comments. A breakdown of significant results by sector/region will also be available upon full reporting in January 2021.
VisitScotland disclaimer
Please note: all figures are provisional and subject to revision upon final reporting. The data in this survey has not been weighted and is therefore representative only of those businesses, sectors and regions who have responded. The final report will be produced by Progressive in January 2021.
Download the coronavirus (COVID-19) Industry Survey 2020
Published August 2022
2. Impact of COVID-19 on Scotland's events sector
We undertook an industry consultation to gather insight from the events industry sector. The goal was to map the challenges and issues facing the industry at the start of the pandemic. The forums provided a wealth of information. Its constructive feedback gathered helped to inform and shape a sustainable recovery plan.
Feedback from the events industry coronavirus (COVID-19) consultation 2020
Published August 2022
We identified the fragility of the events supply chain as one of the key shared concerns across the events sector in 2020. In response, we identified businesses working closely with the events sector. We sent these an online survey about the impact of the pandemic on their business.
We conducted the survey between 16 and 22 June 2020, and received 315 responses.
Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on Scotland's events sector supply chain
Published August 2022
In December 2020, we conducted a second online survey of the event industry supply chain. Our goal was to gather further information on the ongoing impact of coronavirus (COVID-19).
We conducted the survey was between 7 and 15 December 2020, and received 248 responses.
The impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on Scotland's Events Sector Supply Chain wave 2
Published August 2022
3. Additional research resources
We conducted several surveys to inform decision making and recovery planning during the pandemic. To monitor the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19), we also supported the work of partner organisations.
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre made a timeline of the disease.
Check out the additional studies which have looked back at the impact of the pandemic: