As part of our strategy to grow the visitor economy, we’re changing the way we provide visitor information. This includes the decision to close our iCentre network.
We want to make sure we are reaching the right audience at the right time on the right channels.
Most visitors now use online resources and travel specialists to plan and book all aspects of their trips, including accommodation and activities, before they arrive at their destination.
That's why we’re moving to a digital-first approach with a focus on influencing visitors in the planning stage of their trip before they leave home.
Due to significant changes to the way people plan their holidays, we are investing our expertise and resources into a digital-first strategy. This aims to influence visitors before they book to increase Scotland’s share of global travel.
As a result, we are in the process of closing our iCentre network.
The following provides some detailed background information about our iCentres.
| iCentre | Total annual footfall 2019-2020 | Total annual footfall 2020-2021 | Total annual footfall 2021-2022 | Total annual footfall 2022-2023 | Total annual footfall 2023-2024 |
| Aberdeen | 40,683 | 2,030 | 11,438 | 22,531 | 28,596 |
| Aberfoyle | 72,333 | 7,378 | 41,691 | 57,634 | 54,407 |
| Aviemore | 71,908 | 6,948 | 29,947 | 48,541 | 36,442 |
| Ballater | 96,288 | 5,413 | 37,711 | 63,370 | 72,569 |
| Balloch | 70,448 | 10,391 | 33,296 | 49,600 | 53,972 |
| Bowmore | 23,306 | 1,732 | 7,688 | 10,050 | 14,330 |
| Brodick | 25,586 | 1,887 | 11,890 | 21,391 | 19,459 |
| Craignure | 66,085 | 5,778 | 27,379 | 47,317 | 50,496 |
| Dumfries | 19,648 | 4,628 | 11,009 | 11,783 | 11,330 |
| Edinburgh | 253,567 | 11,322 | 56,420 | 161,771 | 186,025 |
| Fort William | 150,851 | 9,856 | 29,147 | 80,175 | 89,158 |
| Glasgow | 102,085 | 2,872 | 19,369 | 56,568 | 68,198 |
| Inverness | 112,397 | 8,252 | 32,171 | 73,037 | 77,286 |
| Jedburgh | 23,695 | 3,815 | 13,311 | 19,666 | 23,521 |
| Kirkwall | 139,036 | 3,368 | 23,251 | 74,322 | 122,662 |
| Lerwick | 56,478 | 3,653 | 19,527 | 41,214 | 53,644 |
| Oban | 147,424 | 12,717 | 41,225 | 73,199 | 59,700 |
| Perth | 29,535 | 2,637 | 12,262 | 19,598 | 21,604 |
| Pitlochry | 43,723 | 5,830 | 21,347 | 34,501 | 34,446 |
| Portree | 99,801 | 6,619 | 23,067 | 51,214 | 54,043 |
| Rothesay | 60,084 | 5,074 | 14,649 | 38,691 | 56,396 |
| St Andrews | 94,548 | 5,555 | 27,022 | 53,921 | 68,609 |
| Stirling | 84,118 | 11,554 | 27,434 | 44,445 | 59,008 |
| Stornoway | 28,962 | 2,144 | 12,423 | 19,267 | 19,018 |
| Ullapool | 34,296 | 2,798 | 10,426 | 28,767 | 31,719 |
Footfall has been collected at each location via the means of either electronic or manual visitor count system. Since November 2023, only manual trackers have been used to collate footfall.
| iCentre | Building status | Building size (square metre) | Building size(square foot) | Closure date |
| Aberdeen | Leased | 218.30 | 2,349 | 30 September 2024 |
| Aberfoyle | Leased | 397.32 | 4,275 | 25 November 2024 |
| Aviemore | Leased | 143.99 | 1,549 | 30 September 2025 |
| Ballater | Leased | 205.00 | 2,206 | 3 October 2025 |
| Balloch | Leased | 136.88 | 1,473 | 30 September 2024 |
| Bowmore | Owned | 46.28 | 498 | 28 September 2024 |
| Brodick | Owned | 131.76 | 1,418 | 30 September 2025 |
| Craignure | Owned | 175.00 | 1,883 | 3 October 2025 |
| Dumfries | Owned | 340.84 | 3,667 | 28 September 2024 |
| Edinburgh | Leased | 168.00 | 1,808 | 1 February 2025 |
| Fort William | Leased | 200.29 | 2,155 | 17 October 2025 |
| Glasgow | Leased | 129.10 | 1,389 | 31 October 2025 |
| Inverness | Leased | 149.85 | 1,612 | 7 October 2025 |
| Jedburgh | Owned | 180.02 | 1,937 | 30 September 2024 |
| Kirkwall | Leased | 130.50 | 1,404 | 14 October 2025 |
| Lerwick | Leased | 88.59 | 953 | 18 November 2024 |
| Oban | Leased | 106.22 | 1,143 | 22 October 2024 |
| Perth | Leased | 219.12 | 2,358 | 30 September 2024 |
| Pitlochry | Leased | 163.21 | 1,756 | 28 September 2024 |
| Portree | Leased | 187.99 | 2,023 | 14 October 2025 |
| Rothesay | Owned | 449.31 | 4,835 | 8 October 2025 |
| St Andrews | Leased | 236.87 | 2,549 | 31 January 2025 |
| Stirling | Leased | 69.21 | 745 | 28 September 2024 |
| Stornoway | Leased | 97.10 | 1,045 | 4 October 2024 |
| Ullapool | Leased | 62.60 | 674 | 28 September 2024 |
Browse a table with the financial records of each of our iCentres to get a better overview of their net income, expenses, and staff costs.
Published July 2024
All our iCentres were operational from the announcement in March until September 2024. A two-year phased closure programme is now underway with the expectation that all our iCentres will close by late 2025 at the latest.
The Scottish Government has issued disposal of property guidance - Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) and we have responsibilities under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.
Read the disposal of property guidance on gov.scot.
Browse information on the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 on gov.scot.
Where VisitScotland owns a property, we follow the following process.
In line with our duties, before offering land and property for sale elsewhere, we must notify Scottish Government so that the property can be advertised to other public bodies. This process allows for the transfer of property held within the Scottish public sector at market value.
The process takes one month and must be completed before commencing marketing or entering into a commitment to sell elsewhere. Where a public body expresses an interest to acquire any of our owned iCentre properties, the transfer should be undertaken following SPFM guidance.
Registered community bodies can request to buy, lease, manage or use the iCentres we own under the Community Empowerment Act. To make an asset transfer request, an organisation needs to be a "community transfer body" as it is defined in section 77 of the Act.
A community body must set out its plans for the property, detailing what benefits it will bring. We would consider whether proposals will improve economic development, regeneration, health, or social or environmental wellbeing, or reduce inequalities. We must agree to the request unless there are reasonable grounds for refusal.
All interested proposals would be assessed in line with the criteria set out in the Community Empowerment Act. All decisions would be assessed with recommendations provided to VisitScotland leadership group, Board, and notification would be provided to Scottish Government of any decision.
A registered community body can put in a note of interest at anytime. If there was interest from both a public body and a community body, we would seek advice from Scottish Government. If you would like to register your interest in an iCentre, please contact our team on iCentrecontact@visitscotland.com.
Our teams are engaging with stakeholders and where community bodies register an interest in taking over any of our owned iCentres, we will engage with them in that process in line with our duties under the Act.
If there is no community interest the next stage would be to progress to the open market.
Once the first two stages have been exhausted, we would look to the commercial market to dispose of owned properties. We would consider the following two options:
The approach for all leases will be to exit in line with lease end dates or break options. However, there will be instances where this is not possible due to the term of the lease in which we will require to sub-let or reassign leases for the remainder of the term.
We’ll work with the local authority or public bodies to understand the preference of a sub lease or assignation and ensure any interest from communities is considered in this process.
For commercial landlords, we will also assess viable community interest however the commercial leases do come at market value rates unlike the discounted local authority rents. In this instance we will test the commercial market through Graham + Sibbald.
