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Visit Scotland | Alba

VisitScotland Quality Assurance Scheme - Enquiry Form

Visit Aberdeenshire & Damian Shields

Quality Assurance Scheme

What is Quality Assurance?

Quality Assurance (QA) is the name we give to our official grading system for tourism businesses and all our associated schemes.

QA can help us drive up standards across the industry, raising the bar. Our Stars represent world class excellence, helping businesses shine, enabling visitors to make informed choices and driving investment in quality.
 

QA is more than just the ‘Stars on the door’; it’s about the entire visitor experience, demonstrating improvement and investment within businesses right across the country.

Why should you join our Quality Assurance Scheme?

  • Consumer confidence

    QA empowers visitors to make informed choices and provides consumer confidence – giving reassurance to guests that your property is independently assessed and that high standards are offered.  Now more than ever visitors need that extra reassurance – and QA can provide that.

  • Internationally recognised

    Internationally recognised accreditation - our well-established awards are familiar and trusted by visitors to Scotland. International visitors are more likely to look for this reassurance – especially when visiting for the first time. Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and representatives from the travel trade sector are more likely to consider working with or booking with a QA member

  • Be found first

    Visitors and potential holiday-bookers using VisitScotland.com often base their search on “the Stars”. QA member listings are, on average, 2.5 times more likely to receive visitor referrals. And those with an integrated web booking engine on their web-listing receive 2.4 times as many bookings and 2.3 times as much revenue per listing as their non-QA counterparts.

  • Benchmark your performance

    Our experienced team of Quality and Tourism Advisors (QTA) can help you to find the areas of your business where training or investment can make the biggest difference. It can inform business decisions through tailored insight from our experienced team.

  • A tool for growth

    Being a QA member can help you to grow your business and can help get access to loans or funding. Some councils ask for evidence that a QA visit can provide. During COVID-19 crisis for example, many businesses used the QA award to demonstrate their legitimacy and eligibility for government funding and support.

  • Affordable

    A small fee gains you membership of our Quality Assurance Scheme for a year.