Tourist Information Centre proposal

Item: 8

Page:  1

 

FORMARTINE AREA COMMITTEE – 22 January 2013 VISITSCOTLAND INFORMATION CENTRE REVIEW

1          Recommendations

 

1.1 It is recommended that the Committee considers and comments on the VisitScotland review of Information Provision.

 

2.            Discussion

 

2.1         The 2012 National Tourism Strategy aims to grow visitor spend and to drive market driven sustainable economic growth. In support of this the VisitScotland Information Network plays a critical role in helping to enhance the visitors’ stay in Scotland, connecting them with memorable experiences, encouraging them to do more, spend more and return more often.

 

2.2         During 2012 VisitScotland has carried out a review of Aberdeenshire’s VisitScotland Information Centres (VICs). The full report has been posted on Ward Pages. A summary of recommendations is presented in appendix 1.

 

2.3         Aberdeenshire has 10 VICs in the following areas: Ballater, Alford, Banchory, Banff, Braemar, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Inverurie, Stonehaven and Crathie. Aberdeenshire Council contributed £119,250 towards their costs in 2012 – 13.

 

2.4         It is proposed that VisitScotland and Aberdeenshire Council work over the next  3 years in order to achieve the Scottish Local Authorities Economic Development (SLAED) model of funding. The model requires 50% of funding from Aberdeenshire Council and 50% from VisitScotland for Category 2 VICs and  Aberdeenshire Council funding 100% of category 3 VICs.   This model was agreed by SLAED as it recognises that category 3 Information Centres predominantly have a local economic benefit, while Category 1 Information Centres (100% funded by VisitScotland) get more all Scotland enquiries and Category 2 a blend of the two.

 

2.5         Of  the  VICs  under  review,  Aberdeenshire  has  one  Category  2  centre  in Ballater and 8 Category 3 centres. Crathie is not funded by Aberdeenshire Council and is not part of the review.

 

2.6         Within the 3 year plan, it is proposed that some of the locations move to providing an information service through a Partner. A partnership is explained in  appendix 1. This has been a successful approach used in a number of other regions of Scotland.

 

2.7         In addition to the network of manned Information Centres, Aberdeenshire Council has historically supported a network of unmanned passive leaflet information points including Ellon library and Turriff Sports Centre. Signage and furniture used to house the leaflets in each of the locations is fairly tired and refers to Aberdeen & Grampian Tourist Board.

 

2.8         Currently Aberdeenshire Council pay £8,750 per annum to VisitScotland to maintain these seven sites.

 

2.9         VisitScotland no longer has a proactive strategy for developing unmanned information points. An audit and review of information points highlighted a significant provision by the private sector with three large operators in Scotland managing and selling leaflet racking in the best tourism and community locations across Scotland - sites include all categories of accommodation, airports, train stations, supermarkets and visitor attractions. These three operators are used by tourism businesses to ensure their own print is available to visitors across Scotland. For these sites to be attractive and useful to the consumer they need to contain a wide range of leaflets.

 

2.10      Pick up of literature from each of the Aberdeenshire unmanned sites currently averages around 100 leaflets per month at an annual cost of £1,250 therefore on average a cost of £1 per leaflet. Pick up is quite low across all sites but in particular Ellon Library and The Lecht. This is therefore a relatively expensive form of leaflet  distribution.    As  a  comparison,  VisitScotland  has  recently purchased  services  to distribute  45,000  leaflets  across  high  footfall  sites across Scotland and the cost of this campaign was £1750, a cost per leaflet distributed of 3p. The recommendation is to discontinue use of these sites and utilise existing commercial racking.

 

2.11      VisitScotland will continue to work with and build on the established base for collaborative working with  Stakeholders,  considering  co-locations  and partnerships to reduce costs  whilst  not  compromising  the  standards  of customer service and the customer experience for visitors to Aberdeenshire. VisitScotland  is  committed  to  delivering a  high  level  of  service which will inspire through Information provision to increase the economic benefit to Aberdeenshire and to enhance the visitor experience.

 

2.12      Consultations  and  discussions  have  taken  place  with  VisitScotland  and various  Council  service  representatives  including  EL&L  (in  particular  the Library Service) and Facilities Management to discuss location options and possible developments through the use of ICT. There has been a positive response to working in partnership and finding more suitable locations for the proposed information centres to be relocated.

 

3.            Financial and Staffing Implications

 

3.1         The financial implications of the changes will require the same budget commitment from Aberdeenshire Council as per previous years of £119,250. Any ongoing deficit will be funded by VisitScotland. The cost to make one off changes at particular sites is estimated £18,000 in 2013/14. This will be met from within the existing budget allocated to supporting VisitScotland ( (£270,000) Line 26 of Economic Development budget. This will require realignment for one year to reallocating funding from marketing allocation in the region of £10,000 given the savings from discontinuing the unmanned information points. The Council’s contribution to the VIC network and marketing for 2013/14 will be agreed at Infrastructure Service Committee in March.  Any staffing implications will be managed by VisitScotland.

 

3.2         The Head of Finance and Monitoring Officer from Corporate Services have been consulted and any comments received have been incorporated within the report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Archer

Director of Infrastructure

 

Report prepared by: - Louise Mackie, Industry Support Executive (Tourism) 20 December 2012

 

Appendix 1

 

Recommendations for Visitor Information Centres

On the basis of achieving a cost neutral Information Provision in Aberdeenshire, after Local Authority financial support, the following recommendations are proposed. It should be noted that any change in service delivery would be subject to VisitScotland approval processes, which, in some cases may require Government approval.

 

LOCATION	SEASON	FOOTFALL	RANK;	SUGGESTED PROPOSAL (achieving a
		April–Nov	FOOTFALL	cost neutral operation over a 3 year
		2012 (%	End         Nov	period, based on SLAED funding model)
		change =	2012
		same period
		2011)
				Year 1 2012/13	Year 2 2013/14	Year 3 2014/15
Ballater	Open  All	26963	1st	Reduce
(category 2)	Year	-0.4%		staffing
				levels
Alford	April       -	3620	8th	Co-locate	Reduce	Move to
(category 3)	October	-46%		with	staffing levels	Partnership
				Transport	to reflect	with
				Museum	business	Museum
					demands
Banchory	April       -	4573	6th		Move to
(category 3)	October	-11%			partnership
					with local
					authority
Banff	April       -	4607	5th		Increase
(category 3)	October	-10%			footfall by
					introducing
					craft/ arts
Braemar	Open  All	26951	2nd		Consider	Aim to
(category 3)	Year	+28%			introducing	move to
					library outlet	seasonal
						(Apr-Oct).
Fraserburg	April       -	3940	7th		Move to
h	October	-10%			partnership
(category 3)
Huntly	April       -	8392	4th		Reduce
(category 3)	October	-7%			staffing levels
					to reflect
					business
					demands
Inverurie	April       -	3338	9th		Seek new
(category 3)	October	-17%			partner to co-
					locate in existing
					premises, to add
					value.
					Alternatively,
					seek Co-location
					elsewhere within
					town.
Stonehaven	April       -	12659	3rd	Reduce

 

(category 3)

October

-3%

staffing levels to reflect business demands

 

Notes on proposal;

1. Where a recommendation is to reduce opening hours, the level of savings would be determined using Hourly/Daily/Weekly/Monthly Footfall Monitors and Seasonality charts along with Budget Rota Management System to ensure correct alignment of staffing levels with business demands. Where there is a reduction in staffing levels recommended, national KPI’s are used to benchmark.

2.‘Co-location’ could either be relocating a VisitScotland Information Centre and VisitScotland staff into premises with a like minded business thereby reducing operating costs for both organisations or alternatively, where space allows, a like minded business could share the existing VIC premises and facilities with VisitScotland. In a co-location VisitScotland staff would offer the full range of services.

3. A Partnership is a like minded Business which is strategically located providing basic information at localised level, operating in Partnership with VisitScotland with a Service Level Agreement. These will refer to visitscotland.com or the nearest VIC for additional services and information.

 

Recommendations for unmanned information points

A review of each current unmanned location is noted below. The recommendation for an unmanned information provision is to work with commercial leaflet racking companies such as EAE, Landmark Press, and Bags of Info and remove any outdated branding. This would allow for re-allocation of the current £8,750 for other marketing activity and/or assist in funding the one off cost of partnership toolkits. VisitScotland would work with the site listed above to source a commercial racking company where there is not one already in place.

 

Site	Background	Leaflet      pick up totals (period of April               - August 2012)		Recommendation
Macduff Marine Aquarium	Site owned by Aberdeenshire Council.  Site within 5km of Banff VIC, however a good location.  Other commercial racking also on site.	535 leaflets		Discontinue and utilise existing commercial racking
Aden Country Park - Farming Museum	Site owned by Aberdeenshire Council.  Unit within a large room at the entrance to the museum.  Other commercial racking also on site.  Other commercial racking within Mintlaw including the Heritage Centre and Library.  Not close to a VIC.	550		Discontinue and utilise existing commercial racking
The  Lecht  Ski Centre	Unit only accessible during the summer due to space restrictions in winter. Tomintoul Partnership within 5 km.  Commercial racking also on site.	390		Discontinue and utilise existing commercial racking
Turriff Sports Centre	Owned by Aberdeenshire Council.  Extensive commercial racking in place. Many other commercial racks within Turriff including at the Caravan Park, library, Fife Arms Hotel and Crown Inn and Turriff swimming pool.		575	Discontinue due to the large number of commercial sites within the town.
Haddo House	National trust property includes other commercial racking		480	Discontinue and utilise existing commercial racking
Aboyne,       Gift shop/tearoom	Small unit in a very tight space.  Located within easy reach of two Information Centres - Ballater and Banchory.  Commercial racking in Aboyne Library and Co-op.		485	Discontinue
Ellon Library	Unit within the entrance area, quite extensive racking.  Site serves local people and not visitors. Commercial racking in other local sites - including all hotels, Haddo Estate shop, Pitmedden Gardens, Park & Ride		345	Discontinue