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The Scottish Tourism Alliance welcomes the First Minister’s announcement that vaccine passports will not be extended to the hospitality sector and that alternative measures can be used within businesses already implementing the scheme.
Our organisation has, since the outbreak of the pandemic, been in full support of evidence-based measures to balance the protection of public health and the economy, the proposal to extend vaccine certification to hospitality was in our view harmful to the sector, the wider tourism economy across all areas of Scotland and would have effectively stalled what is already a long and challenging road to recovery for one of the worst hit industries.
The next few weeks are crucially important to the sector in terms of recouping lost earnings as a result of the introduction of previous restrictions; I am sure that many businesses will feel a sense of overwhelming relief that they will be able to trade as plann
ed.
The STA and other trade bodies and business groups had been consulted in the proposals to extend the vaccination certification scheme and I am delighted that the collective views and evidence we have presented have been given the thorough and due consideration we expected.
The feeling of optimism across our tourism and hospitality sectors was significantly eroded following the First Minister’s announcement last week with businesses looking towards weeks and months of immense challenge and uncertainty.
We can now hopefully look forward to a thriving season ahead, one which is pivotal to our economic recovery and I know that a
ll businesses within our sector will be doing their utmost to ensure public safety and limit the spread of the virus to ensure a safe and buoyant festive period
The STA will encourage our members and the wider industry to promote testing to their customers in a supportive, positive manner and we look forward to our con
tinued conversations with both governments as we navigate the road ahead back to recovery.”
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