SLAP IN THE FACE FOR FIFE TOURISM

4.30.54pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 26th Sep 2007

The Scottish Government has been accused of ignoring the interests of Fife's tourism businesses by announcing the scrapping of Visit Scotland's Fife hub.

Iain Smith, the MSP for North East Fife, said that this amounted to a slap in the face for local tourism.

"It is an absolute disgrace that the Minister who is supposed to be responsible for promoting Scotland's tourist industry should treat it with such contempt that he announces the scrapping of local tourism hubs by way of a throwaway line in his statement on the Enterprise Network," Mr Smith said.

Iain Smith was speaking following a statement in the Scottish Parliament by John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth in which he announced the scrapping of Local Enterprise Companies in favour of new Regional Boards. The Minster indicated that Visit Scotland would be reorganised in line with these new regions, meaning an end to the local hubs.

"Local tourism businesses are already concerned that visit Scotland is too remote and not sufficiently responsive to their local needs. It is hard to see how this further centralisation will help.

"How can the tourist industry in St Andrews and the East Neuk of Fife be confident that it will be effectively promoted by a regional board whose main focus will be Edinburgh?

"I will be tabling questions to ask the Minister what consultation he has had with local tourist business before coming up with this unwanted and unnecessary centralisation," Mr Smith concluded.