Ullapool tourist information centre prepares to reopen as VisitScotland responds to easing of coronavirus crisis restrictions
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
ULLAPOOL'S visitor information centre will be among the first to reopen as Scotland's hospitality sector starts to recover from its Covid crisis shutdown.
The VisitScotland iCentre on Argyle Street will reopen on Monday, July 27, as part of the second phase of the tourism body's plans to reopen all 26 of its iCentres by the end of August.
Other iCentres reopening the same day will include Oban, Portree and Pitlochry.
VisitScotland is taking a phased approach to reopening because of the need to make internal changes to every one of its iCentres to ensure that they are adapted to reduce the risk of transmission of Covid-19 as much as possible.
Safety features include perspex screens, hand sanitisers and signage to ensure physical distancing. Some scheduled reopening dates may change according to the availability of materials and suppliers.
The reopened iCentres will initially only offer an information service to visitors with the hope of reintroducing ticketing, accommodation booking and retail as soon as safe to do so.
Manuela Calchini, head of information at VisitScotland, said: “Our iCentre staff have been working to get the centres reopened and are looking forward to being able to help visitors with face to face enquiries for the first time in four months.The information services never really closed however, and I’d like to pay tribute to the team for all its hard work in getting to this point.
“Our iCentres are a significant part of the community and we understand that there will be a desire to open them as soon as possible – we share that desire and want to support the tourism industry and communities as we come out of lockdown, however the safety of our staff and visitors is paramount.”
During the four-month lockdown, VisitScotland’s iCentre staff continued to deliver visitor information through a range of other channels including a new messenger service, an iCentre telephone and email service, as well as other customer channels.
