No Island Impact Assessment was conducted by VisitScotland before it made its decision to pull the plug on the Kirkwall iCentre.

One month ago, VisitScotland announced that it would be closing all its iCentres across Scotland and moving to a digital only information platform.

Following a Freedom of Information request by The Orkney News we can reveal that despite the increasing use of the Kirkwall visitor centre, located by the bus station, and drop off point for cruise liner passengers and day tour bus operators, no Island Impact Assessment was done.

Recovering from the devastating economic impact to the islands tourism sector from the Covid pandemic, the Kirkwall centre shows clearly that visitors and locals go into the iCentre. In 2022, from January to December, 73,182 people used the centre to book tickets or to shop. Last year, 2023, as the tourism sector was bouncing back from the pandemic, over the same period, 122,304 people used the facility. That figure does not include those who just popped in to ask for help and assistance. What we have is an underestimate of visitors and locals who use the Kirkwall iCentre.

As increasing numbers of visitors are coming to Orkney again, it would be expected that these numbers would continue to increase.

The Orkney News was also interested in the sales of products in the shop at the iCentre where you can buy a range of materials including OS maps, books, and locally made products that are often hard to find elsewhere – especially if the visitor has only a short time in Orkney. These too have increased and product sales last year amounted to £155,640 with ShopLocal sales at £27,568.

So why was no Island Impact Assessment conducted when the numbers using the Kirkwall iCentre were increasing?

An Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) is required under the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 (the Act). Guidance is provided by the Scottish Government as follows:

“This guidance stresses the importance of consultation and robust community engagement so that islanders are given a platform to voice their opinions, concerns and suggestions. It also addresses the need to consult island communities in order for a Relevant Authority to comply with the Section 7 duty.“

There is a seven step process which is required. Importantly ” a Relevant Authority must have regard to island communities in carrying out its functions.”

And the guidance stresses “ it’s really important to remember that effective and meaningful consultation throughout the process with island communities will be vital.“

Did VisitScotland do this when it announced the closure of all its iCentres?

What it did was conduct something called an Island Communities Screening Assessment.

VisitScotland starts its screening assessment with this statement “at a strategic level, management is confident that this strategic change does not significantly differently impact island communities.”

And: “The good practice outlined in the Act will ensure that VisitScotland engages with key stakeholders throughout the life span of the delivery of the project as the centres are closed and following closure.”

Therefore, the starting point is: the iCentres will be closed, and that decision VisitScotland told The Orkney News is ‘Final’. VisitScotland state that ‘key stakeholders’ have been ‘engaged with‘. For the staff who work in the iCentres, they will be offered a formal meeting where various options for their employment will be put to them, however, there will be no compulsory redundancies.

It concludes:

“A full impact assessment is not required as, in considering the proposal, VisitScotland have seen no evidence to suggest the effect on an island community is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities). The impact of the decision to close all iCentres (mainland and islands) is the same for all similar stakeholders across the country, including all island communities. No evidence has been presented as part of the engagement that indicated any island impacts that require to be taken into account.”

The Scottish Government Guidance stresses that decision making  “should not be a “tick box” exercise. It’s important to remember that any decisions you make should be clearly set out and well documented.”

The decision taken by VisitScotland to close all iCentres, regardless of any impact it will have in an island location, clearly does not comply with that guidance. But there’s the rub – it is only guidance – and calls into question, yet again, what is the point of the Islands Act when public bodies can just circumvent the clear intent of the Act and make final decisions with no real regard to their island impact?

The Island Communities Screening Assessment is attached and can be downloaded at the end of this article.

The Orkney News also asked if, in addition to the above screening assessment, VisitScotland used any other data in its decision making process when it came to closing the Kirkwall iCentre. It did not.

It stated:

“The decision to close all iCentres was a strategic one which shifts the focus of VisitScotland’s activities to targeting potential visitors at the beginning of their consumer journey, rather than once they have already arrived. There has been a decline in demand to our iCentres which continues the trend we saw when we reviewed our network in 2017. Over that time we’ve seen a significant increase in people using online resources to plan and book their trips. It’s important that we adapt our activities to reflect this”

The Covid pandemic saw two lockdowns in 2020 and visitors unable to travel. Orkney was especially badly hit. Last year, 2023, saw some recovery and that will continue. VisitScotland provided the following explanation of what they said was falling footfall in their iCentres: “There has been a significant footfall reduction across all iCentres (including all iCentres based on islands) from 2018/19 to 2022/23. No iCentres are showing an increase in this period.” VisitScotland is forgetting about the lockdowns and Covid travel restrictions in this analysis, including the reluctance for many people to travel far from home until they felt it was really safe to do so.

There is no consideration for those who cannot use digital sources of information, or who wish to talk to an actual well-informed and reliable person, just like the ones we have at the Kirkwall iCentre. Those who work in the Kirkwall iCentre have local knowledge, which in a island setting is extremely important where transport, tide times, the busy days when cruise ships are in, and other local factors, are extremely important in informing visitors on the best times to visit our many sites.

The data supplied about the Kirkwall iCentre by VisitScotland does not show declining demand from 2022 to 2023 – in fact it is increasing, and recovering from the effects of the Covid restrictions. It should also be noted that these figures are for footfall, there is no record kept of how many people are actually assisted by the staff – that is someone going in and making a general enquiry, for instance, help with understanding when they can visit the Brough of Birsay due to tide times.

The decision to close all of VisitScotland’s iCentres means that there will be no presence anywhere in Scotland of our national tourist organisation in our towns and cities.

The Orkney News asked for a comment from the Minister in the Scottish Government responsible for Tourism, Richard Lochead MSP, and received this statement from his office:

“Mr Lochhead meets regularly with VisitScotland and has urged them to continue discussions with partner organisations and to listen to any concerns that communities and businesses may have.”

VisitScotland’s Island Communities Impact Assessment can be downloaded here:

Fiona Grahame