Stirling Council’s Labour administration have voted to cut support to tourism by half.At last week’s budget meeting Labour forced through £2 million of cuts to services, despite increasing Council Tax levels. £100,000 of those cuts were for support to tourism.
Cllr Alistair Berrill, along with other Conservative opposition councillors, voted against the cuts. He says he is concerned about the damage to Stirling’s important tourism sector. “Labour haven’t explained the detail of how they plan to introduce these very severe reductions. However, they have indicated that a number of Tourist Information Centres are likely to be affected, including those at Aberfoyle, Dunblane, Drymen, Pirnhall and Tyndrum. We don’t yet know whether these centres will have to close outright, but my fear is that they will. This is likely to cause tremendous damage to tourism outside the City of Stirling, particularly to smaller businesses.”
Cllr Berrill goes on to condemn the administration. “These cuts are so short sighted. I would like to know whether their impact has been fully thought through and costed. For Stirling Council £100,000 is a relatively modest amount, particularly when you see the huge sums they squander every year on unnecessary bureaucracy. Yet it represents half of their annual funding for Visit Scotland and Tourist Information Centres. If the local economy is damaged as a result, then the saving to Stirling Council may prove small consolation.”
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