We are the voice of the tourism industry throughout the Outer Hebrides and are owned and managed by our 400 members, each of them an island business. We are independent of government and VisitScotland, but work closely with them both. The breadth and depth of our membership ensures we have a strong and credible voice with others within the Outer Hebrides and nationally.
We are members of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the national body for the tourism industry, with representation on its council that provides the opportunity to get the view of the Outer Hebrides heard on the mainland. Throughout the COVID pandemic we pushed for the broadest financial support from the Scottish Government to help our members withstand this unprecedented crisis. Our webinars kept the entire industry up to speed with the evolving regulations.
We lobby and make representation to the agencies making decisions that affect tourism such as planning, licencing or ferries.
We lobby directly or work with other organisations such as CnES, ASSC to lobby governement and or other agencies.
Most recent and ongoing lobbying is around:
- Ferries - we lobby the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland and CalMac regarding the poor service or indeed no service
- Short Term Lets - lobbying government regarding the introduction of Short Term Lets Licence. Short Term Lets Letter to Kevin Stewart MSP
