VisitScotland boss defends cost of website

www.visitscotland.com

The head of Scotland’s tourism agency, VisitScotland, has said he would defend the decision to spend nearly £4 million on the development of its accommodation booking website.

MSPs have launched an investigation into how the money was spent to secure the model for the website VisitScotland.com, which is the booking vehicle for the tourism organization.

Philip Riddle, the agency’s chief executive, told members of the government’s Public Audit Committee that the move has led to success and a “good return” for the company.

Riddle added: “We didn’t go into the public sector to make a profit. We invested in the website because we need a tourism website.”

Initially, VisitScotland invested £1.8 million in the development of the website, which is run by eTourism, and then another £1.25 million to buy out shareholders, he explained.

An additional £900,000 in interest was added, making for a total of nearly £4 million.

Following the decisions about funding the website, VisitScotland reported a £2.6 million deficit against the organisation’s financial target that had been set by the Scottish government.

According to Riddle, the value of the asset is now between £4-7 million.

Andrew Welsh MSP noted his concerns over the organisation’s poor performance in the past.

“I find it difficult to collate the word ’success’ with the reality of a company that produced a very poor performance, and a shaky business case,” Welsh said.

Thanks to www.theherald.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.visitscotland.com