The Real Mary King’s Close: Top Edinburgh tourist attraction chief ‘very concerned’ for survival of sector amid coronavirus pandemic

The intervention comes as the Scottish Tourism Alliance calls for a raft of measures from the UK and Scottish Governments to save the industry.

The boss of one of Edinburgh’s most popular tourist attractions has called on the UK and Scottish Governments to help family-owned visitor attractions across Scotland, after expressing concerns about their ability to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

Juliana Delaney, Chief Executive of Continuum, which runs The Real Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh, told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland that the sector is facing a “different challenge” from Covid-19 as cases rise again, and needed clear messaging.

“I think the biggest threat to our industry is now the lack of clarity in the messaging,” she said, “and the fact that there will be a lack of consumer confidence, wrongly, in my opinion.

The boss of one of Edinburgh’s most popular tourist attractions has called on the UK and Scottish Governments to help family-owned visitor attractions across Scotland, after expressing concerns about their ability to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

“Even intelligent people are confused over what you can do and what you can’t do,” she added.

“Visitor attractions across Scotland are some of the safest places to visit. We know how to look after large numbers of people.

“We’ve put all the measures in place and we put them in place really early.

“If you want to meet a friend, if you want to meet Granny, then come to a visitor attraction because it’s a safe place - and we need your help.”

Juliana Delaney, Chief Executive of Continuum, which runs The Real Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh, told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland that the sector is facing a “different challenge” from Covid-19 as cases rise again, and needed clear messaging.

Ms Delaney also backed calls from Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) for a special extension of the jobs retention scheme, as well as VAT cut to five percent beyond 2021.

The STA also asked for a business rate holiday for the sector until after March 2022.

“I think those things are very sensible,” said Ms Delaney, “There are only 20 or 30 per cent of tourist attraction businesses that have opened and are trading, economically, even over the peak summer period.

“So yes, we need to continue to ask for a VAT reduction.

“We want a sector-specific furlough scheme to remain in place so that we can keep people until, in six months time, hopefully things improve.

“The other thing I’d like to ask the First Minister is, why can’t we go to a one-metre plus spacing, which is what we have in England, and have delivered safe visitor attraction experiences on that basis.”

Ms Delaney, whose company also owns the York Chocolate Story and the Emmerdale Village Tour, said The Real Mary King’s Close attraction in Edinburgh is now operating on a skeleton staff, and did not rule out further job losses.

“We may have to re-look, depending on customer confidence, on whether we keep all those people,” she said.

Asked whether Continuum would be able weather the financial storm caused by Covid-19, Ms Delaney said she was confident.

“Our business is of a size and a scale and a structure that we will survive. Continuum will survive.

“I feel very concerned,” she added, “on behalf of all those small family-owned tourist attractions which we all love visiting across Scotland and England.

“Those are the ones that I am concerned about . And we need to ask for help for that sector.”

A Message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to the Edinburgh Evening News online and enjoy unlimited access to trusted, fact-checked news and sport from Edinburgh and the Lothians. Visit https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director