Features

From April to June, four themed workgroups reviewed the challenges facing Scottish tourism as it reeled from the impact of Covid-19. The scale of the challenge facing the sector - one of Scotland’s largest employers - was obvious from the first day of lockdown and, ultimately, more than 85% of personnel have been furloughed over the period.
 

Laura Ashley Hotels, Laura Ashley The Tea Room* and Burnham Beeches Hotel are among the first UK properties to have been awarded both the 'COVID Confident' certificate from The AA and the Quality in Tourism Safe, Clean & Legal™ accreditation to confirm the properties have the correct COVID safety measures in place.
 

“We are going to celebrate the return from lockdown by offering spectacular quality, supreme service and unrepeatable value,” says Telford Hotel and Golf Resort General Manager Peter Nye. “We absolutely know that although our guests rightly expect to us to provide a clean and safe environment, they don’t wish to be constrained at every step. We are being both safe and clean and utterly responsible for both staff and guests, but above all we are going to offer a fun experience for everyone.”

The cancellation of the festival season has prompted the founder of online escape room website, Trapped in the Web, Dave Murphy, to create an online experience for those longing for their favourite festival. Murphy, a Capital Radio producer, is a huge escape room fan and was looking forward to his first Glastonbury experience when lock down put paid to his plans to attend along with thousands of others.

With a global pandemic showcasing the need to prioritise our mental and physical health, there has never been a better time to start planning a post-lockdown health and fitness trip. Lockdown has shown the importance of daily healthy routines, like regular exercise, a healthy balanced diet and frequent downtime and relaxation, to maintain good mental health.