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‘New income streams had to be sourced and, in the interim, every item of expenditure was questioned as to its necessity and whether the same or better could be achieved for a lesser outlay,’ said Norma.
One measure was putting general manager, Stewart Daniels, on to a four-day week. Another short-term income stream was found for the Association and its members in a contract which Norma, Roy and Stewart negotiated with a Greenock-based coach company to provide guides for an alternative Blue Bus Glasgow City Sightseeing tour. Though this proved short-lived, it afforded ready work experience for that year’s cohort of BB graduates. The recession which followed the credit crunch of 2008 appeared to be lifting for the tourist industry three years on with the season starting earlier and continuing until November.
A new STGA website was launched on 18 March 2011 and new business support manager, Gem Scotland, joined the Stirling office.
Gem took over the production of the new style Members Newsletter which replaced Guidelines which had been produced for the previous 15 years by Judith Sleigh.
Judith had not only edited and written much of Guidelines but she also sourced advertising revenue and the annual guide list.
A highlight at the start of 2011 was a trip to London, organised by chairman Sue Gruellich in collaboration with Eileen Cox of the Guild of Registered Tourist Guides (GRTG), to explore the many Scottish connections within the UK capital.
This also afforded an opportunity to meet and engage with fellow guides south of the Border and to learn from their preparations for the London 2012 Olympic Games as Scotland prepared for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
The story of how the STGA created two sports-themed tours for the Commonwealth Games is covered in the chapter on the history of the branches.
Gem Scotland left to train as a teacher in 2012 and was replaced by Jenny Clark who left a year later. Her successor was a young man called Miikka Kinnaird with a strong background in information technology. Miikka was to help transform the STGA with the upgrading of its website and behind the scenes work on streamlining accounts and CPD recording.
Sue Gruellich took on the role of chair in 2014 and her particular interest was marketing and networking within the tourism industry.
‘We organised "speed-dating" for two cohorts of newly graduated guides to introduce them to tour operators keen to meet and employ them,’ she said.
‘It proved very successful and for the second session existing guides also signed up in order to meet potential new employers and the tour operators even asked when the next one would take place.’
Chairman John Duncan initiated a wide-ranging review of STGA’s strategic direction for the next few years. It looked at marketing and PR; training and recruitment; CPD and quality control, membership services and finance and administration.
In January 2016 the new STGA website was launched with considerable additional functionality and content.
John Duncan reported that there was no shortage of work for members during the year – indeed in some sectors the level of demand for guiding services was already stripping its capacity to supply.
The booking office provided more than £257,000 worth of work for 223 guides.
2016 also saw a new honorary president for the STGA, The Duke of Argyll, carrying out his first task presenting new guides with their Blue Badges.
To mark the 250th anniversary of Edinburgh New Town in 2017 the Edinburgh branch organised series of New Town walking tours marketed in conjunction with various other bodies including VisitScotland and ETAG under the soubriquet Edinburgh’s Georgian Shadows.
John also told the annual conference that 2017 proved to be a bumper year for Scottish tourism.
He believed it was the result of several factors. First the post Brexit weakness of the pound made the UK an economical destination for overseas visitors and encouraged British people to holiday at home.
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