Question reference: S6W-05769
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 21 January 2022
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Current status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 31 January 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support is being provided to travel agents to assist them in their recovery from the financial impact on their businesses of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Answer
We know this is a difficult time for travel agents and we have had to make tough decisions to target funding to sectors immediately impacted by the updated public health guidance.
Since the start of the pandemic, businesses have benefitted from more than £4.4bn in support from the Scottish Government. This includes support for travel agents who benefited from sectoral grants of up to £25,000 per premises this year in addition to other support including the Strategic Framework Business Fund grants, Restart Grants, Contingency Fund, Non-Domestic Rates relief and furlough payments for staff.
We recently announced £375m of support for businesses impacted by the necessary public health measures introduced to control the spread of Omicron and have provided details on how £276 million of this will be allocated. Decisions on the allocation of the remaining funds will be confirmed following further consultation with affected sectors on how it can best be targeted.