The Scottish Tourism Alliance has appointed a vice chair and added four new directors to its board.
The new members are:
- Alex Borland – climate and environment manager in NatWest Group's Climate Centre of Excellence
- Michael Golding – chief executive at Visit Inverness Loch Ness
- Alex McKie – group managing director of The Fusion Group
- Clare Winskill – owner of Coruisk House
The changes follow an internal strategic review of the organisation, which also sees existing board member Rebecca Brooks - managing director of Abbey UK - take up the position of vice chair.
Brooks is a graduate of St Andrews University and has worked in international inbound tourism since 2001.
She has been a non-executive director of the Scottish Tourism Alliance since 2010, non-executive director on the VisitScotland board since 2015 and was recently appointed as a non-executive director of UKinbound.
Brooks is also a former chair of the Scottish Destination Management Association and a member of the Scottish Government-appointed Tourism Recovery Taskforce in response to the pandemic.
Borland works in NatWest's Centre of Excellence, having moved from being in the bank's corporate and commercial franchise with Royal Bank of Scotland for over 20 years.
Throughout those years he’s worked with multiple sectors, supporting businesses with their growth plans, with a recent focus on the hospitality and leisure sector.
“To be able to take this opportunity to help support Scotland’s tourism industry as part of the STA is a proud moment for me - it’s a critical period for the sector, and we hear the challenges our members and the wider sector face, loud and clear,“ he commented.
Winskill is a director of SkyeConnect CIC, the destination management and marketing organisation for Skye, and a director of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers.
She commented: “The post pandemic era is looking dauntingly challenging for Scottish tourism, so I will work hard to assist with the representation of Scottish tourism businesses as a director of the STA to move towards recovery and resilience for our hugely important industry in Scotland.”
McKie established The Fusion Group of Companies in 2006, offering marketing consultancy, then progressing to events, hospitality management, property leasing and property ownership.
The group now holds separate businesses predominantly servicing the hospitality, tourism and events sectors. These include Fusion Meetings & Events, together with destination management company Clearly Scotland.
And finally, Visit Inverness Loch Ness chief executive Golding leads the UK’s first tourism BID, with almost 500 members in 33 sectors across 1,200 square miles.
Marc Crothall, chief executive of the STA, said: “The calibre of all applicants for the board vacancies is testament to the strength and stature the STA now occupies within the public affairs and tourism landscape within Scotland, and indeed the UK.
“With more than 20 exceptional applications to join the board, it was an extremely tough process to arrive at our final decision - the four excellent candidates we have selected bring a strong, unique set of skills and experience, complementing those on the existing board at a time of unprecedented challenge as we move further into the economic crisis within the UK.”
STA chair Stephen Leckie added: “Our activities of the board will focus on steering Scotland’s tourism sector through the enormous challenges it faces over the coming months, and in building a strong, sustainable tourism product for Scotland which can ensure we have the competitiveness needed to succeed within the global marketplace.”
The STA is the representative body for all sectors within Scotland’s tourism industry, comprising more than 250 trade associations, businesses, destination groups and other organisations with an interest in tourism.
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