• Changing the legal name of the Scottish Tourist Board to VisitScotland
14. The Scottish Tourist Board (STB) operating as VisitScotland is the lead Government agency for achieving the Scottish Executive's aims for tourism in Scotland. The STB was created by section 1 of the Development of Tourism Act 1969. Following a review of the STB in 2001, it was recommended that the organisation should be renamed VisitScotland, although STB is still its legal identity.
15. The Bill proposes to formally change the name of the organisation from the STB to VisitScotland.
• Removing the requirement in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994 that "there shall be Area Tourist Boards"
• Abolishing the current 2 Network Area Tourist Boards (the temporary means by which the integrated tourism network was established in April 2005) to create VisitScotland as a single legal entity.
16. Prior to 1 April 2005 there were 14 Area Tourist Boards (ATBs). Their function was to provide support to the industry at a local level and to provide services to visitors. The ATBs were established in 1995 by statutory orders made under the provisions of the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. The ATBs were industry/local authority partnerships supported by VisitScotland. Following the outcome of the ATB review, Scottish Ministers agreed that tourism in Scotland would achieve clear benefits from an integrated tourism network under the umbrella of VisitScotland. As part of the process the 14 original ATB's were dissolved and replaced with 2 new network ATB's namely Network 1 Tourist Board and Network 2 Tourist Board.
17. The Bill will formally dissolve these 2 network ATBs.
• Increasing the limit on the size of the VisitScotland Board
18. The Board of VisitScotland is currently limited to a maximum of seven members which comprises an appointed Chair plus a maximum of six appointed Board members. The Bill proposes to increase this limit to twelve members, although Executive policy is that the Board should be as small as possible and not exceed a maximum of nine members in the foreseeable future.
19. The increase of the limit on the size of the Board will allow additional expertise to be brought to the Board, particularly from local authorities. This type of expertise will be important as VisitScotland continues to develop the tourism network across Scotland.
20. It is the present intention that the current members of the Board will continue in place until the terms of their appointments come to an end.
21. Board members will continue to have a corporate responsibility for ensuring that VisitScotland complies with statutory or administrative requirements for the use of public funds. Board members have important responsibilities including:
• Ensuring that high standards of corporate governance are observed at all times;
• Establishing the overall strategic direction of VisitScotland within the policy and resources framework agreed with Scottish Ministers;
• Ensuring that VisitScotland operates within the limits of its statutory authority and any delegated authority agreed with the Scottish Ministers, and in accordance with any other conditions relating to the use of public funds;
• Ensuring that, in reaching decisions, VisitScotland takes into account guidance issued by the Scottish Ministers;
• Ensuring that equal opportunities and race equality are central to the policies and practices of VisitScotland, in line with the Scottish Ministers, Equality Strategy
22. The Chair and Board members to the Board of VisitScotland will continue to be appointed through open competition and in line with the requirements of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland.
Finance
23. The Bill itself does not have financial implications for the Scottish Executive, local authorities or tourism businesses. However, the operation of the integrated tourism network as 2 Network Tourist Boards plus VisitScotland since 1 April does have financial benefits. One of the reasons for the creation of the VisitScotland integrated tourism network is to create a more stable financial footing than the Area Tourist Boards were able to achieve. The ATBs had an overall deficit of some £2 million per annum, and this has been managed down to £1.3m this year. It is anticipated that the integrated tourism network will be financially sustainable by 2007/08 through realising efficiency savings and boosting its commercial income.