Scottish Parliament
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Free tours announced at Holyrood
Guided tours are to be provided free of charge to visitors at the Scottish Parliament from next year, it was announced today by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB).
From September 2009 members of the public will no longer have to pay to take a guided tour of the Holyrood building.
By taking away this cost the Parliament will remove the only remaining regular aspect of public engagement which is not currently free of charge to visitors.
The move will bring tours into line with the Parliament's free school visits and education programme, its free creche for visitors and its free public exhibitions and events held regularly across the Parliament.
The free tours will be provided by specially trained in-house staff from the Parliament's Visitor Services team and will focus on how the Scottish Parliament works, the work of its MSPs and the history and architecture of Holyrood.
Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson MSP said:
"The Corporate Body was acutely aware that guided tours were the only main aspect of our public engagement activities not delivered free of charge to the public and looked at ways to abolish this cost.
"In preparing our budget for the coming financial year, we can see we now have the right staff structure, knowledge and skills to bring the guided tour service in-house, and to offer it free of charge to the public."
By moving the tours in-house the Parliament also expects to save in excess of £30,000 for the financial year 2010/11 and of that order thereafter.
The Presiding Officer added:
"The vast majority of those taking tours are people living in Scotland. It is therefore fitting that as the Scottish Parliament approaches its tenth anniversary next year, we will be able to do even more to encourage the people of Scotland to engage with their Parliament."
Background
The hour-long guided tours will continue to be offered six days a week. Visitors will continue to be given an in-depth understanding of the role and work of Parliament and be able to view some of the building's unique architecture and art collection.
Tours will follow the same route currently on offer which takes in various areas of the Holyrood building including the Garden Lobby, committee rooms and the Debating Chamber.
Since Holyrood opened in 2004 more than 210,000 visitors have taken guided tours. Figures show that four out of five visitors to Holyrood are resident in Scotland.
Ticket prices for tours of Holyrood currently cost £6.00 for adults and £3.60 for concessions.
The current tour guide operator will continue until September 2009 when in-house staff will take over. The current operator has provided tours at Holyrood since September 2004. Its present contract commenced in July 2007 and will continue until its scheduled end date of September 2009.
Art tours to be introduced
Later this year, the Scottish Parliament will begin offering art tours on a pre-book basis for specialist groups and interested individuals. The tour will take in twenty works of art located across Holyrood, with a further seven works of art already available to view in the public areas of the Parliament.
The Parliament's art collection showcases a variety of types of work, including oil paintings, sculpture, photography and textiles. Much of the art was specially commissioned for the building and explores themes such our relationship to the sea and the land, the identity of Scots and individuals living in Scotland. The art tours will cost the same as the guided tours of the building and will also become free from September 2009.
Arrangements for booking arts tours will be posted on the Parliament's website shortly.
For public information enquiries, contact:
0131 348 5000;
Textphone: 0131 558 7676, RNID Type talk calls welcome
Email:
sp.info@scottish.parliament.uk
Visit our website at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk
