THE Scottish Retail Consortium has called for the government to act now, following another set of disappointing footfall figures.
According to data for the five weeks to 2 April, Scottish footfall decreased by 21.1% as compared to the same period three years ago – prior to the pandemic.
This was worse than the UK average decline of 15.4%. Scotland saw the steepest footfall decline of all UK nations.
David Lonsdale, director of the SRC, said the “stark figures” should lead to a “sharper response” from policy makers.
“There is an urgent need to bring energy and vision to the revival of our retail and high street destinations and actively encourage people to return.
“Promises over recent days of a return to city centres visitor campaign and the cash disbursed to councils to aid city centre recovery need to be deployed swiftly, to help generate the footfall that is so desperately needed,” he said.
