A Scottish tourism business has stepped in and helped Santa go virtual this year after fears that families won't get a chance to visit Grottos on the run up to Christmas. 

The new 'Surprise Santa' personal video service was inspired after an independent Scottish tourism decided to take action to safeguard Christmas.

Founder of Open Pass Scotland, Geoff Morrison recognised the opportunity to create the online service as Grottos face uncertainty due to Covid-19. The personal video service offers a lifeline for families to get in touch with Santa from the comfort of their own home. Parents can upload letters to Santa online and receive a personalised video response from the man himself, all safe and in plenty of time for Christmas.

Geoff explained that the online service has launched with the aim of reassuring families and spreading some much-needed festive cheer:  

“With so much uncertainty we reached out to Santa and offered to help out. If families aren't able to come to him, we would bring Santa to them. We've created a safe way to upload a letter to Santa and then receive a truly magical and genuine personalised video response. We have all had to adapt as a result of Coronavirus and hopefully Surprise Santa will be a reassuring steppingstone on the journey back to normality.'

Surprise Santa is also supporting the Eilidh Brown Memorial fund with £1 from every online sale via the website going directly towards the building and maintenance of a respite holiday home in the Stirling area for young people and their families who are in treatment or recovering from cancer.

To find out more about Surprise Santa visit SurpriseSanta.co.uk 

ENDS 

If you would like to get in touch with Geoff you can email him at hello@surprisesanta.co.uk or call 07709119532

Open Pass Scotland operates the Stirling and Edinburgh City Passes as well as running the popular visitor attractio, Old Town Jail, in in Stirling. Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the tourism industry this year and by launching Surprise Santa we hope to provide a valuable and meaningful service during the winter months.

Our Santa (David Kinnaird) has been bringing joy to children throughout Scotland for over twenty years. When we found out he was literally out of a job we felt we had to do something about this. Surprise Santa was born, and we have already had an exceptional response since going live.

Eilidh Brown sadly lost her fight against cancer aged just 15 years of age on 25th March 2010. Since then Eilidh's family have been working tirelessly to build a stunning countryside respite holiday home in the Stirling area for young people and their families who are going through, went through or sadly lost a child to cancer. The Eilidh Brown Memorial Fund is a registered Scottish charity (SC042082).

Website - https://www.surprisesanta.co.uk

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bZJQ6YJmGc

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/surprisesantavideo/

Geoff Morrison l Founder l Open Pass Scotland  l The Old Town Jail l St John Street l Stirling l FK8 1EA