Skye’s had its limit! Tourist f lood sparks island mayhem
THEY’VE come for the mountain scenery, the wild coastline and the ancient castles.
The only problem is, too many are coming to sample the delights of Skye – and it can’t cope.
The Scottish island has become so popular with tourists the creaking rural road network is jammed and hotels and campsites are turning visitors away.
The destination has been deluged by trippers after it was used as the location for music videos by Kanye West and Harry Styles, and blockbuster films including The BFG and Prometheus.
On top of that, more Britons are taking breaks in the UK while an advantageous exchange rate has encouraged a rise in foreign visitors.
But the island, off Scotland’s northwest coast, has become a victim of its own success and the problem is now so bad that this week police have been warning tourists not to come if they haven’t booked accommodation in advance. Hotels and campsites are so full that some holidaymakers have been seen sleeping in their vehicles while the sheer number of cars, coaches and campervans have created bottlenecks on the narrow roads.
The car parks at popular beauty spots have too few spaces to deal with the amount of arrivals, forcing scores of motorists to clog up the surrounding verges.
Meanwhile toilet facilities are few and far between with the small number available generating massive queues and others are out of order.
The crisis has led to calls for a tourist tax and even a reinstatement of the toll for the Skye Bridge – which was £11.40 for a return when it was abolished in 2004 – in a bid to raise funds to overhaul the island’s tourist infrastructure. Hotel group owner Anne Gracie - a former director of the Highlands Tour-ism Board - said: 'We're working strongly with agencies ... to establish funding for key infra-structure facilities like more car parking at the hotspots on the island and more toilets. `I think this year we're so busy with the pound being of a lower value and also the fact we are a very safe destination.' She said the busiest spots were at Skye's biggest attractions -the waterfalls at the Fairy Pools, the magical landscape of the Fairy Glen and rock formations at the Old Man of Storr. Skye police sergeant Bruce Crawford said: 'People should use common sense before travel-ling without booking accommo-dation in advance.' Some frustrated tourists have left negative reviews of their experiences online. Describing a 45-minute ordeal getting to beauty spot The Quiraing, a US visitor wrote on Trip Advisor: 'Simply getting there was such a challenge, we had no opportunity to enjoy this admittedly beautiful place! The road up was single lane, and VERY steep and winding. Moving out of the way for oncom-ing cars to pass was challenging. `At the top of the hill is a small car park that could only accom-modate a small amount of cars, so people took to parking in the passing places. So then, there was an impossible traffic jam at the top. People were getting out of their cars, yelling at one another to back up!'