Businesses hit by no-go lights show
Enchanted Forest blow to trade
Pitlochry’s hotel, restaurant and cafe businesses are coming to terms with a double blow of lost summer custom from COVID-19 compounded by The Enchanted Forest not going ahead in October.
The autumn event has for years acted as a second seasonal windfall for businesses before they enter the lean winter months.
This autumn was to be the light and sound event’s 19th season of drawing huge crowds to admire a magical woodland at night.
Bars and restaurants organised special late opening to cash in on post-show crowds looking to warm up.
But organisers of the monthlong event have just decided life is unlikely to be back to normal by October, so the show has been pulled.
More than 16,000 tickets for this year’s spectacular show had already been sold.
Fisher’s Hotel was perfectly positioned for families visiting The Enchanted Forest to stay and the mini-coach transfer stop to Faskally Forest was right outside the hotel entrance.
With Enchanted Forest now scrubbed from the diary, general manager at Fisher’s, Brian Wishart, told the PA this was a double blow to business.
He said: “I was not surprised by the announcement that The Enchanted Forest was being cancelled for this year, however it is not good news for the local economy. At Fisher’s Hotel we have had hundreds of cancelled bookings since Friday’s announcement.
“Bringing 72,000 visitors to Pitlochry in October, as you might imagine, is a very big economic boost for the town, and this year with the likelihood of missing out on a busy summer season, it is a double blow.
“That said, we totally understand the decision. Whilst the future is still uncertain, social distancing is certainly here for the longer term and with four thousand visitors a night, that would be impossible.
“Once we are all in a place when we can meet up and travel again,
Pitlochry and Fisher’s Hotel will be ready for you.”
Blair Atholl, Killiecrankie and Pitlochry-focused tourism promoter James Rattray added: “The Enchanted Forest is massively important for the Pitlochry and Highlands of Perthshire economy.
“Its cancellation will be a big blow to accommodation providers, restaurants and tourist attractions not just in Pitlochry but as far as Kenmore and Loch Tay.
“It attracts almost the equivalent of Pitlochry’s population of some 2700 every evening that it takes place.
“Pitlochry for certain will feel eerily silent in October evenings this year.”
In a statement last week, the trustees of the Enchanted Forest Community Trust said: “It is with heavy hearts and great sadness that, due to the ongoing effect of COVID-19, The Enchanted Forest Community Trust has reached the decision to cancel this year’s event.
“Alongside the whole world, we have been watching the situation closely as it develops and, while we had quietly hoped the ban on mass gatherings may ease off in the autumn, it is clear to us now that the ongoing requirements for physical distancing may remain in place until the end of the year.
“That and a lack of clarity surrounding the duration of the ban on mass gatherings means it is simply too risky for us to continue with our plans.”
We have had hundreds of cancelled bookings