Concern as day trippers throng to beauty spots

Visitors make for scenic parts of Courier Country – alarming local residents

Grave concern has been expressed after people seeking to “self-isolate” from coronavirus ended up flocking to beauty spots across Courier Country – and potentially doing far more harm than good.

Parts of Highland Perthshire, Angus and the East Neuk of Fife saw an influx of families over the weekend, prompting fears about the spread of the virus and worries about how well more rural communities are equipped to deal with any sudden upsurge in cases.

Scenic spots such as Pitlochry were inundated with tourists and visitors, while areas such as Glen Doll and Lunan Bay reported packed car parks and lengthy queues as many people – wrongly – had the same idea.

Pete Wishart, Perth and North Perthshire MP, appealed to people to use their common sense.

“There are many people heading to Highland Perthshire bringing great stress and anxiety to communities there,” he said.

“Please do not travel if you don’t need to and think about how this will impact on our fragile rural services.”

Green MSP Mark Ruskell echoed Mr Wishart’s concerns, branding the tourists “Covidiots”. The Mid Scotland and Fife representative said: “I’m a caravanner so I get why people feel the need to escape, but if you strip supplies or spread the virus you will destroy rural communities like mine. “If you want to self-isolate in your van then do it in your driveway.” Meanwhile, skiers took to the slopes in Perthshire for the last time until next winter as Glenshee Ski Centre made the call to cut their ski season short.

Lunan Bay Stays was also forced to post a message on social media urging people not to enter the campsite to stay overnight, while Helen Terry, who runs the Callander Community Support Group, said her area was “swamped” by tourists on Saturday, reporting that day trippers emptied supermarket shelves.

“Our volunteers were unable to get milk and other staples by 2pm,” she added.

Fife was also badly affected by the rush of people, and locals living in the East Neuk were dismayed to see the number of second home owners flooding into the area and a huge rise in the number of campervans pitching up at local beauty spots.

One resident who got in touch with The Courier described the situation as “madness” as she expressed concern about the potential risk of the extra numbers spreading coronavirus and additional pressures on local shops and health services.

“Though I wouldn’t want to be cooped up in London, Edinburgh or Glasgow, the risk of Covid spread and additional pressure on services here must be increased by this,” the resident said.

While some people took to social media to express sympathy with businesses trying to make money, concern was also expressed about the volume of campervans pitching up at the likes of Elie and Kingsbarns beaches in defiance of ‘no overnight parking’ signs.

Nikki Storrar of Ardross Farm Shop, near Elie, also took to Facebook to express concern about the “volumes of people who are still out and about” and especially coming into their shop.

She said: “We are trying to take care of the welfare of our staff but the sheer volume of people coming through the doors is making that quite hard.”

They have now put a limit of five people into the shop at a time and brought in several other measures to make the shopping experience more comfortable.

Crispin Willis, who runs a shop in Crail, said: “Utter disregard for space...by hoards of tourists who have seemingly thought they are off work to go to the seaside!”

East Neuk and Landward Fife councillor Linda Holt told The Courier the risks and concerns were “huge” in many ways.

She said: “It’s dangerous and scary, not just in the sense that there is an influx of people into an area with already stretched health resources and an exceptionally high proportion of older residents, but because of the antioutsider mob mentality fear of the virus is unleashing in social media.

“The government needs to act and make a lockdown mandatory – at the moment many people are treating social isolation and the advice to avoid non-essential travel as a lifestyle choice.”

She said there was also increasingly an issue about people being out and not practising social distancing.

This was particularly an issue on the Fife Coastal Path where concerns had already been raised about litter bins filling up faster than usual and toilets being used more.