The Skye’s the limit

Skye isn’t full up! Tourists are welcome and please do keep coming! That’s the message from an “unprecedented” coalition of more than 150 businesses after some “sensationalist reporting” about cars parked on road verges near the Old Man of Storr suggested that the island had become a bit too popular for its own good.

The Fairy Pools of Glen Brittle may have become “almost a shrine to tens of thousands of people from all corners of the world”, according to one tour bus operator, but no-one should panic – extra car park spaces are planned, adding to the existing 35.

Sensibly handled, the island should be able to cope with the numbers of people coming – and more besides – without doing any harm to the natural splendour that has attracted them in the first place.

Skye’s situation is a bit like Scotland’s in miniature. A record 3.2 million overseas tourists visited this country last year, which is equivalent to 60 per cent of the population.

The extra people may require some planning and new infrastructure and it should be done sensitively. But it can be done.