The great staycation stampede
Huge surge in holiday bookings as Scots gamble on being allowed a break in July
SCOTS are taking a gamble lockdown will soon come to an end – and have started booking holidays for July.
The past week has seen a massive surge in reservations for ‘staycations’ across Scotland.
Since Nicola Sturgeon announced relaxing lockdown regulations on Thursday, travel firms have seen a spike in bookings for campsites and cottages for July and August.
Eager travellers are booking staycations despite the Scottish Government providing no clear date when the tourism sector – worth billions of pounds to the economy – will reopen.
In the past few days, VisitScotland has reported a marked increase in online searches relating to cottages, cabins, lodges, chalets and ‘glamping’ – luxury camping.
Two days before phase one of lockdown easing was given the go-ahead, campsite booking website Pitch Up saw a spike in reservations, particularly for summer breaks in Dumfries and Galloway and the Highlands and Islands.
One privately owned site, Eagle Brae in Beauly, Inverness-shire, which offers log cabins for more than £2,000 for seven nights, also saw a ‘sudden increase’ in bookings.
But some holiday businesses, feel they have been left in limbo as the Scottish Government has not yet fixed a reopening date. For many hotels, the uncertainty has meant they cannot take new bookings for July or August.
Phil Wheelhouse, 60, who owns Hill Cottage Cabins in Fort Augustus, Invernessshire, called on the Scottish Government for clarity.
Mr Wheelhouse, who has so far lost £26,000 from cancelled bookings since the beginning of March, said: ‘We’ve got bookings in July but we’re praying we’ll be allowed to open.
‘Since that new information relating to the relaxation came out on Thursday, the phone has gone crazy with people asking if we’re open. So people are wanting to come, but I’m worried they won’t be allowed to.
‘The last information I got from VisitScotland was it will be the end of the season before anyone will be allowed to open – so I would say that’s October 1. We’ve just gone all winter with no income. It’s dire.’
Highland tourism chiefs last week stepped up calls for the First Minister to allow businesses such as restaurants and holiday companies to reopen in a bid to save Scotland’s ailing tourism sector.
Businesses have warned they will rely on staycation bookings for the sector to survive the pandemic.
The chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance,
Marc Crothall, said: ‘Recovery will be reliant on Scots holidaying at home, not just in the short term but for many months to come.’
The ‘relaxation of restrictions on accommodation providers’ is featured in phase three of the plan to ease lockdown, which is not expected to begin before July 9 at the earliest.
But Scots are now risking booking ‘staycations’ in a bid to secure a summer getaway.
Dan Yates, founder of Pitch Up, said a flurry of Scots flocked to the website to book camping pitches on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Mike SpencerNairn, owner of Eagle Brae cabins, said: ‘We did notice a massive sudden increase in bookings for this summer and beyond around three weeks ago when it was first made clear we might start to ease restrictions at the end of May.’
VisitScotland chief executive Malcolm Roughead said: ‘Since the First Minister’s announcement last week, we have seen an increase in web traffic, particularly in relation to our outdoors content as well as searches for cottages, cabins, lodges, chalets and glamping.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said it recognised how ‘central’ the tourism and hospitality industries were to the economy and said it looked forward to welcoming tourists when it is safe to do so.
‘We’re praying we will be allowed to reopen’