‘Staycations’ are popular but issues with jobs remain
The year is fairly marching on and I cannot quite believe we are in July.
Given the continued uncertainty about international travel, I know that many have opted to stay much closer to home this year and I cannot blame people for showing caution over jetting off this summer.
With the uncertainty about destinations changing from one list to another, I can understand the reticence.
Day trips and‘staycations’ are really booming this year, and with such beautiful destinations right here on our very own doorstep, it is easy to see why.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing though.
I know that very real issues still exist when it comes to the issue of wild camping and, while no one magic solution exists to this problem, I am still keeping a very close eye on developments.
We have also seen some issues with capacity and workforce.
That is to say that businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry are really struggling to hire the workforce that they need to run at profitability and capacity – even, in many cases, with a reduced Covid-safe capacity.
Without wanting to drift too much into politics here, these problems are caused by Brexit in the large.
We know that many EU nationals returned home or to another EU state as a result of the UK’s decision to leave the single market and we see this being intensified by the impact of the pandemic.
Understandably, many people do not want to be away from their family during a global health pandemic.
Given the attraction of jobs
We are seeing a problematic situation in the tourism and hospitality job market
inside the European Union, and the difficulty that new workers now face coming to the UK, we are seeing a problematic situation in the tourism and hospitality job market.
This is resulting in many tourism businesses running at reduced capacity – be that opening fewer days a week, running shorter service hours, or scaling back operations entirely.
This is happening in small guesthouses, medium-sized pubs, and well-known large hotels right across Scotland.
After everything that the industry has been through of late, it is truly devastating to see.
Our day-trippers and those on staycations are doing all that they can to support the industry, but when many are arriving to find restaurants closed or fully booked already, it does become tricky.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this, but we need urgent action from those in power.
Those in the hospitality industry are already asking the UK government to consider a fast-tracked worker’s scheme for tourism and hospitality, and without such a scheme, I fail to see how many businesses will be able to continue to operate as they did at this time of year before Brexit.