Plea to rethink social-distancing rules on ferry travel amid tourism concerns

AS island communities wait for news on when they can reopen to visitors, a problem is looming for one of the most popular holiday haunts in the Hebrides.

With the capacity to carry almost 1,000 passengers and 80 cars, the Isle of Mull ferry operates some of the busiest summer sailings in the Calmac fleet.

However, fears are growing over the impact that social distancing rules will have on the number of daytrippers allowed to travel on the ferry.

The vessel is currently only allowed to carry 243 passengers – just 25 per cent of the normal limit of 962 which, if kept in place, could hit Mull’s tourist-led economy hard.

Joe Reade, chairman of the Mull and Iona Ferry Committee, which is calling for a re-think on the numbers that can safety be allowed to travel, said: “Last summer these low passenger limits caused few problems as there were far fewer tourists trying to travel.”

Now, with an influx of UK visitors expected to head for Scottish island hotpots this summer, the existing restriction on numbers could crash hopes for the busy season the island needs.

Mr Reade said: “If more normal tourist traffic materialises this summer and ferry capacity remains so limited then there may be significant problems.”

The committee fear the hardest hit sailings will be the 9.50am from Oban and the 5.05pm returning from Craignure, which are most popular with the thousands of day-trippers who are the lifeblood of many Mull businesses.

Mr Reade said: “It will be very difficult for the typical day-tripper to move to a different sailing, most likely they just will not come.

“For tourist businesses and employees that rely on those day-tripping visitors, this could be very painful.”

The committee suggests that there are two ways the problem can be fixed, either by changing the social distancing rules or re-examining assumptions on the size of families and groups that travel together.

Mr Reade said: “Social distancing rules can be relaxed, allowing less separation between passengers.

This is obviously in the hands of the government and no-one wants to compromise on safety – but hopefully the science may permit relaxation in time for summer.”

He said that, last summer, Calmac, when setting the capacity of each vessel, had deduced that the average group size was 1.3.

But Mr Reade added: “Social distancing is obviously not required between members of the same group – normally a family – and assumptions about the size of typical travelling groups has a direct bearing on ferry capacity and we believe that a figure of 1.3 is unrealistically low.”

Finlay Macrae, Calmac’s Head of Operations, said: “At the moment, nationally applied physical restrictions designed to protect travellers and staff remain in place, which does mean less space available. However, as we move out of lockdown, we will make any changes required to these rules.”