Spread the joy

Your leading article (20 march) refers to the age-old duty of welcome and hospitality but the Edinburgh tourist tax and proposed entrance fee give out the opposite message and therefore should be scrapped.

The current problems, created by the increasing numbers of tourists, cannot be solved by the reconfiguration of the capital with new roads and buildings. The load could be spread by the city becoming the hub of many attractions, not all of which are centred on it. Some can be in the suburbs or even further afield.

In the same edition is a report of a 40 per cent increase in tourists to the V&A Museum and Discovery Point in Dundee, which now gives us an excellent waterfront between the road and rail bridges.

To the west are modern port facilities, at present used by redundant oil rigs, but these could easily be adapted for cruise liners. In addition, Dundee has an interesting history of polar exploration, whaling and jute making, as well as a theatre, university

and museum. The differences from Edinburgh will be attractive to any tourist.

JM CARDER East Forth Street,

Anstruther, Fife