Loss of tourism has far reaching effects

The crisis faced by the National Trust for Scotland is just one of the many looming consequences

From the windswept grandeur of Glencoe to the birthplace of the ‘ploughman poet’ who wrote in Scots but is read around the world, the broadest sweep of our history is held in our collective name by the National Trust for Scotland.

Even the hordes of tourists who normally jostle to get the best angle of ‘the Hogwarts Express’ steaming over the Glenfinnan Viaduct stand on land owned by the Trust. And, we should not forget, the famous landing place of a certain Bonnie Prince that was once the most popular attraction in that particular glen.

It is no exaggeration to say that the National Trust for Scotland - the onwer also of almost 80,000 hectares of countryside, including 46 Munros, more than 400 islands and islets, and some of our most important wildlife habitats - is the guardian of much of what we hold dearest about this beautiful country we call home.

So there will be great concern about its financial plight as it faces up to a calamitous fall in income of £28 million caused by the coronavirus crisis.

That has prompted what might best be described as a fire sale in an effort to stave off financial ruin with 400 staff redundancy at the same time. If anyone was in any doubt about how deep and far-reaching the various impacts of this crisis would be, then this looming threat to our national heritage should make that clear.

The priority for now, of course, remains on protecting and saving lives.

Once that danger has been overcome the challenges which we face are as immense as they are varied.

While the Trust has ruled out selling its most important ‘heritage’ properties, the sale of homes it owns as holiday lets and other commercial properties, while perhaps unavoidable in the current crisis, will deprive it of valuable future income.

There is no doubt that this crisis puts its vital conservation work at risk.

What the Trust is missing, of course, and is likely to be deprived of to a greater or lesser degree for some time, is paying visitors.

The tourists which many of us bemoaned as they arrived in ever greater numbers are the pillar holding up many of our historic buildings.

There is a genuine debate about how we make our tourist industry sustainable for the long term, but the importance of its return has rarely been clearer.