Inside Arts
Mixed messages add to pain for Scottish tourism industry, writes Brian Ferguson
Just when Scottish tourism thought its never-ending nightmare couldn’t possibly get any worse, along came the Prime Minister.
A spate of “Don’t Visit Scotland” headlines which greeted business owners the length and breadth of the country this week were only to be expected given the hugely contradictory advice given by the UK and Scottish governments over the last couple of days. But they were the last thing anyone in the industry needed given the number of jobs and businesses at risk of going under.
Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, had made it clear to me last week how important a Uk-wide approach to the tourism industry was. It was also what national tourism body Visitscotland has been lobbying for behind the scenes.
No-one in Scottish tourism has been expecting any kind of reopening to be announced soon by Nicola Sturgeon, given her government’s ultra-cautious messaging.
Yet the announcement that people could travel as far as they wanted to go to a beach or beauty spot seemed to catch out the industry in England as much on the as it did north of the border, where the Scottish Government’s bar on non-essential travel remains firmly in place.
Industry watchers have been aware since before travel restrictions were put in place about the concerns in rural and remote communities, given the warnings from travel operators, politicians and community leaders.
Why the UK Government has given people the green light to travel any distance at all within England is something of a mystery – particularly as tourism bodies in hotspots like Cornwall and the Lake District were given no warning and the vast majority of businesses used to accommodating visitors are closed.
The relaxation of travel restrictions in England has caused understandable consternation within the Scottish Government and no shortage of confusion within the tourism industry north of the border, as spelled out by Visitscotland director Riddell Graham in an online interview yesterday.
It was certainly just about the last thing the Scottish tourism industry needed as it waits for a glimmer of recovery or optimism.
The picture painted by Mr Graham was almost unrelentingly grim, as he cast doubt on whether any tourism businesses would be able to open this summer and said he was merely “hopeful” of a partial reopening during 2020. Early hopes of visitor attractions being able to come back to life by the summer now look hopelessly optimistic. Warnings from the National Trust for Scotland that more than 400 jobs are at risk are ominous to say the least.
It is expected to be well into the summer before cafes and restaurants are able to welcome back customers in Scotland – and only then under restrictions which may make many of them unviable. It is anyone’s guess when large hotels, which support hundreds of jobs and rely on numerous supply chains, will be able to.
The unrelenting festival and event cancellations have now reached the autumn. Many of Scotland’s tourism industry businesses have long been resigned to the fact that they will be among the last to emerge from lockdown.
But as towns, cities and countries across Europe begin to gradually ease restrictions it may be starting to dawn on Scotland’s beleaguered tourism industry that it could also be one of the last countries to welcome back visitors – and well after its rivals on the continent.