Melania, the model tourist
DONALD TRUMP’S Scottish golf clubs lost £4.6million last year, with company accounts blaming “economic downturn” and lower oil prices for poorer revenues.
The Trump Turnberry resort, which was the site of protests during the US president’s UK visit this year, lost £3.4million in 2017. This is the fourth consecutive year of losses at the club.
Eric Trump, the president’s second son and director of parent company Golf Recreation Scotland, wrote that this was “one of the most robust finan- cial results in a decade” for the resort. In a statement in the company’s accounts report, he wrote that the directors expected the club to have operating profitability in “the short to medium terms”.
He wrote that recent refurbishments to the resort meant it was “placed to become Scotland’s leading destination for weddings, conferences and events”.
The Telegraph’s travel section gave the resort an 8/10 rating, describing the gold taps and chandeliers installed as part of the redecoration as “Las Vegas-on-Sea”. Another director of the company is Rhona Graff-Riccio, a long- standing assistant to President Trump. The other resort, Trump International Golf Links Scotland in Aberdeenshire, lost £1.3million in 2017, less than the £1.4million loss the year before. Revenues fell from £2.6million in 2016 to £2.5million in 2017.
Directors of the company include Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. President Trump and daughter Ivanka both resigned directorships the day before the inauguration in 2017.
Explaining the losses at the Aberdeenshire resort, Eric Trump wrote: “The crash in oil price and economic downturn experienced in the North East of Scotland has, however, resulted in a drop to local spending and consequently revenues have decreased by 3pc.” He wrote that “Trump International’s reputation and status with tour operators and agents across Europe, America and further afield continues to expand”.
Mary Anne MacLeod, Donald Trump’s mother, was born on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. He has often sought to highlight his family links to the country, and once battled the building of an offshore wind farm, writing: “She would not believe what you are doing to her beloved Scotland.”