Scottish tourist businesses report booking fall

Edinburgh sees a huge surge of visitors every summer for its festivals

Half of Scotland's tourism industry says it has recorded fewer bookings this summer compared with 2019, new figures show.

The Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) survey found almost 40% of businesses reported a decrease in spending since May 2021.

Business say the drop-off is due to the cost-of-living crisis and the appeal of international travel.

They say they struggle to compete on price with global destinations.

More than 700 tourism businesses across Scotland took part in the survey, which ran from 17 May to 8 June.

A record 55% of businesses reported that their international bookings for June-August were lower in comparison with May 2019 - before the pandemic.

The National Wallace Monument

It also highlighted problems with staffing and recruitment, with 60% of hotels saying they are unable to trade effectively at current staffing levels.

Marc Crothall, STA chief executive, said the report showed recovery from the pandemic was happening at a much slower pace than anticipated and not across all tourism sectors.

He said: "The cost-of-living crisis is hitting Scotland's tourism sector very hard on many levels.

"People are hesitant about committing to booking a break due to household financial challenges and uncertainty and with the rise of energy prices and supplier costs, many businesses are finding the level of recovery almost static.

"This impacts the ability for our tourism industry to remain competitive globally; we struggle to compete on price and we're unable to retain and attract the quality of staff required to deliver the level of service demanded by today's consumers."

He added that the disruption caused by rail strikes made it harder for the industry to thrive.

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said the survey underlined some of the challenges facing the tourism industry but also highlighted some positives.

He said: "There are some encouraging signs with the return of international visitors and consumer research which shows more UK residents expect to take an overnight domestic trip between June and September than in 2021."