Covid in Scotland: Tourism facing tough summer despite relaxed rules

Edinburgh and Glasgow are the two biggest tourism employers in Scotland

Much of Scotland's tourism industry is facing poor levels of bookings in the coming months, despite the gradual easing of Covid restrictions, research has found.

A survey by the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) found many operators are in a worse position than last year.

Some of the sector remains closed while social distancing remains in place.

And there have been calls for extra support in order for some firms to survive through to next summer.

Most of mainland Scotland will move to level two from Monday, allowing groups of up to six adults from three households to meet indoors - and stay overnight.

Pubs and restaurants will be allowed to serve alcohol indoors until 22:30, but people will still be required to maintain a physical distance - something that is under review by the government.

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Marc Crothall, the STA chief executive, said smaller self-catering businesses are looking to recovery with current bookings, but "other accommodation providers are struggling as bookings are not coming in at the level needed to trade viably over what would be the busiest part of the year".

He added: "Food and beverage income is far from healthy across the board, although this will hopefully change with the next easing of restrictions on 17 May.

Of 271 firms in the Alliance survey, 30% intend to remain closed even though restrictions are being eased. The continuing restrictions and lack of consumer confidence mean they do not believe they can be viable.

For 38% of firms, takings from food and drink since they were allowed to re-open have been below a fifth of normal levels.

The findings point to "an extremely slow start to accommodation bookings".

For more than 40% of hotels in the survey, bookings from this month to July point to occupancy at below 20%.

There are relatively strong bookings for some rural locations, yet only 30% of firms say they expect occupancy above 60% of rooms.

Scotland is expected to see a staycation boom this summer but that is not so far reflected across all of the tourism industry

Reservations in city hotels are "worryingly low", according to the STA.

Asked if they expect occupancy below half of their capacity, 98% of city hotel bosses said that is the case for June, and 87% for July.

A different measure of bookings shows only 13% of rooms booked in Glasgow in July, and 15% in August.

Edinburgh hotels report 19% bookings in July rising to 22% in the festival month of August.

These findings follow a survey last month of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions, which found 54% of them intend to remain closed while they are required to retain two-metre social distancing.

Recruitment crisis

Mr Crothall said there was a recruitment crisis, with all those in the survey saying they have vacancies, and there was evidence of a significant shortage of chefs.

"A great deal rides on the further easing of restrictions which come into force from next Monday and beyond, particularly for the night time economy and events industry," he said.

"This really is the last chance for most of Scotland's tourism industry to start to recoup some of the lost income from the past year."

Wild Scotland, representing outdoor adventure firms, found 45% of 105 companies surveyed have to operate at below 50% of capacity due to Covid restrictions.

The association says many adventure tourism businesses will require further financial support to survive into 2022, particularly those with a reliance on international visitors, and the marine sector, as they face a second year of being unable to trade.

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