Scottish hospitality leaders propose full reopening of tourism and hospitality on May 17

The new proposal is in line with the date set out for England, and industry leaders say there is a risk of untold damage to Scotland’s tourism and hospitality industry and the thousands of people the sector employs.

Responding to The Scottish government’s roadmap out of lockdown announcement, over 80 hospitality businesses have joined forces to form the ‘Hospitality & Tourism Action Group’ and the set out their own timeframe for getting the industry back on its feet after almost 12 months of government-imposed lockdowns and other trade restrictions.

The group are asking for immediate alignment to the dates set out in England as May 17 for hotels and restaurants and mid-April for self-catering.

The industry understands the need for caution and importance of a safe unlocking. However, the Hospitality & Tourism Action Group are urging the government to recognise the significant damage to Scotland’s hospitality industry as a result of the ongoing lockdown, including the threat to around 285,000 jobs.

Many of these jobs are filled by younger people aged 18 to 25.

The ‘Hospitality & Tourism Action Group’ campaign is being backed by over 80 hospitality and tourism businesses across the country, including Edinburgh’s Prestonfield House Hotel and Archerfield Hotel and East Lothian’s Ducks Inn.

James Thomson, owner of Prestonfield House in Edinburgh, said: “With this extended period of forced closure and inadequate support, many businesses across Scotland now face the real risk of permanent closure and potentially losing their trusted suppliers and staff.

“Last year, I had to make the incredibly difficult decision to close The Tower in Edinburgh after operating it for 22 years. Prior to the pandemic we were in a very positive position of having a team of excellent, highly-skilled staff. I fear the worst for them and for businesses like ours who have to make awful decisions based on the current circumstances.”

Fiona Campbell, chief executive, Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, said: “The First Minister had the opportunity to provide detail, clarity, and certainty to the thousands of self-catering businesses across Scotland and the government failed completely to do so.

“What makes this even more disappointing to us is that it effectively means we are lagging behind our colleagues south of the border who already have an indicative date to reopen. We are now not only having to cancel and refund existing bookings, but we are also having to turn down bookings from south of the border.

“Unlike those in other sectors, the self-catering sector has yet to see any of the sectoral support packages announced on December 21 reach the bank accounts of self-catering operators, there is no certainty that ongoing financial support will be forthcoming once we exit Level 4 and with no bookings in the foreseeable future many are in a perilous state.”

The Hospitality & Tourism Action Group is also asking for clarity on both travel and tiers. With international travel highly unlikely to happen before later in the year, the industry needs to maximise the opportunities from within both Scotland and the rest of the UK.

The full petition and proposals can be seen on Change.org.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.