North Coast 500 Glamping business owner from Edinburgh speaks of turmoil faced by businesses on the route due to pandemic

Calum has said that business owners who survive will see a better side at the end of it

Calum MacLeod, who owns North Coast 500 Pods, an award-winning glamping business as well as Glampitect, a glamping pod planning business, has managed to stay afloat throughout the pandemic, but says it is not the case for all businesses on the route.

“The difference between opening at the start of July and the end of July is catastrophic,” he said, “I would suspect at least double the amount of businesses will collapse. Our July slots fill up in January and it will be a complete mess if we need to cancel all of July.

“There are some businesses on the route that are saying they won’t open at all this year- some are through fear, but some don’t think financially they will be able to open.”

Many businesses on the route have short seasons and some make half of their annual revenue between May and August, which has been virtually wiped out by the current coronavirus pandemic.

Calum said: “It may have a knock on effect later in the year. For the vast majority of people on the route, their business there is their primary income, a lot of them don’t have anyone to turn to because there are places such as B&Bs which are not business rates as they are just out of the owner’s home.

“They don’t want to be left behind, they’ve fallen through the gaps and holes in the net.”

Calum said that despite the government’s timeline, business owners on the North Coast 500 feel left in the dark without a detailed timeline to say when their businesses will be able to reopen.

“It feels like everywhere else is coming back to normality, but there’s no sense of that for us,” he said.

However, he added for businesses that are able to survive the pandemic, he predicts that their will be a boom in business round the corner with a staycation market.

“There’s going to be a massive influx in staycations, there will be a boom for the North Coast 500 and for the rest of the UK,” he said, “Glamping is completely isolated as you are in your own pod with no one around, and staycations as a whole will increase as no one’s going to be comfortable doing things like getting on a plane.

“Everyone who does survive the downturn will see the other side, there will be loads of bookings and for us, we’re 100% ready.”

There have been an increase in crowdfunders and pay it forward models for North Coast 500 businesses which are ensuring that they receive the much needed funds to help them get through the pandemic and see the other side.