American outrage: 'The threat of damage to tourism is real'

Published on Wednesday 26 August 2009 09:06

BEARING in mind the depth of disgust and outrage felt by many Americans over the decision to release Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, it was probably inevitable that there would be some form of backlash.

Unfortunately, especially for those in Scotland like the Evening News who also condemned the decision, in some cases that anger is being directed at the entire nation rather than just the Scottish Government.

Ever since the decision was announced a slow groundswell of anti-Scottish feeling has been building in America.

Such is the feeling of resentment that the tentacles of it have even reached this newspaper, in the form of e-mails sent across the Atlantic threatening never to visit Scotland again or even buy Scottish goods.

There is much talk on the internet and US talk radio shows of a boycott of items such as whisky and even, ridiculously, "Scotch" tape.

We can only hope that such vitriol is the short-term result of a knee-jerk reaction, but the threat of damage to Edinburgh and Scotland's economy, particularly tourism, remains very real. Let us not forget it keeps in excess of 200,000 people in employment and is worth almost 4.5 billion a year.

Both the city and the country suffered in the wake of the triple whammy of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the foot-and-mouth outbreak and the weak dollar. It took fully four years for tourism in the UK to return to pre-2001 levels.

It is good to see that as result of the threat of loss of business VisitScotland is to concentrate its efforts on the North American market.

But should a boycott actually materialise we can take some comfort from the fact that while it may prove damaging it should not be fatal. We will continue to welcome US business and American visitors to our city, but the events of 2001 at least taught us we do not depend on them to get by.

Testing times

HEALTH bosses will be disappointed to see that Lothian has the second worst record for cervical cancer screening in the country.

The highly publicised death of reality TV star Jade Goody from the condition sparked a temporary spike as more women came forward to get tested.

And figures are still marginally on the increase – but it is clear that still too few women are taking advantage of what could be a potentially life-saving examination.