From ash to cash as rural areas benefit in wake of volcano

Published on Sunday 13 June 2010 23:23

SCOTLAND'S rural areas have seen a tourism boost, as cities suffered from cancelled flights because of Iceland's volcanic ash clouds.

The Scottish Tourism Forum (STF) said Glasgow and Edinburgh had been hit by the disruption as BAA admitted passenger numbers dropped last month across Scotland.

But rural areas bucked the trend, as many people decided to escape the travel chaos to take short breaks in areas such as the Highlands and the Borders.

STF chairman Iain Herbert said: "The cities have suffered the worst in terms of impact. Glasgow and Edinburgh have seen a noticeable dip. Businesses are saying there have been people saying it's too risky going abroad so they are staying at home.

"A lot of people are discovering what's on their doorstep. Cities didn't do too well, but rural areas did better. People are booking late and making decisions relatively late."

Glasgow Airport was worst hit in May by both the ash cloud and BA cabin crew strike, with passenger numbers down 13.7 per cent compared to the same time last year. By contrast, Stephen Leckie, managing director of Crieff Hydro, said his venue had seen around a 5 per cent rise in business compared to the same time last year.

He added: "The back end of April and May have been good for us. People told us they changed their plans because of the ash cloud. They didn't want to take the risk of going abroad.

"It allowed us to push ahead of last year in terms of revenue. Self caterers are doing well, and leisure tourism has done well out of the ash cloud. But overall the ash cloud has not been good news for Scotland. We have done well, relatively, but those that have done badly have done far worse than those that did well."

Jamie Gardner, secretary of Golf Tourism Scotland, said a recent survey found that 40 per cent of its members had suffered from the ash cloud. But 35 per cent saw very little impact, 16 per said no impact and 8 per cent saw a rise in business.

He said: "Overall our members were more in favour of saying it didn't affect us at all, or did a little better out of it."

Earlier this week, picturesque Loch An Eilein, in the Cairngorm National Park, was voted the nation's favourite place for a picnic, winning with an unprecedented number of votes.

The National Trust for Scotland, Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers and ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne said they had not seen much change in the past two months.

A spokesman for VisitScotland said: "It is still too early to assess what the exact effects of the volcanic ash cloud will be on Scottish tourism, but early evidence suggests that some city businesses may have suffered more than those in rural areas."

Last year, the "staycation" trend of UK tourists discovering what was at their own back door helped Scotland buck the world-wide drop in tourism with a growth of about 3 per cent.