Covid: Enduring popularity of North Coast 500 gives hope to Scotland's tourism industry – Scotsman comment

The news that more than 70 per cent of people forced to cancel plans to travel the North Coast 500 tourist route by the pandemic intend to come when they are allowed to travel again is a real sign of hope.

Cul Mor, Suilven and Canisp mountains - just a few of the wonderful landmarks found on the North Coast 500 driving route. (Picture: djmacpherson/Creative Commons)

Their desire to have a holiday amid the splendour of the Highlands was not just a casual one to be cast aside without a second thought or superseded by the glossy photographs of some tropical resort.

Instead, visitors seem determined to come when it is safe to do so. And why would they not be? Scotland is a beautiful place and the draw it exerts upon people from all over the world is strong.

Tom Campbell, of North Coast 500 Ltd, said that, after an “incredibly tough year”, the survey was “a positive sign for the re-emergence of the tourism industry in the north Highlands”. It also suggests Scotland’s tourist economy as a whole will be able to bounce back from this terrible crisis once the virus no longer poses such a threat.

And that makes the case for continuing to support this hard-pressed sector through the next few months as the vaccination programme continues even stronger.

Last week, the Scottish Tourism Alliance warned the industry was facing "many more casualties" unless emergency government funding was given to support struggling businesses, saying: “We are in now a far more desperate state than we were a few months back.”

Scotland is the same country it was before Covid arrived. Once it is gone, tourists will return and, after months of frustrating lockdown, may do so in even greater numbers than before.