Scotland's holiday plans should make politicians think carefully about anything that could damage economy – Scotsman comment

As a nation, we are getting poorer and this is manifesting itself in many ways.

For the poorest, it means skipping meals and, for many, it means cutting back on essentials like heating as well as non-essentials like going on holiday. A new survey, by research firm 56 Degree Insight, has found that while 70 per cent of people went on holiday last year, only about 35 per cent plan to do so in 2023, in another stark indication of the size of the hit to our collective finances.

The main reasons for not going abroad – or even taking a staycation – were predictable: the cost-of-living crisis, inflation, high bills and economic uncertainty, along with the cost of holidays. Compared to that list, the lack of a two-week break in the sun hardly seems like the worst of our problems.

However, given the figures are likely to be mirrored in other parts of the UK and Europe, the damage to Scotland’s tourism industry could be severe. And any economy is a complex web of interactions, so that problems in one sector can easily spill over into another, causing a ripple effect that leads to a dangerous, downward spiral.

In such a situation, it is the job of politicians to find ways to arrest this process and get things moving in the opposite direction – and certainly not to make things worse. So, when considering plans to, for example, restrict alcohol marketing, clamp down on short-term lets, and introduce a deposit-return scheme for bottles and cans, the Scottish Government needs to take into account the country’s straitened circumstances.

All of these policies have good reasons behind them – respectively, improving our health, tackling housing problems, and boosting recycling. However, the saying that ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ is popular for a reason. A wrecked economy will be bad for us all in a myriad of ways – for our health, our ability to pay mortgages and rent, and for the tax revenue that pays for waste collection and recycling.

So the Scottish Government needs to recognise that the economy is fragile and tread carefully. What once may have been good and sensible policy might need to be adapted or delayed until better times allow greater ambition.