Why people should ignore foreign holidays and travel in Scotland - Alastair Dalton

With the weather set fair – and warm – for at least the next couple of days, thoughts will increasingly turn to holidays and, for those of us still confined to Glasgow, to when we can escape.

Members of the public are seen at Edinburgh Airport. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The unreliability of the Scottish summer means many people will have already turned to more certain sunshine abroad, especially if they were unable to get there because of Covid travel restrictions last year.

However, I believe that’s the wrong approach in our current predicament, regardless of how bereft you feel.

We’ve had such a rollercoaster year of lockdowns being lifted and then reimposed, to risk further waves of the virus when we are still not on top of it seems foolhardy.

International travel, even with Covid tests at either end of the journey, is simply not worth the risk, just to go on holiday.

Those clamouring to get on a plane as if it were their right should also bear in mind the many people for whom foreign trips are out of reach.

We should instead turn the situation to Scotland’s advantage.

With many areas of the country dependent on tourism, and in the second year in which few international visitors will come, this is when we need to spend our money at home to help people here stay in jobs and support our rural communities.

It’s said that many urban Scots admire the Highlands and our other scenic gems, not from visiting, but simply because “they know they’re there”.

In terms of our urban delights, in nearly 40 years in Scotland and having lived in both cities, I’m amazed at how little many Glaswegians and Edinburghers know about each other’s domains.

As a Sassenach, I have found myself in the bizarre position of both guiding west coasters round Edinburgh and giving those from the capital directions in Glasgow.

So this is the opportunity, if you didn’t last year, to head for a part of Scotland with which you’re barely familiar or have never visited – perhaps for a day trip, maybe for longer.

Fingers crossed, by next weekend, you may even be allowed to head for Glasgow.