THE outlook continues to look bleak for the Scottish tourism industry.

For although the country is now gradually making its way out of lockdown, the transition is not moving quickly enough for one of Scotland’s most economically important sectors. Nor would it appear to be getting the support it needs.

Of course, saving lives from a pandemic which has already claimed tens of thousands in the UK alone should continue to be the main priority for government. Scotland’s progress in suppressing the disease is still at too delicate a stage to have confidence that the worst of it is truly behind us.

However, as long as social distancing measures remain in force, it will continue to be difficult to strike a balance between protecting lives and fostering economic recovery.

That tension is especially felt in the tourism industry, where many business owners are now fearing that the summer season, their most important trading period, will be beyond their reach this year. It now seems inevitable that businesses will fold, and important jobs will be lost.

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In such circumstances, it is impossible to not feel for operators such as Malcolm Duck, a prominent figure in the Scottish golf tourism sector who co-owns of Duck’s Inn at Aberlady, East Lothian, with his wife.

Like thousands of others across the tourism and hospitality sector, Mr Duck has seen his ability to trade destroyed by lockdown measures imposed to halt the spread of coronavirus in March.

Duck’s Inn is usually packed at this time of year with golf enthusiasts from around the world who flock to “Scotland’s Golf Coast” and the 21 courses on its East Lothian doorstep.

This year things are very different, of course. Instead of welcoming guests from the US and Scandinavia, Mr Duck and has wife have been spending much of the crucial season trying to reschedule a whole summer’s worth of bookings for next year.

Now they are even worried there will not be a next year for the business they have put their hearts and souls into building since taking over in 2004.

The unwinding of the UK Government furlough scheme, so critical in protecting incomes as the horror of the pandemic unfolded, has left Mr Duck wondering just how on earth they can afford to start contributing to wage costs from August, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer has now ruled, even though the state will still pick up the bulk of the costs initially.

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Based on the Scottish Government’s route map, which will guide the country’s emergence from lockdown, tourism and hospitality businesses will still, at best, be trading under strict social distancing restrictions by then. So, not only have they been denied months of trading through no fault of their own, their ability to recover will also be handicapped when they do open their doors again.

Mr Duck, whose application for a coronavirus grant was refused by the Scottish Government, told The Herald he was now looking at all options for the hotel, including turning it into a residential property. “There’s no money in the bank,” he said. “How are we going to pay 20% of furloughed wages? We are now going to inevitably look at residential.”

The UK and Scottish Governments did not sat idly by while businesses were mothballed as the country was locked down. As well as the furlough scheme, 100 per cent relief from business rates was given for one year to certain sectors, and there have been grants too.

But there remains a problem over Scottish grants not reaching the tourism and hospitality sector. And that is chiefly because they have only been given to retail, leisure, and hospitality businesses that trade from properties with rateable values between £18,001 and £51,000.

As a result of the methodology, there are literally hundreds of hotels, pubs, restaurants and visitor attractions, including Duck’s Inn, which are being denied lifeline grants. It has left many on the brink of going out of business, sparking fears of widespread redundancies.

The urgency of the situation was captured by Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, when it emerged that, despite further representations to ministers, there would be no grants for businesses with rateable values in excess of £51,000.

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“While the support given so far by both the Scottish and UK governments is very welcome, it is not enough,” he said.

Isabella Macdonald, director of the renowned Kinloch Lodge hotel and restaurant on the Isle of Skye, crystallised the predicament facing hoteliers when she spoke to The Herald earlier this week.

Kinloch had built up a strong global following over the decades, with international visitors accounting for 75% of bookings. But that business evaporated when the pandemic struck.

No fewer than 1,200 bookings were cancelled for the period covering March to June after travel restrictions were imposed.

Worried about how she could retain her 32 staff, whom she has pledged to employ all-year round, and for the existence of a business that has been run by her family for more than 50 years, it is little wonder Ms Macdonald recalls the experience as “terrifying”.

“Added to which, you are coming out of the winter [with] suppliers to pay,” she recalled of the time the crisis struck. “We have a lot of overheads and you suddenly think, oh my goodness, this is terrifying.”

A loan from Bank of Scotland under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme has given Kinloch much-needed “breathing space”.

But, as Ms Macdonald observed, loans have still to be repaid, in her case over the next six years. And that means her ability to reinvest in the hotel will be constrained.

Ms Macdonald also believes it has been a mistake to deny grants to businesses with rateable values higher than £51,000. “So many people fall trough the cracks,” she said. “To cover absolutely everyone… is a tricky one to get right.”

Among those missing out on grant support are small Scotch whisky distillers, for whom attracting tourists to their cafes, tours and shops is just as important as the whisky they make.

A group of eight distillers, including Kingsbarns, Isle of Harris and Isle of Raasay, recently wrote an open letter to Scottish ministers to question why they are being denied the relief from business rates that is granted to others in the retail, hospitality and leisure, noting that the bulk of the revenue they earn, and most of the people they employ, are connected to those sectors. They want to know why they are not eligible for rates relief when the giants of the UK grocery world are.

It may well be tricky to find solutions for everyone, but there is still time for Scottish ministers to step in and help.

The future of the Scottish tourism industry depends on it.