THE Scottish agritourism industry has expressed its dismay that it will not be permitted to reopen at the same time as its counterpart in England, declaring that the divergence has already forced struggling businesses to cancel much-needed bookings.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday that Scotland will not move out of level four coronavirus restrictions until April 26.

At that stage, it is proposed that Scotland moves down into level three of the lockdown system, which would mean that while holiday accommodation can open, people will still not be able to leave their local authority areas for vacations. It also rules out the industry being able to benefit from the Easter school holidays.

The position contrasts with England, where self-catering accommodation and outdoor hospitality will reopen from April 12 under Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown.

Caroline Millar, sector lead for industry group Scottish Agritourism and co-owner of The Hideaway Experience in Auchterhouse, near Dundee, said there is widespread “disappointment” in the sector that Scottish tourism will not be reopening as soon as it will be in England.

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Ms Millar said agritourism businesses in Scotland, which range from bed and breakfasts and farm tours to wedding venues and watersports destinations, are now having to cancel bookings made after Johnson’s roadmap was published on Monday. She said the wider public is struggling to understand why there is a divergence in reopening dates between Scotland and England.

Ms Millar, who sits on the board of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, said: “It is probably not a huge surprise because we did feel it might be different to England.

“Going into level 3 even, for all intents and purposes in our business, is like being closed. It does feel like we are looking at June before we have hope of any normal business.”

The Herald:

Caroline Millar, Scottish Agritourism

With Scottish tourism not reopening again until the end of April, Ms Millar said the current lockdown will effectively last longer than the first, which began after the pandemic took hold in March last year and was in place until July. The present lockdown effectively began when the levels regime was introduced in early November.

Ms Millar said: “That is quite a long period of time, seven months really.

“I was reflecting on the first lockdown, which was 14 weeks, so I think we are heading into a considerably longer period of time than the first lockdown, with a lot less grant support. People are quite disappointed.”

She noted that the prospect of continuing restrictions is causing deep concern among business owners who are worried about their ability to afford regular overheads such as bank loan payments, electricity bills and insurance costs.

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Many businesses had seen bookings rise sharply after the UK Government roadmap was published on Monday, including one member of Scottish Agritourism which had taken 16 overnight. But those are now having to be cancelled or postponed.

This was a fresh blow, Ms Millar said, because the cash that had come in had provided a major boost to firms that have gone months without revenue.

She said some consumers cannot understand why the restrictions are different in Scotland to England.

“They just see semi-good news and go ahead and book,” she said. “It involved a lot explaining to them that they can’t come, and cancelling, if it is in that immediate term.

“But also, I think this doesn’t make our consumers want to book. Our business is sitting fully booked at the moment, almost right through to the summer. It just means we are going to have to cancel and refund all of April, and nearly all of May as well.

“We’re disappointed.”