A businesswoman who launched a festival on Scotland's 'sunshine isle' that boosted tourism by 50% has told of her fears that the CalMac ferry disruption will hit visitor numbers.

Jane Howard said the long-running problems with the service had had a massive impact on tourism on Colonsay, in the Inner Hebrides.

The 61-year-old set up a tourism marketing group in 2009 with a consortium of businesses to not only attract more tourists but "look after them better when they are on the island".


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Out of this came the idea to host a Spring festival in late April and early May which she says is " a beautiful time" on islands but a time when visitor numbers are low.

"It became this really popular three-week event with activities every day" she said.

The Herald:

"Hundreds of people were coming for the festival. All the accommodation was full and it probably boosted tourism by about 50%.

"It's amazing how many people want activities when they are on holiday, now," she added.

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"They don't just want to visit an island. They love the idea of guided walks.

"We've worked hard to celebrate what we have to offer."

The festival, which is running from April 24 to May 8, includes guided walks with the RSPB, foraging, cookery classes and whale and dolphin watching events.

She said the event is still being slowly built up to what it was before the pandemic, which came when they were riding high on the back of a tourism award.

She said the long-running Calmac disruption is "a huge worry".

She said: "Calmac have really let us down with really unreliable ferry services. The effect on tourism is just massive. 

"They is so much in the press about the unreliability of ferries that tourists just read that and think why would I risk booking my holiday and going to an island.

"If the ferry is cancelled that's no people for our event.

"There is no acknowledgment of the impact that has on small businesses.

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"We would normally get day trippers from Islay on a Saturday and Wednesday but the Islay ferry isn't working and the one that's in the dry dock is delayed. 

The Herald:

"Also people do island hopping can come via Islay. They can't do that now so we will have cancellations.

The 61-year-old Australian set up home on the island in her twenties after meeting her husband Alex Strathcona, 5th Baron of Strathcona, who owns Colonsay Estate, which has been in the family for more than 100 years.

The couple own a holiday cottage business on the island and previously owned the island's hotel. 

Colonsay boasts some of the highest sunshine hours in Scotland, and also hosts a food and drink festival in October, another time where tourism is starting to wane.

"For a little island it really punches above its weight," said Ms Howard.

The Herald:

"It probably has the best accessible beaches. It's low-lying so it's great for walking.

"It's great for bike riding, it's great for children, it's safe.

"You can never have too many people on the island because the accommodation is limited so it's always really peaceful and you can always find a beach to yourself."

The businesswoman said the island had a thriving community and plenty of jobs and opportunities but like many others was struggling to attract and retain young people and families.

She said a lack of affordable housing was part of the problem but wasn't really "getting under the skin" of why people move there and then leave.

She said that in that time she had lived on Colonsay she had seen fifteen families "come and go".

Plans are on course to build more, affordable housing on the island, which has around 200 'tourist beds', 70 households, a hotel, a shop and a school.

"When we moved here the population was around 100 and now it's about 150," said Ms Howard.

"I think that demonstrates it's a thriving, vibrant community.

"What they are hoping with these new houses is that it will bring young families but we'll have to wait and see.

"People don't look at the big picture.

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"If we don't have connectivity, we don't have good broadband and good ferry service then people aren't going to choose to live here. It doesn't matter how many houses you build.

Her daughter lives and works in London and her son spends half his time there and half on Colonsay hybrid working.

"There's not a lot for young people to do on an island like this," she said. 

"You need to be able to bring ten families at once and they all have a social life.

"The problem is we get families moving here and they last a year or two and then leave.

The Herald:

"It's not because of housing or education or jobs - there are plenty of jobs and opportunities. 

"There are houses that are being built that ended up being occupied by people off islands because there wasn't anyone on the island and it didn't bring young families sadly.".

She said there was a need to find out why people had left after moving to the island. 

 "All of them had jobs, all of them had a house," she said.

"You need to ask them why they didn't stay and we haven't been good at that. Once you've got people here you should be keeping them.

"There's this obsession with housing but I feel like we are not really getting under the skin and finding out why young families don't want to be here."

A spokeswoman for Calmac said: “We are extremely sorry for the current problems affecting our local communities and customers, we know how hard it is when ferry services are disrupted.

“Vessel breakdowns have reduced the number of vessels available to us to service communities, and this has deferred entry into annual dry dock for other vessels.

“We are determined to restore the full service as quickly as we can and complete the full annual maintenance programme.

"We will continue to keep customers and communities informed of any developments.” 

To find out more about Colonsay Spring Festival go to www.colonsayspringfest.com/