Tourism businesses in Skye say an expected staycation boom has yet to materialise with post lockdown bookings remaining “depressed”.
The island has been one of the busiest holiday hotspots in recent years, but uncertainty over Covid variants and visitors leaving decisions to the last minute has delayed an immediate bounce-back despite travel and accommodation restrictions easing.
While the sector still hopes for a good year, with a £1 billion staycation windfall predicted for the Highlands, operators in Skye are being encouraged to market themselves more to secure business.
Tourism body Skye Connect said while self-catering bookings for single-family units appear strong, B&Bs and campsites still remain quiet.
Buyers market for visitors
There are signs of growing demand in the hotel sector, but bookings and occupancy rates are well below where they should be for this time of year, it said.
Project manager Alistair Danter said the visitor economy is currently a ‘buyers’ market: “In the past we used to open our doors and people would come. The immediate post-Covid world is very different with some sectors faring better than others.
“We don’t know how long it will take for consumer confidence and demand to return to pre-2020 levels. We can’t just wait for it to happen; we need to market what we have to offer for the benefit of our own businesses and the wider visitor-economy on Skye.”
Mr Danter said historically Skye’s visitors have been 70% international and 30% domestic, the reverse of the situation in Scotland generally.
He said domestic holidaymakers are also being more cautious at the moment, but hopes the situation will improve by July-August.
“Lead-in times are becoming shorter and shorter. People may be taking a holiday in June but they won’t do anything until the last week in May.”
Gary Curley, managing director of the Sligachan Hotel, said it re-opened on April 26 in preparation of the increase in staycation business: “Although there are signs things are moving in the right direction, there certainly has not been what you would call a boom in bookings yet.
“It’s very hard to plan at the moment. Bookings look like they are getting better, but we still have availability in July and August which, for Skye, is unheard of.
Boom hasn’t materialised yet
“We were expecting an earlier uptick in bookings with people being locked down for so long. But although the government and some of the industry bodies are talking about a staycation boom, it hasn’t quite materialised yet.”
Mr Curley added: “I do think the signs are there that things are moving in the right direction, we just need to be a bit more patient.
“It’s about consumer confidence. There is a background worry that as we’re coming out of lockdown people are seeing new variants popping up and are worried it night happen here.
“But seeing how well the vaccinations have been done we are cautiously optimistic we will definitely have a summer and hopefully get a longer run at it this time with no more lockdowns.”
He said many hotels are offering flexible booking and refunds to mitigate the risk if people are booking ahead.
Anne Gracie runs three hotels in Skye – Toravaig House Hotel, Skeabost House Hotel and Duisdale House Hotel.
Her staff also returned last month hoping for a busy time: “We expected it to start with a vengeance but it didn’t really happen that way. We can see bookings coming through but people are not budging just now when there are such heavy restrictions on the consumption of alcohol indoors.
People are more cautious
“People are also looking for clarity on what’s going to happen with regard to travelling abroad, what’s going to happen with the Indian variant and, I would imagine, the Moray situation, making people that little bit more cautious.”
She said in previous years Skye was “inundated” with visitors: “It would start in April and that would be us full until the end of October. But we can’t take anything for granted any more, it’s new territory for us all and very unusual territory.
“I don’t doubt we will be busy, we just have to hang in there.”
A year-long survey published last year showed visitors to Skye boosted the local economy by £211 million pre-lockdown.