Scotland’s travel industry feels impact of credit crunch

The city of Edinburgh is feeling the impact of the credit crunch in their tourism industry.  Hotels in the city are reporting a decrease of 3.5 per cent the amount of bookings as they did during the same period last year.  This drop is higher than any other area in the UK where the average drop from last year is less than .5 per cent. 

The figures were put together by Alistair Rae who said that “Everyone hoped that (2007] was a significant period of growth that would be sustained. But perhaps we didn’t realize just how miserable the summer was going to be weather-wise.  It is the lower-end that is seeing the biggest drop. The tourists that visit a place and stay in a limited service hotel are probably the first to be affected by the credit crunch. The business traveler or those staying in a higher standard of hotel will tend to have the money to do so.  Guys coming for a stag weekend will probably think about staying at home.”

Rae added that “We’ve obviously had a miserable period of weather and there appears to be a decline in ticket volumes at the Fringe, so it seems likely there will be a continuation. It is turning out to be the more difficult year we expected when the first effects of the credit crunch were being seen.”

The general manager of the Holiday Inn in Edinburgh also noted that “Edinburgh has a higher base to fall, so that can make the drop sharper. It also has more of a reliance on the corporate and banking sectors and people are drawing costs in.”

www.pkf.co.uk