- Holidays in Scotland

Scotland is open again! Yippee

It might sound funny, but any visitors that have been around the highlands in the 'dark-half' of the year will know all too well the feeling of going up to the door of a tourist attraction, maybe even a shop and seeing the bleached out sign on the dooe that proclaims "OPEN APRIL TO OCTOBER - SEE YOU NEXT YEAR". And it's not just shops and tourist attractions - it's public toilets too. What, people don't go to the loo in the winter?

March was one of the driest and sunniest months ever in Scotland. I was in the highlands every weekend, but apart from the select few applaudibly opportunistic and year-round retailers and hostelries, most things were shut - and it got worse the further north you went.

I know that most businesses can't afford to run through the winter - there's just not enough visitors. But in March, in glorious sunshine and warm temperatures, there were an awful lot of tourists pushing at locked doors and scratching their head as they read the sign, see you next year. Money not getting spent and visitors going home disappointed.

So my message to those people who close for the winter is watch the weather. You should have been open at least for the weekends in March. Tearooms could offer basic food - soup and toasties. Shops could sell last year's stock. But don't just stay closed. And that goes for the National Trust too.

You know who you are - it's time to start opening your doors.

Posted by bigcrags @ 9:27 AM

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