Edinburgh’s tourism crisis must be above party politics – Steve Cardownie

Edinburgh could lose nearly £1 billion as tourism industry is hit by the coronavirus lockdown, writes Steve Cardownie.

Tourists visit Edinburgh Castle in January before the coronavirus and lockdown hit (Picture: Scott Louden)

Councillors will meet tomorrow as the Policy and Sustainability Committee and will be discussing, amongst other things, a report which spells out in stark terms the economic damage that Covid-19 is wreaking on Edinburgh’s tourism and hospitality sector.

The report states that “since the outbreak of Covid-19, it is clear that the impact on the tourism and hospitality sector has been profound”.

It goes on these impacts will include:

“1, A reduction of between 50 and 70 per cent in international arrival and tourism receipts;

“2, Estimates of almost £1 billion in visitor expenditure will be lost from the City’s economy in 2020;

“3, This loss equates to around 18,500 FTE [full-time equivalent jobs]; and

“4, Due to the dependence on international visitors Edinburgh is facing a higher impact and potentially slower recovery than the rest of Scotland.”

The report details a “recovery plan” which, if adhered to, offers the prospect of mitigating the potential damage to the industry, leading to a series of measures designed to meet the challenges both in the short and longer term.

Matters such as this should dictate that ‘party politics’ take a back seat and that councillors should demonstrate a unity of purpose in an effort to promote and protect the sector that serves Edinburgh well and one which so many people rely on for employment.

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Joy Yates

Editorial Director