Skye’s tourism and hospitality sector is in desperate need of financial support to help it through the winter, according to owners, with research highlighting a lack of bookings at hotels and guest houses.
It was hoped that autumn staycations would provide a much needed boost for the industry emerging from lockdown. However, while the self-catering sector is flourishing, hotels and B&Bs are struggling to attract visitors.
A total of 180 businesses from the island and surrounding area took part in surveys by tourism management group SkyeConnect from August 31-September 5.
They showed 78% of hotels and 70% of B&Bs said bookings for the next two months were poor or non-existent.
By contrast, 96% of self-catering providers said they were busy or very busy and 90% had good or very good levels of bookings for the next two months.
Martin Hynd, a partner in the Otter Lodge guest house in Broadford, said: “We have a period of 4-5 days next week when we have no bookings whatsoever.
“Demand is around 20% of last year. Last September we were 100% full and most of the beds could be let several times over. We will make a large loss this year. For us it’s about how next year goes, we wrote the year off psychologically.
“We have finance to put in, but I would say a lot of good businesses will go bust during the winter due to no fault of their own.”
The surveys showed restaurants and cafes were busy, albeit with reduced capacity, with around half offering a take-away service.
In the galleries and retail sector, 60% of respondents reported business being quiet or very quiet and two-thirds said they had no, or limited, confidence for the next two months.
Despite reduced capacity, 70% of marine tour operators and 66% of outdoor activity providers were confident or very confident about the next two months.
SkyeConnect’s project manager Alistair Danter said: “We had hoped the tourist season might be extended this year with people looking at autumn staycations, but our surveys show there is not much confidence around apart from in the self-catering and outdoor activity sectors where social distancing is not a significant barrier to business operation.
“Looking further ahead, the surveys clearly demonstrate the desperate need for ongoing financial support to help businesses through the winter and into spring when we hope to see a return to more normal visitor levels for the 2021 season.”
