I know IABU.... Scottish Highlands tourism

[Firefightress1]

I know IABU as we were tourists before we moved to Skye but I'm absolutely gobsmacked by how busy it has been over the weekend. I know its not even the busiest time yet but I'm already struggling to get diesel to get to work and the coop is stripped bare. Had a campervan nearly drive into us earlier on the wrong side of the road at a junction and people parking in passing places on single track roads which means traffic is at a standstill.
We always followed the rules and pulled in/let people overtake but there seems to be a new selfish version of a tourist. I know we need to get used to it but people just blatantly disregarding signage and peeing/sh*tting all over the place is just awful!
I honestly don't remember it as bad as this when we were tourists but i guess we didnt live here then
There are so many facebook groups trying to make improvements but the tour buses and guides still insist on stopping at closed sights and encouraging groups to force open gates and move cones to gain access. Its causing so many issues to wildlife and repair operations that are badly needed.

And I agree that something needs to be done about second homes. The two houses closest to us are empty all the time. In the 18 months we've been here one of them has had visitors once for about 5 days. The other one had had people there for maybe 2 weekends. Clamp down on second homes and air b&bs.

It's very sad. We're currently en route back from a short holiday on a Scottish island (not Skye). We paid to leave our car on the mainland, hired bikes after the ferry crossing, had lunch at an independent cafe, drank at the pub, picked up litter on the beach and didn't use the beautiful scenery as a toilet. I hope that we were respectful and contributed to the economy rather than being a PITA.

This attitude of tourists being 'other' disgusts me.

Same here.

Finding 2 lots of human shit/toilet paper on my walk this morning disgusts me.

YOUR mountains? Hahaha.

Finding dog shit in plastic bags on my walks disgusts me too. Who is to say that wasn't a local family out for a walk with their young child ehi got caught short? Oh never!!

I don't know if you live in the kind of rural area being discussed LetsPlayShadowlands. If you do you'll know that you get a fair idea of what and who is making the mess based on the time of year it happens. During tourist season - human shit, dirty nappies, rubbish dumped, public toilets turned into middens by people emptying portable loos, disposable BBQs, fires, volunteer search & rescue teams called out for people stuck in mud/climbing mountains in flip flops. Out of tourist season - nothing.

Where do you live @Windingdown where the local dog walkers never leave dog shit lying around? I live in a tourist area but that's pretty much a universal phenomenon. Ditto litter. Yes there's more of it in spring and summer but it's not like the locals never drop a crisp packet.

This same problem is everywhere. Went to a local park today to roll eggs/ have a sit down/ cuppa afterwards. It's in a very nice part of town. At the tables there were Coke cans/ plastic wrapper from the multi-pack, crisp packets and an abandoned Easter gift bag. I mean, WTF?! My sister lives beside it, so there everyday with the dog, and said she had to ask a man to stop peeing behind a tree ( 6 yo niece with her) and remind him there are toilets a 3 min walk away. People are so selfish, so no wonder on holiday when it's not their back yard they're even worse sometimes. I have no idea why people behave like this.

Same on Isle of Lewis

Oh well, at least your island had a bridge access so you can always escape, find a mainland smkt with food; fill up the car tank.

Spare a thought for the islands with a broken Calmac ferry service, where the Coop vans can't get to the island to fill up the shelves, where the fuel tanker didn't come so supply runs so low the garage has to ration it ( emergency services only).

Absolutely @2bazookas, that's why I drew a line when we were moving up here. In wouldn't move to anywhere dependent on ferries.

I love dunvegan, we go often to the dunvegan for food.
I can honestly say we've been made very welcome and have some lovely friends and social events here.
It's what you make it and if you try to integrate and get involved in the community then it's always welcome.

I think if you live in a touristy area, you should be grateful for tourists, because they bring a lot to the economy.

You'd only think that; if you hadn't experienced the hell that motorhome holidays inflict on rural and island Scotland.
Because of distance, and transport costs, food here costs more. So Motorhome owners fill up the vehicle with cheap food and drink at Lidl before they leave home. To save money. So, they aren't buying island accommodation, or supporting local food shops or restaurants or pubs. They don't want to pay for a camp site with 20 other white tin boxes, so at night they park free in the supermarket car park, or in passing places on the single track roads. When they've eaten and drunk the mainland shopping they shit and piss on board. Then they pull in to a layby or car park at night and empty their lav on a beach, ditch, just anywhere.. They drive up at night to sleep in the queue for the non-bookable little ferry; which means tourists in cars, can't get on board ; and nor can locals who have an urgent need to get to the mainland for hospital appt because the Big ferry is broken , again. They drive miles down the middle of single track roads, can't reverse the monster to passing places, until they meet a junction and if they are foreign clean forget it's back to drive on the LEFT.

Absolutely ❤️

*This thread is real eye opener- the whole of the country is seemingly overwhelmed with tourists. There must by literally millions of empty homes all over the UK as people move into holiday homes or take their tents or camper vans to the tourist places.

It would be interesting to see genuine numbers of bank holiday migrations, but I suppose it must be impossible to really know or work out, but it must be massive.*

You can get the seasonal figures from island ferry services, and accommodation bookings from tourism offices.

Yes, UK people are holidaying in UK now. That's because since lots of airport staff lost their jobs during Covid, the hours spent in queues and delays and cancellations at airports and the Chunnel have really reduced the pleasure of a holiday based on flying or driving to Europe.

Yes, but it's done via taxation. So the secondhome owner can recoup the higher tax rates by raising the holiday let rent.

Meanwhile, the only remaining care home on the island has reduced occupancy from 30 to 20, because they can't get enough staff. They can't get staff because the pay rate won't support local rents; so the staff live on the mainland and come by ferry, only the ferry broke, and isn't reliable enough , so they left.
So my old neighbour (90) was a bedblocker for 3 months in a mainland hospital, until a vacancy could be found in a mainland care home. Without visitors. All her surviving friends are ancient ladies....back home on the island. The one with a ferry service so unreliable they can't be confident of getting there and back to the mainland to visit her. She is refusing physiotherapy (to improve her COPD and circulation ) because she wants to die.

In absolute agreement about the rubbish. What kind of person does that?

I wonder if AI could be a game changer here. Scanning millions of pictures from CCTV. Identifying litter dumpers and the cars they go back to. Fining them to buggery.

My DH is MR, a lot of the MR teams call the hills there/our mountains because they’ve grown up on the hills and know most of the nooks and crannies on them. It’s really not funny laughing at volunteers to give up their time often in atrocious conditions to rescue idiots who have no clue what they’re doing.

But the unable to find care staff isn't really a tourist issue. I live in a non-tourist area. Same story here. It's because it's really badly paid and a lot of them are treated pretty appallingly. (My friend worked for a care home provider as HR during COVID. Stories that would make your jaw drop). Other work pays better and offers better pay & conditions.

Obviously individuals that behave like twats by littering, scorching the grass and emptying their toilets unsuitably are tossers and should be called on it but I think it's unfair to slate people for simply going on holiday or moving to an area (or possibly even buying a second home although people should probably know by now that's a bit of a dick move if it's going to be largely unoccupied).

The issues are structural, they can be legislated for or infrastructure put in place. Have a look at what Portugal is doing to tackle holiday lets and rental prices, for instance.

The SNP are to blame for a lot but not as accused by a PP of introducing the right to roam and wild camp. These have been rights in scotland way before the SNP came into existence.

In fact the recent legislation actually increased landowners rights to close parts of their estates if there was work taking place.

Exmoor.

I wasn't talking about the odd crisp packet or dog poo, although they are very rare out of season.

So we went out for a couple of drinks tonight, we always do once a week to support local businesses
Seen a,l solo waitress serving a whole full restaurant have to deal with utter cheek from people with no bookings. Its also a hotel and a German gentleman came in at 745pm to ask for a room on Easter Sunday. She very nicely explained they were full and offered 2 other options to try but he was abusive and horrible. My hubbie stepped in to ask them to leave and stop abusing the staff. Entitled much!
I'm even more angry with the situation! Absolutely disgusting.