Scottish Islands

[Cismyfatarse1]

I have recently seen a video from Colonsay asking Nicola Sturgeon to allow them to ban all visitors.

You can sail to Canna, but not get off and go on the island.

Eigg asks for 14 days' quarantine if anyone on the island leaves and comes back. Or it did.

Can they do this? Aren't islands part of Scotland and therefore (now) open to all?

It makes me very uneasy. Coupled with nutters at the border shouting at 'English' traffic. It all feels rather xenophobic and unpleasant.

Some of it is downright racist ("Chinese people seen in Glenfinnan. Oh, I am so scared.")

CalMac is making it hard for people to travel, even now it is allowed.

Are we breaking down into smaller and smaller more isolated units?

Did you not see the Yes flag in the photo??

There's also a video from one of those present where the English are told to fuck off.

Its all over youtube, twitter, facebook, if you can be bothered to do your own search, rather than demanding evidence all the time of anything that doesn't fit your narrative.

[quote TARSCOUT]@ButterflyWitch
Travel isn't restricted is it?[/quote]
Yes. I'm desperate to get back to family on the islands and keeping a close eye on guidance, but we should still stay within 5miles and not permitted to mix households by staying with them. I can understand why, and do support it - but looking forward to when we can freely travel again.

Admittedly the current guidance is contradictory and confusing

I have plenty of experience of Scottish Islands and I would never put these communities at risk.
I don’t believe that people wanting to visit these areas would do so either.
I think there has been too much scaremongering from the Scottish govt and there is a balance to be struck between responsible tourism and economic ruin.
From what I can gather from friends who live on a Scottish island there is division between those retired islanders on a nice pension and those with young families, running businesses who rely on tourism for their livelihoods.

@BusyDreaming

tabulahrasa, what I mean is that I don’t think Eigg is going to be overrun by hen and stag do’s looking for nightclubs and being too pissed to remember to social distance, But if the Highlands and Islands really don’t need to tourism for their economy, then maybe they should stop advertising themselves as a tourist destination. I’m still looking forward to my holiday in Scotland at the end of July, providing I change my English number plates, ensure my DC don’t speak with their English accents in public, ( my DH and I both have Scottish accents ) and remember not to express an opinion on anything. Welcome to Scotland.

I’m sure your attitude will really endear you to the locals.

Completely agree with @WaxOnFeckOff that this is being used to excuse casual xenophobia against English people in Scotland - already on the rise thanks to flag waving idiots and now fair game due to the perceived risk of the dirty English crossing the border in their droves, killing all the honest to goodness guidance abiding Scots.

Makes me fucking sick.

PANDORA, I don’t have an attitude.
I take folk as I find them.
I don’t care where they come from, what their accent is, rich or poor.
I treat people with respect unless of course they’re small minded bigots.

“what I mean is that I don’t think Eigg is going to be overrun by hen and stag do’s looking for nightclubs and being too pissed to remember to social distance,”

Hmm, I thought it was something along those lines you were getting at...

Tbh, you’d be pretty amazed by exactly how badly a lot of visitors behave. They just do it in hiking boots and matching cagoules instead.

@ButterflyWitch
Ah on the islands. Well you can go as far as I understand it. Ferries are running albeit on reduced timetable. I however wouldn't go to the islands either.

The 5 mile was only ever advisory (although I didn't breach it). When they removed it on Wednesday we were away up to the Trossachs and St Andrews etc and not seen police yet! Some places still not open but my Go Girl and a picnic made for some nice time off.

@ButterflyWitch You definately can go more than 5 miles:

From 19/6 : It is acceptable to travel outside your local area to meet members of another household in an outdoor space such as a private garden, but you should use your judgement about how far to travel.

The five mile limit for leisure travel will be lifted for the majority of the country from tomorrow (Friday, 3 July) as will restrictions on self-catering, self-contained accommodation.

I live in a very beautiful part of England and yes, a minority of visitors do leave litter particularly when lockdown restrictions were lifted but our economy here isn’t dependent on tourism.
Thinking about all of those beautiful adverts for Scottish holidays, I had no idea so many locals resented tourists. What a shame.

“Thinking about all of those beautiful adverts for Scottish holidays, I had no idea so many locals resented tourists. What a shame.”

Well you don’t really get to control whether adverts get made, lol.

It’s not resentment as such - it’s more that everything is planned for by population, then for half the year it doubles or more, but the roads aren’t built for it, hospitals aren’t built for it. House prices are higher than they should be, but wages are low - most hospitality jobs are minimum wage from April to October and then stop. Yes a few people make a lot of money, but their staff don’t.

And... there’s often very little appreciation that the scenery isn’t in fact just there looking pretty, it’s where people are trying to live and work.

So no, people aren’t wandering round resenting them... but it’s not all positive either.

Well the good news is that the Scottish Govt is doing a great job of putting off English people from coming to Scotland.
So, the threads where people are asking for advice about moving to Scotland ( often from England) don’t seem to be met with the same negativity. Why’s that then?
We’ll still be visiting though. Very much looking forward to coming ‘home’ and that warm Scottish welcome.

Like butterywitch I’m desperate to go home to the islands to see my parents. However I’m really not sure as the only way is by ferry or by plane and neither are particularly appealing options right now.

Also I need to consider what I may take with me to my elderly parents and with no icu it’s air ambulance if things get bad.

That’s the thing about these islands that some people don’t understand, some are really remote and whilst don’t have an issue with tourists, emergency medical facilities are very limited.

Scotland needs tourists.
It's in my view v wrong of a group of people who I assume partly rely on tourism to stop that.

Just wanted to point out that yes, we’ve had a rise in cases this week in tayside. FOUR diagnosed cases this week - out of a population of 400,000. It’s not exactly on every street corner.

I’m an ex-islander and see both sides. There are islands who won’t allow stock back once they’ve left. People have broken the rules though to get back (or move). They’ve had their mail redirected (and so official) or just plain lied to get there.

We’re not visiting this year because I don’t want to get the blame for taking it.

IKEA888 Scotland is not not one homogeneous area. Some areas might feel comfortable welcoming tourists this summer and other areas will be completely opposed. Remote islands with basic medical facilities can't be compared to the central belt or mainland in general.

And yet for the last 4 weeks international flights have been coming into Scotland but no one has been quarantined because Scottish border officials haven’t been collecting details of travellers. One of my friends has just cancelled her holiday on Mull because the balance on the cottage was due before the ferry could be arranged. I’m sure she’s not the only one affected. The islands rely heavily on tourism.

My friend is Scottish and trying to holiday in her own country.

My husband is Scottish. We have holidayed in the islands for the last two decades. We hope to go this year, booked and confirmed. I have been very upset however by the antagonism shown from a minority. Covid has a very low mortality rate. It's not going to go through the population like smallpox. Economic ruin oth will hit every resident.

And yet for the last 4 weeks international flights have been coming into Scotland but no one has been quarantined because Scottish border officials haven’t been collecting details of travellers

That's slightly misleading. The Home Office is responsible for border control. Details were taken but not shared with Public Health Scotland because apparently the Scottish health officials had to pass Home Office security checks

So while people were supposed to self-isolate/quarantine, none of the Scottish health officials had the information with which to do the follow up checks to ensure that they were indeed staying in quarantine

The good news is that that has apparently now been done

Wales had the same problem but not NI as (I think - at least that was the implication in the way the BBC reported it) NI is covered by Public Health England, which did have the necessary clearance.

I read that too PrettyBird.
Also important to note that the SG wrote to UK Gov within a few days of the first cases asking for strict controls to be out in place on people arriving via international flights/ the risk but were refused until three months later when UK Gov finally said they'd introduce checks on people coming in and share the details with SG (however then it took weeks for the home office to share the details of people coming in like you say).

Scottish tourism is going to really suffer, as will the retail industry, due to the SG policies on travel, accomodation and face masks.

So we will see higher unemployment here than in the RUK (actually I think we already are).

Banning non islanders is just an own goal really. Not that I want to visit. Why spend a fortune for the same weather, same food and next to nothing to do except go for a walk, see some coos etc? I'd rather wait til its safe to go abroad which is much cheaper than UK hols.

Non islanders aren't 'banned' anymore. Tourism will be fully open by 15th ( self catering already is). Lots of places are fully booked already.

What @ButterflyWitch said