Scotland given Easter tourism boost for first time in three years thanks to relaxed covid restrictions

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland’s tourism industry is enjoying a cracking Easter for the first time in three years. Sunny weather and a relaxation in Covid restrictions has brought the visitors back.

Simon Cousins, of tourist body Skye Connects, said: “We have been hearing more foreign accents on Skye and they’re great to hear as we weren’t expecting much overseas travellers until next year.“Things are undoubtedly getting better and this weekend will be busy.

It will take some work to get back to the levels of pre-Covid. But it is encouraging.”Scottish B&B Association chairman David Weston echoed that.

He said: “Bookings are up for Easter and it’s a welcome boost after an horrendous time for Scottish businesses.”The Met Office says it will be sunny countrywide, particularly in the east, with highs of 18C.Forecaster Simon Partridge said: “There will be some rain on the far west coast but though it hangs around there all day, it doesn’t make any inroads to the rest of Scotland.“There will be cloud in the north but the east could turn out best, with highs of 18C (64F).”Lossiemouth in Moray was the warmest place in the country yesterday, hitting 18C.Holiday traffic heading to Fife on the Queensferry Crossing faced delays of 15 minutes at lunchtime.Remarkably, due to unfavourable tidal conditions, morning and evening sailings have been cancelled through to next Thursday on CalMac’s crossing between Claonaig/ Tarbet and Lochranza.It apologised to passengers for reduced capacity on the Barra to Eriskay route, due to a smaller vessel, the MV Loch Bhrusda.There was disruption on the popular Gourock to Dunoon ferry because the MV Ali Cat was removed from service for repairs.On the railways, major upgrade works on sections of the west coast mainline