From today's Scotsman. Good news for domestic and regional operators; bad news for the charter airlines and long haul carriers.
Global terror may aid tourism
Nick Drainey
TOURISM leaders hope a downturn in foreign travel since 11 September will help domestic holiday firms prosper.
Still fighting off the effects of foot and mouth disease, VisitScotland says a reluctance to travel abroad will mean more Scots take holidays in their own country.
It is estimated £16 million of the £37 million Scots annually spend in the US will be diverted into the Scottish economy by next spring because of a fear of travel across the Atlantic.
A spokeswoman said: "Some people have reported more bookings since the attacks on New York - we certainly have a higher number of website hits.
"All the evidence points towards an increase in the domestic market."
Tourist businesses are hoping Scots who stay home for their next holiday will be persuaded to do so again in the future. And if - as is expected - travellers return to Scotland from other countries when international conflict is not as heightened as at present, the long term prospects could be very good for the industry as a whole.
A spokeswoman for Glasgow-based package travel firm Direct Holidays said bookings for next summer had been hit since the terrorist attacks but the company had expected the downturn. She added: "Compared with the 2001 summer season, the 2002 sale is down slightly.
"Going on the Gulf War and other indicators, this is a timing issue. There is a lot of uncertainty at the moment, people still want to travel but they are holding back.
"Once people see they are not directly affected bookings will pick up. We expect that to happen in January."
A survey by the English Tourism Council claimed that one in 10 people south of the Border said that the atrocities had altered their holiday plans.
Fifteen per cent of the 700,000 people surveyed had cancelled their holidays and another 25 per cent - more than a million people - had postponed their trip abroad until later. Another two million people said they would not be making firm holiday plans until the situation was clearer.
The fallout from the terror attacks on the US has hit international travel hard. The British Tourist Authority has estimated that the UK could lose £2.5 billion in revenue from overseas visitors next year because the market is particularly sensitive to the whims of American tourists.