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Tourism Today in Shetland


Guest perrie-lipper
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I heard an article on Radio Orkney yesterday morning which was was reporting on a number of Orcadians who had "passed" as a Visitscotland tour guides for the cruise ships that visit Orkney.

 

But listening to the lady from Visitscotland it was absolutely dreadful and it just seems that Visitscotland are telling the tour guides what to think and what to say. And there was an unhealthy lean towards promoting Scotland rather than Orkney.

 

Methinks Visitscotland just never learns..... :evil:

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The cheapest I have done a five day stay is as follows,

 

train to Aberdeen from Preston 65.00 return

Boat 40.00 ish return

Accomodation 80.00

 

That is a good deal, tho, you need to book in advance and come low season.

 

For single folk, Fort Charlotte is ideal, they have single rooms, good food and so on. Pound for Pound they are the best value.

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The Missus, who's a bloody know-all, reckons it rains 261 days a year here in Shetland.

To avoid getting a skelped butt by her, I quietly maintain it rains 301 days a year, but either way, the massive influx of Tourist Beards, wearing their Berghaus/North Face anoraks and Broon Boots don't seem to be detered by this phenomenon of nature.

Oh and the Wind - niver spik.

But we could easily double the current visitors to the islands.

 

What does affect tourism very badly, are the astronomical costs in getting to here and once they are here, the outright over-the-top pricing by the B&B's and the other hospitality providors.

 

BY the way, someone wrote in Shetlink that UHA is for the locals only.

What a load of sprootle, it's for all to see this fantastic spectacle and to take part in.

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As far as I am aware Visit Scotland have nothing to do with "Tour Guides".

 

What I heard related to the cruise ship bus tours/guides.

 

:)

 

Visit Scotland do not provide tour guides.

 

The only tour guides used are provided by Orkney / Shetland tourism bodies of which Visit Scotland has no say.

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What I heard on Radio Orkney was that a couple of people in Orkney had passed the Visitscotland tour guide accredation scheme and were now "official" Visitscotland accredited tour guides.

 

Beyond that I can't remember every word!.

 

Make sense?.

 

:)

 

 

Nope, still doesn't make sense.

 

Might she have meant... http://www.stga.co.uk/

 

This makes better reading...

http://www.edinburghtouristguides.co.uk/about_us.html

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after having seen the many derelict buildings and also an empty old house with a very good base for restauration... why not repair the buildings traditionally

Clickimin broch is an old hoose with a very good base. Why not rebuild the thing? Nip across tae Mousa for some ideas. Be nice fur a cup o coffee, maybe a restaurant on da top floor. Also pit a tunnel across to Tecso as a extra. (Good practice for da SIC)

This is a serious idea. It would make money! instead of encourging drinking yungsters & vandals.

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For single folk, Fort Charlotte is ideal, they have single rooms, good food and so on. Pound for Pound they are the best value.

 

Thanks for the tip - I'll try them next time, although I would definitely prefer self catering - I don't normally eat much breakfast, and can't afford going out for meals either.

That's always my main problem when it comes to travelling: finding affordable accommodation for a single! Everything (anywhere - that's not a Shetland problem) is geared up for families, or groups of friends. Even out of season nobody wants to give even a tiny discount if you only use one bed in a self-catering house for 6-8 people... Although I use very little electricity, don't get anything dirty (and would clean it up myself, anyway), use only one set of linen etc! Why are providers so unaccommodating? I think there could be a huge market out there for somebody to provide affordable services for singles! I also think that a lot of singles, like myself, just hardly ever go on holiday because there's nothing out there for them. (The few small self catering places, for example, that are available were all well booked last time I checked - but that's a few years ago; can't afford holidays at the moment, so maybe the situation has changed.)

 

Btw, I've never been in Shetland during summer - I only know the worst of it, weatherwise, and I love it!

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the outright over-the-top pricing by the B&B's and the other hospitality providors

 

I'm not sure what establishment(s) you are basing that observation on. Speaking as a self catering provider, we set our rates on the average of what other similarly sized and graded properties in Shetland charge and review them every few years on that basis. When we had our inspection visit from visitscotland this year we were told that we offered very reasonable rates compared to providers elsewhere in the country. I suspect that if you look into the cost of accommodation on the more established tourist trail say on the west coast or in some of the west coast islands, you will find that to be the case.

 

We have no problem filling the house between May and August and in some weeks in the height of summer could do so two or three times over, so if that is anything to go by, visitors appear to have no issue paying what we are asking for. On the other hand (and despite dropping our rates significantly) we are pretty much empty for at least six months a year over the winter, save for the odd weekend booking here and there. That indicates to me that the rates that we charge at least appears not to be a determinant in when and whether folk decide to come.

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That's always my main problem when it comes to travelling: finding affordable accommodation for a single! Everything (anywhere - that's not a Shetland problem) is geared up for families, or groups of friends. Even out of season nobody wants to give even a tiny discount if you only use one bed in a self-catering house for 6-8 people...

I always tried to travel alone (although men do not appreciate separate holidays) and never had problems to get a discount for single travellers whether it was during or out of the season.

 

Why are providers so unaccommodating?
I reckon because the running costs of a house depend not only on the number of people staying in it.

But still, as I said, I cannot confirm the above.

 

First time I stayed on the Western Isles I booked a self catering flat for myself and my son (who was 3 years old at the time) and was offered a huge discount being only "a half family". And although it was a self-catering accommodation we were surprisingly invited to join the family for the evening meals right from the first evening (poached salmon and other fine treats :wink: )

Whereever I stayed in Europe, whether it was a luxury hotel in Austria (single occupancy of a suite) or a small private B&B in Belgium or... I was always offerd discounts for single accommodation.

The only exception was London where you pay for a messy place a lot of money and don't even get a discount when the place is full of cockroaches...

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It seems that Lonely Planet thinks Shetland is a pretty good place to visit ...

 

Shetland has been listed as one of the top regions in the world to visit in 2011. Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2011 singles out the ‘last untamed corner of the UK’ for special praise, advising ‘adventurous travellers to step this way’.

 

From http://visit.shetland.org/shetland-makes-lonely-planets-top-10-tourism-regions-in-the-world

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