Malcolm Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 ???? 180 tourists all wanting to go shopping an NO MUDDY SHOPS OPEN! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groilick Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^This could explain why Shetland is quite rightly near the bottom of the recent tourism poll the bosses of Visit Shetland and Promote Shetland were criticising on Radio Shetland on Thursday night. From Shetland News: http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/2010/May/news/In%20brief%20for%2021%20May%202010.htmHoliday rubbish PROMOTE Shetland manager Andy Steven has rubbished a survey from Virgin Money Travel Insurance that listed Shetland as one of the UK’s least friendly holiday destinations. The survey was based on the weather and the number of hotels, restaurants and holiday attractions. Sussex coastal town Eastbourne came out top of the list, pushing Manchester and Birmingham into second place. Shetland was fourth from the bottom with Orkney coming two places further down the table, beaten into last place by Wells, in Somerset. Mr Stevens said: “There’s a big difference between the visitors that find Eastbourne attractive and those that find the northern isles attractive. This report bears no sense of reality as far as we are concerned.†Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marooned in Maywick Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 Or, to look at it differently...what muddy fool took 180 tourists here on a Sunday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted May 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 Or, to look at it differently...what muddy fool took 180 tourists here on a Sunday? They came in on a tall ship and are here till 10am tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banzai Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 180 tourists all wanting to go shopping an NO MUDDY SHOPS OPEN!think they came here for the shops? dont think so? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marooned in Maywick Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 Are the retailers aware of proposed visits? Or was this an unscheduled 'look alang'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 They came in on a tall ship and are here till 10am tomorrow. Maybe the cook doesn't work Sundays.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted May 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 180 tourists all wanting to go shopping an NO MUDDY SHOPS OPEN!think they came here for the shops? dont think so? Nearly all that came into the VIC asked if and when the shops would be open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterboy Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 Come come why all the fuss, surely they can go to that retail mecca that is TESCO open 24/7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unlinkedstudent Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 Malcolm has a point. I think I made a similar point re the cruise ship terminal questionnaire posed by a student the other month. People visiting from visiting cruise ships do, IMHO, expect some shops to be open. I know I did when I visited elsewhere on a cruise ship, regardless of it being a Sunday. Okay, so in this particular instance it is a visiting tall ship and not a cruise ship but, nevertheless, it has onboard 180 visitors wanting something to do. Tourism in this day and age is a seven days a week business. Never mind the SIC encouraging the town centre shops to have a nice new splash of paint; how they look on the outside is somewhat irrelevant to boosting the local economy if the blooming shops aren't open to take the tourists' dosh! Some of those tourists MAY have wanted to purchase Shetland knitwear, Puffin poo, a mug with a shetland pony on, etc. Wasn't aware Tesco sold these items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavi Ugl Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 I feel so sorry for these folk off the Statsraad Lehmkul It's pouring with rain and the place is dead. On top of this, Shetland is the dourest looking place on earth in the rain. Why, oh why we as a community can't see that Shetland needs to improve on all fronts when it comes to tourism is a mystery to me. Maybe, just maybe the Virgin survey wasn't so far off the truth..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 But equally visitors arriving on Sundays may not want to spend enough to justify those shops that are normally closed on Sundays opening. And the owners of those shops may still work a 6 day week so will be rather keen on having their one day a week off as a break. Please also remember that the shops in Lerwick are not the sort that close for the whole winter. As I said in the other topic about cafes I think the port authority should tell people wanting to book their vessels in on a Sunday that many of the shops are closed. And I guess I must point out that Don Leslie's (or whatever it is called now) does sell a few things with "Shetland" on them.[/b][/i] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 The LPA must have at least a rough idea ahead of time what shipping in expected on what day, and how many folk of what "kind" is on board. If such doesn't already exist, can the LPA not let the local High Street Mafia (or whatever they call themselves) know, and they can circulate date and approx passenger numbers to their membership, so that anyone with a shop that might benefit from their trade, decide whether they want to open specially or not. Splitting that atom it is not. Ideally the shops would get back to their Mafia management confirming who was intending opening and when, and that could be fed back to the LPA and onward to the ship on arrival. But if they haven't already got it, maybe they better get communications opened and functional in one direction before they try messaging in both directions. Learn the alphabet first, then worry about joined up writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khitajrah Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 ^ When I worked in one of the shops there was a list of dates that the cruise ships were coming in so we had the choice of whether to open or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 23, 2010 Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 ^^ I was having a hard time believing something like that didn't exist, considering how much has been said about it off and on over the years. Question now I suppose is, did no shop think it worthwhile to open today, or did today's boat not make the list, or have they not done a list this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.