Mixed fortunes for hotel and restaurant owners over the festive season
Hotels and restaurants have reported a mixed festive season, with business over Christmas slightly down on last year but tourists still flocking to the area to see in the New Year.
And although the strath faces a challenging year tourism-wise in 2012, it is believed there will still be good opportunities for local operators to exploit in the coming months.
David Duncan, general manager of The Grant Arms Hotel, which has 50 bedrooms, said: "The festive season has been absolutely fantastic for us, we are still celebrating!. Christmas and New Year business was much better than last year.
"We have a core group of people who come for birdwatching and to enjoy the wildlife in the area but other people joined us over the festive season too."
He added: "We are looking forward to 2012, we already have plenty of forward bookings, equivalent to 50% of our turnover overall in 2011. The tourism industry has become more challenging but you can still do good business and those who are professional at it will survive."
Paul Brown, general manager of the Duke of Gordon Hotel in Kingussie, which has 65 bedrooms, said: "We do specialise in catering for the over 50s so that core catchment helps us but December was quieter compared to last year. We were nearly full at Christmas although the days between Xmas and Hogmanay were only half full.
"However we were full at New Year, business was about the same as last year. The good thing for us is that many of those who came for Chrismas and New Year had such a fantastic time they booked for the same time in 2012 before they left the hotel!.
"Overall we didn’t do too badly over the festive season and hopefully things will pick up during the year."
A spokesman for the Cairngorm Hotel in Aviemore and the Garth Hotel in Grantown said: "The Christmas and New year weekends held up well and were as good as last year but the period in between wasn’t so strong.
"I think that was partly due to alterations in the changeover days for timeshare owners and also the lack of snow."
He added: "Hogmanay continues to be a great draw for us. It was great to see 2,500 visitors and locals outside the hotel for the bells on Hogmanay, enjoying music from Spud the Piper and fireworks."
The hotel, which has a strong historical relationship with St Johnstone FC, was also delighted to welcome some of the Perth club’s fans who unexpectedly stopped off in Aviemore on Monday. They only discovered as they travelled to Inverness on the train for their game against Caley Thistle FC that it had been called off due to a waterlogged pitch.
The spokesman went on: "Business at The Garth was similar to the Cairngorm Hotel over the festive season as the Christmas and New Year weekends were fine but in between business was a bit down."
Karen Coyle, speaking on behalf of her family who collectively run International Starters hotel bar and restaurant said: "Christmas and New Year has been greater this year compared to last. We feel that being in Aviemore for 4 years now, people are starting to get to know us more and so this was reflected in our bookings.
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"Our Hogmanay was exceptionally busy, with not only a full hotel for the whole period but our restaurant and bar were bustling also. Our bookings for both hotel and restaurant are already looking promising for next year and were are excited about seeing existing customers again, and hopefully welcoming new ones."
Alex Burns-Smith, chairman of Aviemore Business Association, said: "I think takings from tourism in the village were maybe slightly down over Christmas compared to last year but New Year was certainly as good as last year. B and Bs that are open at this time of year seem to have been pretty full.
"Businesses are going to have to work at it in 2012 as nobody knows what is going to happen to the EU this year. Last year the pound was low against the Euro and we benefited from attracting more Dutch tourists and people from other European countries.
"This year with the economies of Spain, Italy and Portugal facing tough times it could be a tough year for tourism here but, on the other hand, the home tourism market should be strong, especially with new, green taxes being added to air fares."
He concluded: "Provided everybody works hard at marketing I think we will come through and show good business figures. Even if the deep snow and fine weather at CairnGorm Mountain comes later in the season that means it could stick around for the Easter holidays which would be great for tourism operators."
