Caithness hotel proprietor joins in plea to Sturgeon over restrictions
Caithness businessman Andrew Mowat is one of more than 100 hoteliers from across Scotland to sign a letter urging Nicola Sturgeon to change controversial new coronavirus rules.
Mr Mowat, who runs the Seaview Hotel at John O'Groats, is concerned about the impact the latest restrictions, introduced last week, could have on his business and staff.
He said: "Things were difficult enough without being forced to cut down operations further. After this 'circuit breaker' is over, the amount of visitors will have fallen away further due to the time of year.
"We are just trying to generate enough trade to keep as many of our staff employed as possible. There has been a downturn in trade and the summer season is over. The local and Christmas trade looks like it has gone."
Mr Mowat added: "I get that tough decisions need to be made, but with all the Covid requirements that we have implemented we are trying to make things as safe as possible. As it's a controlled environment we have had no problems, so I don’t see why we are paying a further price and risk laying off staff at this time."
He hopes the letter to Ms Sturgeon will have an impact. He added: "I hope it will ease things a wee bit here and allow us to operate a bit more freely to help the hotel and the staff."
It is understood Mr Mowat is one of several local hoteliers to sign the letter.
The First Minister banned the sale of alcohol indoors and told pubs and restaurants they can serve only food and soft drinks indoors between 6am and 6pm. Alcohol can be served outside at licensed premises, but only until 10pm.
The new rules, which aim to reduce the spread of Covid-19, came into effect at 6pm last Friday and will last until October 25 – at the end of the autumn school holidays.
But hotel and bar owners in Caithness last week claimed they were being swept up in a nationwide approach when the area was not suffering as badly as most other places.
The letter urges Ms Sturgeon to reconsider the changes and claims that if nothing is done the industry will suffer big losses.