THE former director of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay has slammed the “tartanising of our tourist-thronged high streets” and called for a return to traditional values that protect residents in the Scottish capital and beyond.
Pete Irvine, the events entrepreneur, waded into the row over so-called tartan biscuit barrel tourism as kilt and souvenir shops, forests of ad clutter and a steady stream of short-term let holidaymakers bring concerns about over-tourism swamping the Scottish capital's historic streets.
The author of Scotland the Best and former director of Unique Events said that “as responsible custodians, we cannot merely preside over and turn a blind eye to the commodification of everything that doesn’t move”.
Analysis: When the local people begin to resent visitors, we have a problem
Mr Irvine, who devised and directed events including Burns an' a' that! and Bannockburn Live, said: “We shouldn’t condone the tartanising of our tourist-thronged high streets and we mustn’t just be grateful for the chainifying of emerging urban food quarters.
“As we further curate and exploit our attractions, the Scotland we present to visitors now becomes an increasingly delicate and demanding responsibility."
He said: "Inevitable as some of these developments may be, we should nevertheless endeavour to continue to be creative, considerate and hospitable – old style values that will become ever more valuable in the A.I-led future.
"We have long been in that market place but everyone’s on to it now. Scotland has extraordinary and precious raw materials with which we have already fashioned a brand the world recognises and rather likes.
"We have to protect it, not allow it to be squandered, and keep making it better.
"And we need to make it better especially for those of us who actually live on the street or the hill where so many passing visitors want to walk and take pictures – welcome though they are."
Analysis: When the local people begin to resent visitors, we have a problem
It follows fresh concerns over "tartan tat" shops and over-tourism in the Scottish capital.
Among the measures the council has planned is a tourist tax to help manage tourism in the city, which welcomes 4.5 million to events each year and the country's two top tourist sites - the National Museum of Scotland and Edinburgh Castle - each attracted more than two million visits last year, the first time that any visitor attraction in Scotland has surpassed the two million milestone.
Terry Levinthal, of the heritage watchdog the Cockburn Association, said that tartan had been "pushed to the limits", while other elements of over-tourism are "perhaps all part of the tartanification of the city".
Mr Irvine said: "The service industry, the dominant sector of all modern economies and particularly tourism, has to respond very fast as we dance to the new algorithms and navigate a way through shiny towering cities with a Starbucks and Pret on every corner. But we, the perpetually hungry hordes, also crave tangible experience, authenticity and the human touch. All things Scotland can readily offer - when we get it right."
"As we further curate and exploit our attractions, the Scotland we present to visitors now becomes an increasingly delicate and demanding responsibility. It’s one that we should all take on. More than ever quality, originality and excellence are worth striving for, and proclaiming. That’s why the Scottish Thistle Awards - the so-called Oscars of the tourism industry - are important."
Analysis: When the local people begin to resent visitors, we have a problem
Mr Irvine, who stood down as director of Unique Events two years, said: "Creative entrepreneurism is the life blood of a dynamic and responsive tourism industry – fortunately it’s in our DNA.
Mr Irvine said: "We really did creatively enhance the visitor experience. Now the world comes on a plane to see the country that did all this, a Scotland they’ve been alerted to on social media, and to meet the people who carry forward an extraordinary legacy.
"So as responsible custodians, we cannot merely preside over and turn a blind eye to the commodification of everything that doesn’t move."
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