Arran businesses fear 'frightening' energy costs as community looks for tourist resurgence

Islanders on Arran are concerned over the 'frightening' cost-of-living challenges ahead of them, and they are now rallying as a community to get the message out that Arran is open for business amid fears of a potential tourism drop.

Arran’s inaugural Festival of Food and Drink kicked off this week, which the community hopes will be the first of many ways to bring tourists back in larger numbers after experiencing a hit this summer.

It’s been blow after blow for the island community. A combination of the pandemic halting life in general, and a series of ferry disruptions put a massive dent in their tourism sector. When both were taken into account, figures from the Arran Recovery Group showed it cost the island £58million in tourist income.

READ MORE: The real impact of disruption to Arran's ferry service

READ MORE: New Arran ferry hit by further delays

But some of the islanders feel as if it was the ferry disruptions which had the real impact.

Owner of family run Brodick Brasserie, Graeme McKinnon told Clyde 1: “I think in many ways the ferry disruption impacted us more than covid did, because there is no safety net.

“If ferries are off or breakdown we have massive holes in our restaurant, and it is an immediate effect, it’s not something that just happens down the line, it’ll impact us that night and that affects us quite badly.”

Shortly after speaking with Graeme, I was informed the starboard engine on the Caledonian Isles was broken and didn’t find out until 1-hour before the scheduled departure that it would eventually go ahead, leaving my frantic hunt for accommodation thankfully pointless.

That was only a small taste of what Islanders and visitors go through when visiting Arran and the community are frustrated with the way it puts people off visiting.

However, now the community faces a completely new challenge; the cost-of-living crisis.

'It's scary we're feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis'

Graeme says the price of salmon and quality beef has doubled, and he’s not the only feeling the pinch. Other family run businesses using the food and drink festival as a needed boost told Clyde 1 about their soaring energy prices.

Owners of Mara seafood deli, Gordon and Kirsty Decaestecker said: “It’s scary, we’re feeling the impact of the energy costs.

“We’re probably paying monthly now, what we would have previously paid in an annual quarter. It’s frightening.”

Manager of the Douglas Hotel, Kate Russell told Clyde 1: It’s horrific, the monthly electricity bill has gone up from around £4000 to £14,000 and combine that with rising supply costs and wages needing to go up, it’s not easy.”

With the cost-of-living crisis also having a detrimental impact on people’s disposable incomes, there are concerns that tourism could take another dip if the situation doesn’t improve.

'We've shown as a community we're generally quite resillient'

It means that now more than ever, the hospitality sector on the island need to work together to attract visitors back to the area and they’re starting with the Festival of Food and Drink.

Multiple events over the course of 12-days will showcase what the pubs, restaurants, cafes all have to offer by using local cuisine.

If there is one island community that can do it, it must be Arran. The establishments have survived a pandemic and continue to endure a ferry service that disrupts their entire way of operating.

Sheila Gilmore from Visit Arran works with every business closely and says working together will see them through future challenges.

She told Clyde 1: “I think the island definitely faces challenges going forward, but we are ready for it and will deal with it as best we can.

“We’ve shown that as a community we are generally quite resilient we’ll continue to do everything we can, for when people come to the island, they still have that warm Arran welcome.”

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