Thanks to Anonymous for alerting me to this.
In 2022 (latest data), Ayrshire and Arran saw 630 000 overnight visitors and 4.2 million UK day-trippers, 2.11 million nights were spent in accommodation and £345 million was spent.
Around one quarter of those reported using a ferry. There is only one ferry route from Ayrshire – to Arran.
So, a very significant part of the above benefits are gained by Arran, population only 5 058 out of 369 360 in Ayrshire and Arran.
To quote Anonymous:
How the hell did most of these people travel over to Arran?
There’s only one way, barring a tiny plane or your daddy’s yacht – CalMac Ferries.
But, wait aren’t they too infrequent and unreliable ? The media and some politicians insist they are.
Anytime, I look, it’s 10 sailings a day, 100% on time and rarely one or two sailings cancelled, often for high winds, but never ‘cut-off.’
In May 2024, I did a quick survey of all CalMac ferries and found from the 1st to the 28th May 2024, across its 50 or so routes with 34 vessels, CalMac averaged 98.8% on time. The Arran crossing hit nearly 100%.
Tourism in Ayrshire & Arran generates a direct economic impact of over £355 million and a total economic impact of over £470 million. The industry supports 9,475 Full-Time Equivalent jobs.
Should islanders be grateful? From Golfnut in August 2024:
The current 2 ship service dates back to 2004 and that service provision would have quickly disappeared had the Scottish government not introduced subsidies which 1, kept the service provision viable and 2, made the the service affordable to the islanders and tourists. This applies across the fleet with some destinations barely washing their face financially.
The much abused phrase ‘ lifeline service ‘ applies to the provision provided by the Scottish Government, because without those subsidies that life line service for a lot of islanders wouldn’t exist.
Sources:
https://www.visitscotland.org/research-insights/regions/ayrshire-arran
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Sorry but from an apparent ‘ignorant East coaster’ who has visited Arran only on a couple of occasions I am susprised by your comment that only a ‘quarter?’ used the ferry. Is there another way to get there that I don’t know about?
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Only a quarter went Arran
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A quarter of the visitors went to Arran – the other three quarters didn’t…
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Maybe a tunnel? Swim? Canoe?
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🤣
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Hitch a lift with migrating geese? 😉
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The islanders are getting a really good service. Visitors have increased to Scotland since COVID and better weather. The Shetland ferry sails every evening from Aberdeen. Plenty of visitors and subsidised for islanders. Flights as well. Cheaper fares. Orkney is one of the best places to live in the world.
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Actually more tourists to Scotland mainly from England, due to them voting for BREXIT and taking Scotland out of the EU by force with an incredibly bad ‘deal’.
O/T
Start growing your own veg folks if you can any patch of outside sapce, patio etc, because I read that though England has a few farms, equal to a tiny % of EngLAND, half of them are likely to go out of business VERY soon, due to BREXIT. So any veg imported from overseas won’t be transported to Scotland in a hurry, there will be shortages.
Scotland needs to take back the land and start growing food in polytunnels where necessary, or be reliant on what England allows to be transported into Scotland, the scraps, duds, out of date more than usual, produce.
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The Arran ferry takes an hour. 10 a day. Better than some bus services.
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” How the hell did most of these people travel over to Arran? ” puzzled me also, until I twigged to the ” Ayrshire and Arran ” 2022 data.
Even 25% of 4.2 million of UK day-trippers is staggering, yet it does beg the question how many of them complained about a ferry being late, being old, or the entire fleet being not fit for purpose ? I’d reckon none.
As observed before, all the complaints in the media appear to originate from business people and ‘ferry user groups’ purportedly representing residents on Arran etc., yet it has a Pennington air about it, no not embalming fluid, it was a Japanese sounding perfume, Siu… something or other…
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I live in Findhorn and Moray Council (Tory) have just allowed Stagecoach to remove the Findhorn to Forres (and the train station) bus service apart from one service in the morning and one in the afternoon. The councilors made out it was the fault of the Scottish Goverment because of the under 22 and over 60 free bus travel. This is clearly a pile of stinking ordure and was uncorrected by the P&J.
Why all councils now don’t copy Edinburgh and have their own bus companies, as they are now allowed to, do is beyond me.
Arran appears to be doing pretty well on the transport front.
Calmac provides one of the ferry services in the world. Labour, the Torys and the MSM want it to be privatised. Who would benefit out of that (certainly not Scotland)?
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Can you name a single privatised industry which became a roaring success in Scotland ? Or the UK ?
Asset stripping rarely breeds success
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The Tory/Labcons/libdems coalition council in Edinburgh, who ousted the SNP to grab back the control of the council, are not to be trusted with Lothian buses though. I don’t think they will sell it off, but services have been changed some to the detriment of bus users. Roadworks have been constant and kept in place for weeks sometimes months, hard to know why, but the English companies getting contarcts for the barriers etc must be making a packet!
CECouncil are wrecking the city, it’s a mess now, literally.
Lothian buses were going to be sold off in the 1980’s but there were protests so it was saved and kept in public (council controlled) hands.
There’s a film about at the https://movingimage.nls.uk/search, look up Ref/8629.
Not sure which party controlled Edinburgh council back then, Tories or Labour doesn’t make any difference anyway.
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