A LEADING voice in Scotland’s golf tourism sector fears he may have to stop trading at his county hotel as the coronavirus looks set to wipe out the summer season.

Malcolm Duck said he is now considering all options for the 23-bedroom Duck’s Inn at Aberlady he runs with his wife after being denied a Scottish Government grant to support the business through the pandemic.

The hospitality veteran, who founded the acclaimed Duck’s at Le March Noire restaurant in Edinburgh in 1988, said he has had to borrow £130,000 to keep the hotel going after seeing a summer’s worth of bookings wiped out by the pandemic.

With the UK Government now demanding employers pick up an increasing amount of the wage costs of furloughed staff from August, Mr Duck said it was impossible to see how the business could afford to contribute wages after months without trading.

Moreover, with the roadmap on exiting lockdown meaning the tourism sector faces months of reduced operating capacity, Mr Duck said the future of the hotel he and his wife have steadily built since 2004 looked increasingly uncertain.

The former Royal Marine said they now have to “explore all the routes” open to them for a hotel that has gained four stars from the AA during their tenure, as well as two AA rosettes for its restaurant. And that includes switching the property from hotel to residential use.

“There’s no money in the bank,” said Mr Duck. “How are we going to pay 20 per cent of furloughed wages? We are now going to inevitably look at residential.”

Mr Duck is part of a group of high-profile golf tourism professionals who have written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warning hoteliers with strong links to the sport will be unable to afford to trade again until next season – despite courses reopening across the country.

The signatories warned the 14-day quarantine period set to be imposed by the UK Government on people flying into the country “kills the market dead”.

Mr Duck, who is a member of the Scotland’s Golf Coast group of accommodation providers, said: “The problem with golf in Scotland is we have very seasonal business. And there are businesses like mine which have fallen through the cracks.

“We get no grants. [But] even a £25,000 or a £10,000 grant that came in April is not going to last you long. If we don’t get open to get some of the summer, then there are going to be huge redundancies coming up in the autumn, because I know people already are thinking about, do we just open in March?”

He added: “If we are going to open with social distancing, which leads then to a third or 20 per cent of our occupancy in the restaurant or hotel, then it is not tenable. You’ll go bust.”

The Scottish tourism industry has continued to campaign vociferously for more government support to help keep pubs, hotels, restaurants, and visitor attractions afloat, amid warnings that hundreds of businesses are on the brink of going to the wall.

Mr Duck recognises the difficult situation faced by the Scottish and UK Governments in balancing lives and the economy as they plot the way out of lockdown. He believes mistakes have been made by both administrations, but would like to see a more definitive course of action taken in Scotland in terms of a fixed date to reopen the tourism industry.

Mr Duck said: “We are going to have a lot of people going unemployed. The summer season is gone… it is not going to be replaced by cheaper, local business.”

He added: “To open up hotels and not have bars and restaurants open [within them], who is going to come on holiday for that? Why can you have people eating outside, socially spaced, and not inside socially spaced?”

He worries there will be a lasting effect on future generations from the lockdown if UK descends into a depression. “These businesses won’t come back,” he said.

Tourism Secretary Fergus Ewing MSP told the Courier: “Scotland’s tourism sector has been hit hard by this pandemic and I do not underestimate the crisis this has created. It is essential, however, that re-opening of the sector is phased and gradual in order to ensure the protection of public health.

“No one wants this to go on any longer than is needed to protect people from the spread of the virus, and the timeline for further changes to restrictions will be based on the best scientific evidence available.

“The plan developed by the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group (STERG) on how to respond to the impact of the virus on the sector will help inform how we move forward as we slowly and carefully emerge from this crisis.

“We will continue to work with the industry on recovery and with partners across the public and private sector, to ensure a strong return of Scotland’s tourism and hospitality sector.”

Councillor John McMillan, East Lothian Council’s spokesperson for economic development and tourism, said: “We know these are very difficult and challenging times for many East Lothian businesses.

"The council is doing all it can to support businesses by signposting to any relevant funding, including government funding and resources like the East Lothian Investments’ Business Interruption loan.

"We are also continuing to operate a remote Business Gateway service.

"I’d urge any business finding themselves in difficulty to look at the resources online at www.eastlothian.gov.uk/coronavirus and get in touch with us at economicdevelopment@eastlothian.gov.uk for whatever support we can provide at this challenging time.”