{"id":2212,"date":"2015-07-22T08:58:05","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T07:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/abbeylandsresidents.org.uk\/?p=2212"},"modified":"2017-11-24T13:31:54","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T13:31:54","slug":"the-decline-and-decline-of-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/the-decline-and-decline-of-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"The decline and decline of tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dunbar<\/a>
Dunbar Tourism 70s + new advert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I met an engaging old lady the other day\u00a0while I was\u00a0sweeping away the debris of vomit, fag ends and takeaway detritus brought up by the\u00a0predictable\u00a0Friday or Saturday night tide, which day I cannot remember exactly.<\/p>\n

She asserted, with great gravitas, and perhaps\u00a0some authority as she is a genuine local, that\u00a0the decline had its roots in the 70s. With the beginnings\u00a0of mass tourism and the responses by local hoteliers, who converted almost all their\u00a0accommodation into single room occupancy farms for workers for the new industrial Dunbar. I think she exaggerated a little, but she\u00a0might well have been\u00a0right that once\u00a0families had discovered\u00a0the far flung shores of Benidorm and a more congenial climate, the allure of\u00a0our\u00a0local\u00a0attractions\u00a0including the “Fancy French Cement Factory Plume”, “Super-Sized Bass at Torness”, and the “Biggest Hole in the Ground in Scotland (Sponsored by\u00a0Viridor)” just paled.<\/p>\n

But it is different now, with micro breaks (who wants to be stuck in\u00a0a remote rural town\u00a0for a whole week?) and 24 hour shopping (albeit a few miles away).<\/p>\n

So it’s regrettable that Visit East Lothian promotes Dunbar as a pee and a tea stop on its website still, as if this was the backbone of some clever local tourism strategy to attract people to the old town and extract a fiver from each. Just think, the local drainage facilities simply wouldn’t cope.<\/p>\n

On the other, East Lothian Council has capitulated on any policy promises it might have had on sustaining\u00a0 remote rural towns by allowing out of town retail, while letting convenience stores and takeaways emasculate\u00a0the old town and their lax policies and enforcement diminish\u00a0the heritage value of the Conservation Area.<\/p>\n

Todays’ more\u00a0discerning travellers are\u00a0looking for experiences. They are probably drawn to outdoor pursuits, fine food and unspoilt countryside. They are less likely to be\u00a0looking for a single attraction, but a multitude of\u00a0compelling reasons to visit. They are probably well-travelled and benchmarking their experience with visits to medieval hill top towns in Tuscany. They are probably more fearful too, safety conscious, stranger danger and all that, has infected the public consciousness and they’re unlikely to let the kids out on a rural bike ride.<\/p>\n

But here’s a thought. I’ve discovered that many of my foreign guests like nothing more than to visit a spit and sawdust pub and sense the excitement of feeling ever so slightly threatened (and drink up their half pint and escape). I too enjoy doing that in foreign climes, but was a little hesitant\u00a0about\u00a0sticking it\u00a0in among our promotional materials, but then found this sinister 70s promotional video for Dunbar.<\/p>\n