AS a working tour guide for more than 15 years I’m not in the least
surprised that Shetland is the only place in the UK to make it on to Lonely
Planet’s list of Top Ten Best Travel Destinations in Europe (“Unlikely you
will be lonely on Shetland after listing in guide’s top 10″, The Herald,
May 21).
Accolades like this don’t happen by accident. True, Shetland’s unique
scenery and wildlife can often speak for themselves, but word has to get
out of just how fantastic a visitor destination Shetland is. TV programmes
and other promotion initiatives play a part, but by far the best advert for
Shetland is “word of mouth” when the visitors get back home to destinations
all over the world.
Most of the credit for visitors’ tales of positive experiences should go to
our hospitality industry. Feedback I’ve had from visitors on Shetland’s
tour guides, hotels, B&Bs, cafes, heritage centres, museums and local
crafts always rate these very highly; often the best the visitor has ever
experienced. We should all give ourselves a pat on the back.
Lonely Planet says “nature rules this stirring setting, which features
towering cliffs, rolling hills, sky-blue lochs and spectacular birdlife”.
Also, “travellers will be captivated by the island’s rugged beauty…”’
Shame it isn’t going to last. Thanks to Shetland Islands Council and their
wind farming pals we will soon have a completely industrialised landscape.
What will visitors think then of our “rolling hills” criss-crossed and
scarred by more than 100 miles of wide bulldozed tracks, punctuated by
dozens of huge quarries and topped by hundreds of 500ft-tall turbines? Will
they love our “naked glens flanked by steep hills” when they are filled by
vast converter station buildings and lined with pylons and power lines?
Will they still be able to fish in our ‘twinkling sky-blue lochs’ when they
are polluted by concrete run-off and diesel spill?
Reading the press reports I’m sickened by the hypocritical statements from
the leader of Shetland Islands Council, which fully backs the
industrialisation of the Shetland landscape. The landscape that SIC leader
Steven Coutts calls “a beautiful environment, all of which makes Shetland
an excellent place to live, work, study and visit” will be soon be anything
but.
Allen Fraser,
Burra, Shetland.
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