Letters: Highland welcome

Highland welcome

Sir: I was both amused and appalled to read James Dalrymple's experiences as a tourist in his native Scotland ("A toast to my surly waitress in Skye", 14 August). His descriptions of surly waitresses, disgusting food and horror-comic accommodation ring all too true. He is right to feel that he and his elderly "foreign" companions were ripped off by almost every aspect of their tour, bar the scenery.

He is also right to infer that high prices and shamefully low standards are contributing to the collapse of tourism in Scotland. There are, of course, other factors - the strong pound, dismal weather, fierce midges and a political climate that promotes a vague hostility towards outsiders, particularly our English cousins.

However, as a Highland inn-keeper dedicated to producing delectable food, superb wine and the warmest welcome in the world, I find unhelpful James Dalrymple's suggestion that, rather than try to improve the quality of a visitor's experience of Scotland, we should give up altogether and leave the wilderness to the stout-booted hiker. His article would have been more useful had he named the hostelries where he received such diabolical treatment and identified the grim waitress so that others may avoid these places in future.

I would also point out that there are several excellent hotels and restaurants on Skye, as any of the more reliable guide books would have told him. But then I'm afraid that if he'd had a positive experience, it's unlikely that we would have heard a word about it.