If a stranger were to flick through the pages of my passport, I would not blame them for making a number of assumptions. One, that I have a house in Amsterdam, or two that I have a questionable drug habit which requires me to travel there to get the goods on a semi-regular basis. Probably the only thing that appealed to me about Brexit was the reintroduction of stamps in passports from European cities.
There is something satisfying about leafing through the thick premium pages and seeing the different array of emblems inked there to document your foreign travels. But given you only get them when you first arrive in Europe, I don’t have much variety. It’s pretty much all Amsterdam.
As one of the only flights to a major hub remaining from Aberdeen airport, I find myself visiting Schiphol every time I want to leave the country – which is as often as my boss will let me, these days. Today, for instance, I am sitting on a balcony in the south of France debating whether to take the train to Monaco for the afternoon or finish my book on the beach. But in order to make it here I had to take a hop, skip and a jump on multiple planes, trains and automobiles – not exactly plain sailing.
I am very grateful KLM runs so many frequent routes from Aberdeen to the Dutch capital but I can’t help but hanker back to the days before Covid when I was able to step on one plane and end up in Paris in around an hour. So when I heard I was over the moon. Because when we think about it, the benefits these flights would bring are not purely to help me dart around the world quicker – although clearly my main motivator.
The improvement in connectivity it would bring to the Granite City would be immense. Total says it would be hugely beneficial to the business, and of course, servicing the oil and gas industry is important. But if we have learned anything of late, it’s that there’s a whole lot of tourists keen on visiting this beautiful corner of the world, which we had perhaps not appreciated before.
Cruise ships docking in the South Harbour have resulted in thousands of international visitors exploring Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire over the course of the last two summers. It is not an uncommon sight to witness Europeans decked out with their cameras snapping pictures of Marischal College or brightly painted Nuart walls. But this is not a new concept.
Germans have been visiting the north-east corner for decades. Particularly keen on fly-drive holidays, it was a popular destination for those looking to come and explore the city before heading into the Aberdeenshire countryside to explore our distilleries, visit our golf courses and take in the Scottish home of the Queen. But with the loss of the Lufthansa Frankfurt route from Aberdeen in 2018, it feels the city is relying on all its visitors coming in off the liners.
The potential that lies in Aberdeen tourism is huge The potential we have in Aberdeen and the north-east corner to really grow our visitor economy is huge. Any time I ever speak to tourists they fawn over the splendour of the granite, the magic of Old Aberdeen and the beauty of our green parks. That’s without even exploring the possibilities of what is available across the Grampian region.
So why is there not more to cater for and serve them? Talks of introducing a tourist tax in Aberdeen were met with controversy last week. And I must say, I think it’s a great idea. If we are to be welcoming more people here on holiday an extra couple of quid on their nightly bill isn’t likely to put anyone off – nor is it realistically going to put our prices up to the days of old.
But if some of that money that comes in can be reinvested back into the regeneration of the city, surely that allows for a better Aberdeen to be built for more people to want to return to? It is abundantly clear there is interest in our fair city from faraway lands, and not just for what we offer in oil and gas. And there is no better time than now, to consider how we rebuild ourselves as a tourist city for the benefit of not just our visitors but for ourselves too..
