THE draw of major events and the resulting benefits for Scotland’s hospitality industry and licensed trade were underlined again last week with the news that a Stirlingshire hotel is fully booked for next year’s Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, despite not yet being open.
Cromlix House Hotel near Dunblane, which was bought by tennis ace Andy Murray earlier this year and is being run by Inverlochy Castle Management International, is set to undergo a major refurbishment before being relaunched as a 15-bedroom five-star hotel next spring.
Yet before work on the revamp has even begun, there isn’t a room to be had when golf’s biennial match-play competition between Europe and the US comes to Gleneagles on September 23, 2014.
In fact, after a quick trawl of the Ryder Cup and VisitScotland accommodation website it seems, in Perthshire at least, there isn’t a single hotel room available – and not much in the way of hotel accommodation across the central belt and Highlands either.
That’s not to mention the hundreds of guest houses and self-catering properties which are likely to be equally busy.
With thousands of golf fans expected to descend on Perthshire next September, many of whom are expected to tie in the Ryder Cup with a longer visit to Scotland, it seems hotels, pubs and restaurants across the country stand to benefit.
