A fairer and more equal society: how the self-catering sector can help to reorient our economy towards wellbeing and fair work.
The economic and social benefits of self-catering
- Tourism brings a number of economic, social, and cultural benefits to our communities – and generates employment and economic activity in our rural and remote areas in particular, which then brings wider societal benefits.
- Self-catering is one of the more sustainable holiday sectors with businesses supporting communities through local visitor spend and through business sourcing local tradesmen and suppliers.
- Rather than hollowing out communities, self-catering units support them and retain the visitor pound in the local economy, demonstrating community sustainability.
- Tourism is a mainstay of the Scottish economy; and self-catering is hugely important to Scottish tourism in terms of jobs, revenue, and world-class experiences offered to guests. To be such an essential part of Scotland’s tourism mix is even more remarkable for our sector when most self-caterers operate small or micro businesses. The recovery of Scottish tourism will benefit small businesses, while responsible and sustainable tourism can help communities to recover too.
- Self-catering provides a £867m per annum boost to the Scottish economy, benefiting local communities the length and breadth of Scotland, supporting 23,979 FTE jobs. The generation of such wealth is imperative to improving societal outcomes for all.
Women in Self-Catering
- The ASSC, the main trade association representing the traditional self-catering industry in Scotland, is run by an entirely female staff and its board has 50% female representation.
- In terms of the self-catering as a whole, we are proud that so many women are involved in our sector and are playing a leading role in Scotland’s important tourism industry.
- According to a recent ASSC Sectoral Survey, the majority of self-catering businesses are run by either females or partnerships where the self-catering element of the business is managed by the female[1], with just 12% of operators being male. This is often linked with females being able to fit the operation of their business around child-care and other responsibilities.
- In addition, when looking at short-term letting more widely, through platforms like Airbnb, women are finding a new source of supplemental income and a new opportunity for economic independence and are also seeing significant social impact from their hosting. In Scotland, around 59% of Airbnb hosts are female.
- Short-term letting is not a blanket solution to economic inequality but it can provide an important and independent stream of income for women. We firmly believe that our sector can serve as a powerful way for women to independently achieve greater financial, professional and social empowerment.
Importance of sustainability
- The ASSC was proud to be part of the Strategy Steering Group to develop Scotland’s National Tourism Strategy: Scotland Outlook 2030. This commits the tourism sector to make a full contribution to our national ambition to become a net-zero society by 2045. It also commits to ensuring “the value of tourism to Scotland’s economy continues to increase, and delivers shared prosperity for all, by encouraging the right growth in the right areas.”
- During the earlier stages of the pandemic, when international travel was severely restricted, the demand for ‘staycations’ within Scotland increased. However, holidaying within Scotland, rather than jumping on a plane to a resort overseas, should not only be encouraged during a global pandemic – but as an environmental, social and economic positive going forward.
- Self-catering properties can, therefore, be viewed as a solution to sustainability, not the problem. Indeed, as one of our members – Louise Dickins (owner of Dickins Edinburgh Ltd) – so ably put it: “Quite often in our rural locations [self-catering units) are the main choice of where to stay. And they’re an opportunity to stay in the heart of nature. They’re affordable to families too. Scotland is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and so we’re so lucky across the UK to be able to holiday here and not damage the planet in the process.”
- Self-catering units can help to disperse guests around Scotland and are available in areas that are not often well-served by hotel chains, thereby spreading the economic benefits even wider.
- As academic studies have shown, there are “clear economic benefits” for areas containing short-term lets, and the type of tourist staying in such accommodation “has a high annual spend relative to other tourists and much of this expenditure seems to be concentrated in the local area. This may facilitate the development of tourism areas into less seasonal and more sustainable areas. These findings need to be incorporated into the broader debate which criticises holiday home tourists as creating ‘ghost towns’ and re-constructing the social fabric of local villages.”
- The self-catering sector also supports Scotland’s National Performance Framework in many ways. For instance:
- Short-term lets are one of the more sustainable holiday sectors with businesses supporting communities through local visitor spend and through business sourcing local tradesmen and suppliers.
- Our sector demonstrates fair work and business, encouraging innovation and development.
- In terms of alleviating poverty, short-term lets generally offer excellent value for family holidays, which are important for health and mental health in particular.
- Rather than hollowing out communities, self-catering units support them and retain the visitor pound in the local economy, demonstrating community sustainability.
- Tourism plays a vital role in supporting culture. Self-catering units have a long history and are part of all our cultural heritage, plus playing their part in providing a wide range of accommodation for major events, world-wide for cultural visitors, audiences and performers such as at the Edinburgh Fringe and Festivals.
- In terms of the environment, short-term lets offer a sustainable way to holiday, with operators increasingly adhering to a range of environmental conditions and a significant number belonging to various green accreditation schemes.
[1] Other responses included three-way partnerships, 70/30 female/male, whole business 50/50 but self-catering element female