Local guides offer bubble tours for Moray 'hame town' tourists in bid to weather Covid-19 storm
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A LOCAL tour company is offering "bubble tours" as a way to weather the Covid-19 hit to tourism.
Nairn-based Airts & Pairts, which organises bespoke tours in Moray and the north, is urging people to explore our own back yard as "hame town tourists" – given the high probability that staycations will be the main holiday option in the months ahead.
Dan and Elle Tyler, who run Airts & Pairts, have developed bubble tours – private excursions within a social bubble limited to one household – as a safe staycation option.
These include town and battlefield walks, "chase me" tours and countryside rambles. Town walks cover Forres, Elgin, Inverness, Beauly and Nairn. The countryside rambles include coastal walks or a day on the whisky smuggler’s trail. On the self-drive "chase me" tours, day-trippers follow Dan and Elle to places of interest to hear the stories behind them.
Dan said: "The current situation is very challenging for small independent tourism businesses, especially when your customers usually come from all over the world to explore the beauty of our area.
"So we started thinking about formats that would allow us to keep doing what we love doing – sharing our love for Scotland and its history, landscape and people with others."
Elle added: "We know that there is a huge interest amongst local people for history and stories, and it happens on a regular basis that local residents who join one of our tours tell us that they had never noticed certain features of their town.
"Being a tourist in your own back yard, or as VisitScotland currently puts it a #hametowntourist, is definitely possible."
Dan added: "Our guests get their private tour that can be fully tailored to their interests, which is a different experience to a guided tour that is joined by others. With this small, personal setting, we are also able to fully comply with the current social distancing and hygiene requirements."
As Scottish Tourist Guides Association (STGA) Green Badge guides, Airts & Pairts have adapted the STGA Good To Go protocol.
The company is running an introductory offer for bubble tour staycationers who can use the code "#HameTownTourist" to get a 40 per cent discount.
