Here are the top business stories making the headlines in the morning newspapers, where the response to the pandemic continues to dominate the agenda.
UK tourism industry in peril as overseas visitors stay away
Last year’s boom in British summer holidays was not enough to save thousands of tourism businesses, according to a new poll.
A survey by the Tourism Alliance of 1,927 tour operators, hotels, attractions, language schools and other travel and hospitality businesses serving foreign tourists found that 11% believe they are “very likely to fail” in 2022, and a total of 41% think they are “quite likely to fail”.
The first three months of 2022 are looking bleak, with cancellations soaring in the wake of the Omicron variant. Almost a third of businesses surveyed have lost at least half of bookings made for domestic holidays between January and March this year.
With far less government support available after the end of the furlough scheme, a quarter of those surveyed said they had no more cash reserves, and just over half said they would run out within two months.
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MSP reveals that Aberdeen businesses pay more rates than Edinburgh
North-east businesses are facing “abjectly unfair, crippling rates”, it has been claimed in this morning's Press & Journal. Aberdeen firms will pay nearly £268.6 million in rates next year, more than in the capital city Edinburgh.
And, as that figure trails only Glasgow, North-east Conservative MSP Douglas Lumsden says the huge bill shows the Granite City is being targeted unfairly to pay for itself.
Worse news still for north-east firms is that the respite of a revaluation due in 2022 was pushed back to next year due to the pandemic. At the last revaluation, now approaching five years ago, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire properties accounted for 45% of the rateable value in all of Scotland.
In response to the concerns, a government spokesman highlighted that every penny paid in rates in Aberdeen would end up in council coffers.
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Cut isolation to five days, plead care home bosses
Care home bosses have called for the self-isolation period to be cut to five days because of record staff absences, according to this morning's Times.
And there are signs that personnel shortages are also affecting GP surgeries in Scotland. More than 150 care home workers test positive for Covid each day and 1,078 staff recorded a positive test last week, the highest rate since the pandemic began.
Senior figures in the social care sector argue that Omicron has affected staff more than residents and have warned that workers are set to “burn out” unless ministers consider reducing the number of days people have to take off after contracting the virus.
The self-isolation period was cut from ten days to seven this month, with people able to leave isolation provided they have no fever and have recorded two negative lateral flow tests on days six and seven.
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Scottish offshore wind growth 'at risk' from rising transmission charges
A new report has laid bare the impacts of the higher transmission charges faced by Scottish offshore wind generators, compared to projects in the south of Great Britain.
The research, commissioned by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), was carried out by independent consultancy ITPEnergised, and uses the latest National Grid ESO forecasts for Transmission Network Use of System charges.
While charges are already highest in Northern Scotland and lowest in South West England, the report finds that charges in some zones are expected to double, compounding the challenge for Scottish projects to lower the cost of energy, compete for government subsidies and attract continued investment into the sector.
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Keenan Recycling swoops for English food waste business
Keenan Recycling has continued its expansion across the UK with the acquisition of business from Northamptonshire firm JNL Waste Services.
The Press and Journal reports that the acquisition includes new trucks, and is expected to strengthen the company’s operations in the Midlands, Northamptonshire and East Anglia.
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