The fragile Angus economy has already lost £10,000 and other tourism bookings are “leaking away” following the closure of a golf and country estate in the county.
Letham Grange has become popular with golfers from Stavanger in Norway, with a party of 20 visitors already forced to cancel their plans following the shock shutdown of the estate.
It has now emerged the trip would have been worth £10,000 to the local economy.
And in a further blow, we can reveal that more Norwegian golfers from the area are now cancelling their plans to return to Angus after reading about the closure on The Courier website.
rjan Heradstveit, from a Norwegian golfer based in Stavanger, had been planning a return visit to Letham Grange in September with a couple of friends.
He said, “I found out about their fate when I was going to book our golf tour for September.
“I looked up Letham”s email contact address via their homepages when I read the banner that said they had closed.Too bad
“Too bad that such a golf resort has been closed.
“I”ve been there twice with both my wife and with my golf mates, and we really loved that place.”
“When they open, I”ll definitely go back to Letham Grange. Let”s really hope they re-open.”
Mr Heradstveit found The Courier article online, and through visitscotland.com he contacted Elma McMenemy, of Stonehaven, who is a Norwegian-speaking tourism consultant and Blue Badge tourist guide.
“He doesn”t really need my help to book, only suggestions for alternatives and in the circumstances I was happy to help himand of course promote the Angus alternatives, toofree of charge,” she said.
“He was very grateful and emailed back. Sadly, however, he is planning to travel to Aberdeenshire.”
The previous group of 20 golfers from Stavanger also decided to go Aberdeenshire as an alternative.
Elma was asked to help them out by the travel firm they booked with following the resort closure and she expressed regret that she could not accommodate their needs in Angus.
“When I got the request from Travel and Event to find alternative accommodation for their clients, my first thought was to try to keep the business in Angus if I possibly could,” she said.
“As a locally-based tourism consultant with over 30 years” experience of tourism in the north east, I realise only too well just how damaging the current problems at Letham Grange could be for the Angus tourism industry and economy,” she said.
“However, this group had very particular requirementsthe golf course (ideally more than one) had to be on-site so no travel was necessary between accommodation and courses, and they really wanted five rounds of golf over their weekend visita tight squeeze, even at Letham Grange.Carnoustie
“My initial thoughts were of course Carnoustie Golf Hotel and Spa, or perhaps Forbes of Kingennie country resort or Piperdam.
“However, when I started to work out timings for coach transfers from Aberdeen airport, I realised that these were just too far away to be practical. for five rounds of golf between a Friday morning arrival and Sunday late afternoon departure.
“That was when I realised that one of the Aberdeenshire locations would be best for them and fortunately we have managed to book them into Inchmarlo Golf Resort on Royal Deeside.
“Based both on research published by VisitScotland on the golf visitor market and my own knowledge of Norwegian visitors and of this booking, I would say that in total, including all expenditure in addition to their package, particularly drink, this change of venue will have lost around £10,000 to the Angus economy.
“Not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, but this is just one booking for one group for a two-night weekend.”
“What we cannot tell is how many other bookings are now leaking away to other areas as a result of the sudden closure of Letham Grange.”
The resort closed last month following a fresh legal battle over ownership.
Taiwanese businessman Dong Guang (Peter) Liu has sought to take possession of the property, claiming it is his, and legal proceedings went through all levels of the Scottish courts system and to the House of Lords.
Letham Grange Management Company Ltd was appointed to run the hotel following the outcome of the original liquidators” litigation with Mr Liu in February 2009, and invested £300,000 to modernise it after years of stagnation resulting from the long-running and highly complex legal tussle over ownership.
Refurbishments include upgrading bedrooms, opening a new brasserie and bar, and improving drainage on the Old and Glens golf courses.
There is now further litigation and the directors have failed to secure investment to keep trading.