Quote Originally Posted by davidlpope View Post
If its purpose is to entice foreigners to "come back home" to Scotland and spend their money, then give the customer what they want.
I don't think there is any doubt whatsoever that the whole purpose behind a year of "Homecoming" is to entice tourists to visit the country and spend their money here. A lot of locals, myself included, went along for the entertainment but it was fairly obvious, particularly in the clan village which seemed to be almost exclusively staffed by and for non-Scots, that this was not an event aimed primarily at locals. As such it would have been appropriate to have any shortfall made up by the tourism authorities rather than local trades people having their livelihoods jeopardised as happened after the last one. This may well explain the demise of the 2014 Gathering plan if local businesses have looked to recent experience and declined to have any part in another possible debacle.