Scotland Deals with Untied States Boycott Fears

Right now, Scottish tourism officials are playing down the suggestions that the release of the Lockerbie bomber could lead to an American travel boycott. A website that has just came about over the weekend (boycottscotland.com) has described the Scottish government’s decision to free Abdul Baset Ali al Megrahi as inexcusable.

The site also goes on to recommend a boycott on leisure and business travel to Scotland. However, the Scottish government said that the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber was made on the compassionate grounds that Abdul Baset only had three months to live after contracting a terminal cancer. This decision has now been met with very heavy criticism from the United States, including President Obama and the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

This boycott could be viewed as very embarrassing since it comes during the Year of Homecoming. This is an event that the Scottish government uses to attract people that have Scottish roots. Unfortunately for the Scottish government, most of the people that they try to attract are Americans. As of right now, the United States is the biggest tourism market for Scotland.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond went on to dismiss the boycott. Alex said, “Many, many things appear in the blogosphere. What we are talking about is in the real world, and in the real world the relationship between Scotland and the United States is strong and enduring.”

A spokeswomen for VisitScotland said that the campaign has not had an impact as of yet. There have been no cancellations so far. However, she did admit that they are taking the threats very seriously.