Caltongate hotel plan 'a must'

TOURISM and business leaders have united in support of a luxury hotel planned for the controversial Caltongate scheme.

They say the hotel is "a must" for Edinburgh, after a report showed the Capital has fallen behind its European rivals in terms of the number rooms on offer to visitors.

Bosses at VisitScotland, the city's Chamber of Commerce and the Edinburgh Convention Bureau have all backed the multi-million hotel after developers released images of what it will look like.

A report published by property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle shows the Capital is trailing other major European destinations in hotel provision – offering just a third of the number of rooms available in Prague and ten times fewer hotels than Paris.

Graham Birse, deputy chief executive of Edinburgh's Chamber of Commerce, said the plans for the Caltongate scheme were "visionary and ambitious".

He said: "The designs are contemporary, bold and complementary to a city which has always been constructed in the styles of its times.

"Edinburgh is crying out for more high-quality hotel space to boost our conference and tourism sector. It's therefore imperative this development is approved."

Ben Carter, area director of VisitScotland, said the organisation would "support the development of a flagship hotel" in the Old Town.

He said: "We are keen to ensure Edinburgh can contribute to the national ambition of increasing annual revenue from tourism by 50 per cent in ten years.

"Current hotel occupancy is very strong in Edinburgh and if we are to capitalise on efforts to grow revenue from tourism we will require additional hotel beds and conference facilities."

The report, gathered from research by property specialists, estimated that Edinburgh needs another 1500 hotel beds to have a similar supply per visitor to cities such as London, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Berlin.

Niall Macdonald, director of Jones Lang LaSalle, said: "This hotel development will act as the catalyst for bringing greater life and vitality to this area of the city.

"From what we are seeing in our day-to-day activity in the Edinburgh market, there is still significant demand from hotel operators for accommodation within the city centre.

"If Edinburgh is to remain competitive in the European tourism market, we need sufficient additional hotel capacity to cope with demand."

The Caltongate proposals involve a cultural quarter, a five-star hotel and conference centre, office blocks, 200 homes, bars, restaurants and cafes, as well as a new street linking Princes Street to Holyrood.

Ralph Radtke, of Sofitel, the company that would run the new hotel, said: "We believe that the Caltongate development will help Edinburgh remain in the premier league of tourist destinations and we urge the City of Edinburgh Council to give their backing to the project."

However, objectors to the controversial scheme said that, although they agreed the city needed more hotels, they still felt that the Caltongate plans were "inappropriate" because of its location in the Old Town.

Bill Cowan, spokesman for the Old Town Association, said: "We appreciate that Edinburgh is short of hotel rooms and we are not against the idea of a new hotel being developed on this site.

"However, what we have concerns about is the style and the detail of what is being proposed here."