Coronavirus and travelling to Scotland

You might have heard about coronavirus recently. Maybe a wee bit too much? Since everyone’s talking about it, we didn’t want to be left out.

Obviously, given the current state of the pandemic and the tragic loss of lives that has occurred, and will occur in the months to come, we wanted to let you know that we’re worried about coronavirus and monitoring the situation carefully here at MaccyB’s HQ. 

As we’re a tour operator, we’ve gotten plenty of questions about the virus from travellers wanting to visit Scotland. We regularly monitor the advice from experts, health professionals and government agencies, both local and international. The UK government has published an action plan, and currently, there is no advice against travel, and will not likely be in the future either. All our tours should depart as planned. However, as we know from history, pandemics can escalate quickly (did someone mention Spanish flu?), so we have decided to have a wee bit more relaxed cancellation policy for a while. If you’re unsure you can travel as planned, you can change your travel dates free of charge or cancel the tour now up to 48 hours before departure. If cancelling, you get the usual 75% refund. The remaining 25% can then be put towards a future tour departing within 12months. Check out the full terms and conditions for more information.

If you feel sick, please, don’t travel. But remember that pandemics aren’t new. When MacBackpackers was still a baby, SARS was going around the globe, after that, we’ve had bird flu, swine flu and MERS. They all should be taken seriously, but some of us might agree that media is really making the most of this one. 

So what happens if you decide to travel? On our tours, you’re in a good company, as you’ll be surrounded by other travellers who are 18-40-year-olds (and only have a 0.2% chance of dying if they contract coronavirus). We’ll take you explore the Scottish Highlands, so basically away from the masses. Besides, we’ve bought plenty of delicious smelling antibacterial wipes, gels and sprays to keep our buses and hostels even cleaner than usual.

If you still need convincing to consider travelling to Scotland, we’ve also stocked up with toilet paper so that you can travel light without worrying about queueing in supermarkets and get hit by trolleys of toilet roll hoarders. 

Continue living your best life and make those travel dreams happen, just remember to wash your hands often. Book any of our standard tours of Scotland departing in March or April now with promo code Corona and get 10% off and a bottle of you-know-what.

Read more about the latest UK Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice and WHO information.