Man-sized Midge Sparks Tourist Board Bust-Up

It's midge wars in Scotland where a niggly battle has developed between tourist boards in the east and west of the country thanks to a publicity stunt.

A consortium of eastern Scottish tourist boards stung - sorry - their western rivals by unveiling a man-sized mige, actually a man in a midge costume, to highlight the menace of the west coast midgies and attract more visitors to their own, less midgey side of the country as part of a 'Bug Off To The East' initiative.

Fancy a bite to eat anyone?

The drier conditions in the east are less favourable to midges and while there are farmyard and garden midges in the east, the ferocious Scottish Biting Midge lives mainly in the Highlands and Islands thanks to a combination of high rainfall and wet acid grassland soils with high organic content as found in the highlands and islands of the west.

The stunt roused the westerners' ire with a spokesperson for the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board reported as saying: "They obviously recognise that the Highlands is the most beautiful part of Scotland and they have to resort to something very negative because they can't find anything else to promote their areas."

The six-foot midge relaxes on the east coast...

Charles Currie, the marketing manager of Aberdeen and Grampian Tourist Board, countered that the campaign was 'tongue in cheek' and said that those put off by the midge menace could head for the east coast secure in the knowledge that they wouldn't be bitten there.

A study quoted in one Scottish newspaper suggested that 86 per-cent of people would advise their friends not to visit Scotland in summer because of the midge problem.

The midge stunt is just part of a new campaign to promote the caostline, beaches and castles of the east side of Scotland.

For the full story see The Scotsman also this article in The Press and Journal which quotes a Glencoe caravan site owner as saying midge-killing machines have considerably reduced the problem.