Cruise liner used to house REFUGEES sails in to ease Festival's flat letting ... trends now
View
comments
It was used to provide emergency housing for Ukrainians fleeing the horror of war in their homeland.
Now the cruise ship MS Ambition is making an unlikely return to Scotland – to host tourists and performers at the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe amid an accommodation crisis sparked by the SNP’s new rental licences.
The 25-year-old vessel was hired by the Scottish Government in 2022 to house more than 1,000 Ukrainian refugees and remained docked in Glasgow until last year.
The 700ft ship will return and berth at Leith in August, with the MS Ambition temporarily renamed the Playbill Fringeship after the US theatre magazine which is hiring it for the duration of the event.
We told last week how Edinburgh’s festivals face an accommodation crisis after the new short-term lets (STL) licensing scheme led to a 90 per cent reduction in rental spots in the city.
Festival performers are being priced out of coming to Edinburgh amid the SNP’s new rental licences
The law that came into effect late last year makes it mandatory for all short-term rental properties, from a castle to a spare bedroom, to have complicated and costly licences to legally operate.
Critics said the impending arrival of the ship is another example of the negative impact of the SNP’s licences on Scotland’s lucrative tourism sector.
It’s understood council officials are even assessing whether the ship may require one of the STL licences while berthed in Leith.
Cabins cost £1,250 for seven nights or £179 for an overnight stay, with a suite starting at £3,550. Playbill said it hoped the venture would help the city deal with a drop in the number of ‘festival flats’ due to the curbs on short-term letting.
It added: ‘We will sponsor exclusive performances for guests of the ship only, bringing
