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And rightly so; Noone should have to work on Christmas for other peoples enjoyment.
So should all the hotels close up shop and turf their guests out too? Working holidays goes with the territory of working in the tourist/leisure industry.
Certainly on CairnGorm in the past no-one was forced to work Christmas Day, an effort was made to ensure all staff had either Christmas Day or New Years Day off - covering New Year's Day was the more difficult, there was always more volunteers for Christmas Day!!
CairnGorm stopped opening Christmas Day in 2002, partly because there was no skiing amidst concern about the Ptarmigan been swamped, while under closed system restrictions while people wanted to go and play in what snow there was. It's stuck since then, despite displeasure from esp accommodation providers and holiday organizers.
If any one visitor attraction business in Strathspey and any one of the five Scottish Ski Areas should be open on Christmas Day, then it is CairnGorm Mountain. Yes I have done my fair share of working Christmas Days and there was always a fantastic vibe on the hill.
That CairnGorm Mountain as the focal point attraction that overlooks the Strath is closed reflects badly on an area trying to be taken seriously as a world class visitor destination.
There is a huge captive audience in Strathspey during the holidays, there is very little else to go out and do on Christmas Day, thus even in the days of the Chairlift, there were very large numbers of sightseers. Esp so if there wasn't snow down in Aviemore, the lure of going up the mountain to experience a 'White Christmas' was huge.
People who spend Christmas at home might be thinking why would you want to go out? Well people staying in holiday accommodation, tend to open their presents in the morning, then have several hours of dead time in the middle of the day before Christmas Dinner is served in their accommodation.
