Cruise liner used to house REFUGEES sails in to ease Festival's flat letting shambles

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. 

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 acclaimed talent directly from the festival on board.’

With three months to go to the Edinburgh Festivals, the city council has so far only issued around 1,200 STL licences, in stark contrast to the 12,000 lets previously estimated to be available.

Fiona Campbell, chief executive of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, said: ‘Edinburgh is facing an all too predictable accommodation crisis for this Festival, and perhaps beyond, unless action is taken.

‘Despite the addition of a cruise ship, there’s a local solution already available – and that is to allow the remaining professional self-catering businesses to continue operating.’

Stars such as TV presenter Gail Porter and comedian Jason Manford have recently hit out at the eye-watering cost of staying in Edinburgh during the Festivals as a result of the reduced supply.

The Scottish Mail on Sunday has repeatedly highlighted the issue with concerns first raised two years ago over the impact the licensing law would have on the Festivals, which are worth more than £400 million to Scotland’s economy.

Tory MSP Miles Briggs said: ‘Festival-goers and performers provide such a boost to the economy and should not have to rely on accommodation like this ship to stay in the capital.

‘Humza Yousaf needs to urgently address these issues otherwise more visitors and performers will be forced to go to desperate measures to secure accommodation in the coming months.

‘The SNP’s double whammy of cuts to the housing budget and their flawed STL policy has resulted in a housing emergency in Edinburgh.’ This month, the local council announced ‘temporary exemptions’ for some STL licences were being introduced in an attempt to avert the crisis.

Operating without a licence is a criminal offence which carries a penalty of £2,500.

The Scottish Government said the scheme was introduced ‘to ensure all short-term lets are safe’. Responsibility for the implementation of the licences falls to each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.

Edinburgh City Council planning convener James Dalgleish said: ‘It’s important to strike the right balance between promoting our visitor economy while looking after residents.

‘We declared a housing emergency last year due to our chronic shortage of affordable homes and the STL control area is already returning unauthorised short-term lets back to their residential use.’