07: The Highland hotel in Victorian travel writing

by Prof. Kevin James

Synopsis

Kevin explores travellers’ appraisals of Highland accommodation, which often playfully mocked the miserliness of innkeepers, but which also reveal fundamental structural features of Highland society that could inhibit the development of an accommodation infrastructure, including the role of landlords, the shortness of the tourist season, and the cost of transporting provisions to the region.

Image caption: On the right of the picture is the Kenmore Hotel in Highland Perthshire, which can trace its origins to the sixteenth century and is still a going concern. See www.kenmorehotel.com/history for more.

About the speaker

Kevin James is Professor of History and holds the Scottish Studies Foundation Chair at the University of Guelph, where his research and supervision focus on Scottish tourism history. He directs the Centre for Scottish Studies and also leads, and participates in, a number of research projects, including one exploring Scottish hotels during World War I. Kevin, and Scottish Studies faculty and students at Guelph, are beneficiaries of the energies and efforts of Prof. Ted Cowan to build the programme, and join with his family and many friends in Scotland and Canada in mourning his loss and celebrating his extraordinary life.

How to participate

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