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We have heard evidence that smaller ferries, and more of them, would be more responsive to island needs and would allow us to flex up and down at peak periods, rather than having one big ferry that—as with 801—can take 1,000 passengers, which is not always needed. Do the witnesses support our having smaller, more flexible ferries that could work across the entire fleet? Should we be considering that approach for our sustainable ferry services?

Item 2 is an evidence session for our inquiry into a modern and sustainable ferry service for Scotland. Members have received briefing papers from the clerks and the Scottish Parliament information centre.

This is the third evidence session in our inquiry into Scotland’s ferry services. We are joined by business, enterprise and tourism representatives, who will share their views on ferry services: Peter Clark, deputy director of industry at the Scotch Whisky Association; Rob Dickson, director of industry and destination development at VisitScotland; and Martin Johnson, director of strategy and regional economy at Highlands and Islands Enterprise, who joins us remotely. Thank you for accepting our invitation to speak to us; we are delighted to have you here.

We have a list of members who want to ask questions, and I will start with an easy question. I will ask each witness the same question, so you will have a moment to consider your answers—except for Peter Clark, who I ask to answer first. Are our ferry services working for the industries and people you represent?

Martin Johnson is trying to get in.

Basically, there is huge pressure to get this right as soon as possible, and industries will respond to and pick up from that, but the longer the situation goes on, the more difficult it will be for those industries to survive.

That is probably a good point at which to end. I thank Peter Clark, Rob Dickson and Martin Johnson for their answers, which have been interesting. Time has flown, as it does when you are having fun and are interested in a subject.

Yesterday, we heard concern that, if new businesses came along, they would not be able to use the facilities because of the restrictions that are placed on use of facilities by current users. I do not know whether that is a problem, but we can find out.

Rob, I will paraphrase you. You said at the beginning that people do not get over a bad ferry experience quickly. A lot of people out there might have had bad experiences in the past few years. Yesterday, we heard that it will take a long time for people to get over that. How long do you think that it will take?

To build on what Liam Kerr asked about, we heard yesterday that a lot of island businesses rely on external contractors to come in and do work. They load up their vans the night before, turn up at the port in the morning to find that there is no boat and then find at the back-end of the day that the boat has been shut down because of weather conditions. People suggested that some businesses are no longer prepared to work on islands because they cannot guarantee a full day’s work and because the costs of working there are prohibitive.

Are Peter Clark and Martin Johnson hearing that from the people they represent? What are the effects on business? In the businesses that you represent, people cannot have all their own specialist skills to meet all their requirements.

I am really interested in all the answers that you are giving but I notice that the clock does not slow down with the interesting answers. I am conscious of time, so I ask everyone to bear that in mind. There are questions that I would like to ask but I will give way, rightly, to the deputy convener so that she can get her questions in and then I will see whether there is time for mine at the end, which I am sure that there will be.

Thank you, Martin—that is very helpful.

Martin, do you want to comment on that in relation to not only tourism but other businesses on the islands?

Do you think that it might take as long as five years? If the service suddenly became perfect today, would it take two, three or five years?