Trump’s Scottish golf courses pocket £4m of furlough handouts

Donald Trump’s Scottish golf courses were given more than £4million to furlough staff during the pandemic, accounts show.

The former US president’s resorts claimed £1.1million in 2021, on top of the more than £3million claimed a year earlier, according to Companies House filings.

The courses in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire were closed for much of the pandemic, racking up losses. 

In 2021 they lost a combined £15.4million, with Trump’s son Eric blaming the ‘significant impact’ of Covid.

They were closed for the first three months of 2021, but Trump said business is back at pre-pandemic levels since reopening. 

At Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire, membership ‘soared’ as it was ranked the best course in Scotland.

And at Turnberry in Ayrshire, sales were helped by a ‘staycation’ boom, as visitors poured in. Sales were also buoyed by a surge in weddings and parties.

The easing of Covid restrictions helped sales double from a year earlier to £15.2million. 

Eric Trump said the family are ‘fully committed’ to both properties and want to develop Turnberry to keep it ‘Scotland’s premier destination for luxury travel, championship golf and special events’.

Mr Trump has spoken about his pride in his ancestry, as his mother came from the Isle of Lewis.

Trump International Golf Links opened at Balmedie in 2012.

He bought Turnberry two years later.

He handed control of both to his sons Donald junior and Eric in 2017, and retains a financial interest in the resorts.