INVERNESS & BLACK ISLE U3A
STUDY DAY
Landscape and Tourism
Statistics on tourism in the Highlands are readily obtainable from Visit Scotland – statistics on recreation for local inhabitants less so.
Statistics on Tourism:-
Tourism is an important industry for Scotland (£4.3B pa in direct expenditure from overnight visitors in 2012 and employment of 186,000 in 2011) and is one of the growth sectors in the Government’s Economic Strategy: it has shown considerable resilience through the current economic recession.
It is one of Highland’s most important industries and the latest full-year figures (2012) show tourism in Highland is responsible for:-
- £738M of direct expenditure
- £174M of indirect expenditure
- Over 18,000 jobs (including the tourism – related self-employed).
The Highlands attracted 2.1 million visitors in 2010; this equates to 14% of all visits to Scotland. 21% of visitors to the Highlands were from overseas and the largest markets were Germany, France and the U.S.A. Most visitors to the Highlands visit the region as part of a wider visit, 48% touring Scotland and 25% based in the countryside. The average length of stay in the Highlands is 4.4 nights. 55% of visitors to the Highlands from outside Scotland drove to Scotland, 21% arrived by air and 9% travelled by train.
Top reasons quoted for choosing to visit the Highlands are:
- Scenery and landscape (57%)
- History (23%)
- On recommendation (22%)
- For a particular attraction (20%)
- A repeat visit (20%)
59% of visitors to the Highlands from outside Scotland had some connections with Scotland, with either present family/friends or ancestors. The activities of visitors when in the Highlands included short walks (54%), sightseeing (51%), visiting historic buildings or sites (51%), long walks (41%), visitor/heritage centres (39%), beaches (35%) as well as trying local food and shopping. Sporting activities involved lower percentages with water sports (16%), cycling (6%), golf (4%), fishing (2%) and country sports (1%).
To obtain information on the Highlands visitors use guide books, the internet, and asking locals, proprietors and other travellers in decreasing frequency. Touring is particularly prominent (73%) amongst first time visitors, whereas repeat visits involve touring (34%) and staying in one locality (33%).
Some of the attractions of the Highlands for both visitors and residents are:-
- Scenery/ landscape ( mountains, glens, lochs, coastline, islands, rivers)
- Historic sites and archaeology
- Geology and Geo-parks
- Festivals and other cultural events
- Museums and Visitor Centres
- Opportunities for sports activities
Some of the recreational activities available in the Highlands are:-
- Walking, mountaineering, rock climbing
- Watching birds and other wild life
- Cross-country running, skiing and snow-boarding
- Hunting – deer, grouse
- Fishing – river and sea
- Cycling, motoring – mountain biking is a particular growth area with specific trails developed in recent years
- Yachting, canoeing, cruising - sea kayaking is a particular growth area here and is quite distinct from river/ white water canoeing
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has commissioned research on outdoor recreational activities. For Scotland as a whole in 2012, 42% of all adults visited ‘the outdoors* ‘for leisure or recreation once a week (with 45% up to age 54 and 38% above age 54). For people living in rural areas the figure of 42% rises to 52% and the corresponding figure for people living in Highland region was 61%.
In the 2012 Scottish Recreation Survey the ‘Main Activities’ undertaken by adults in rural areas on visits to the outdoors ( figures specifically for Highland are not separately available ) were:-
- Any walking – 77%, walking more than 2 miles – 40%, hill walking – 1%, any cycling – 3%,
- sightseeing – 1%, family outings – 6%, running/jogging – 3%, golf – 1%,
- other activities – less than 2% each.
In the same survey the ‘Places Visited’ by adults living in rural areas was:-
Forest/woodland – 28%, local park – 25%, beach/cliff – 15%, farmland – 14%, village – 12%, sea/ sea loch – 11%, mountain/hill – 8%, river/canal – 7%, wildlife area – 6%, loch – 3% and town – 1%. The corresponding figures for Highland may differ significantly from these ( e.g. visits to farmland and local parks ).
*Defined as ‘mountains, moorland, farmland, forests, woods, rivers, lochs and reservoirs, beaches and the coast, and open spaces in towns and cities.’
There are 3,500 National Parks worldwide, with 15 in the U.K. and only 2 in Scotland (Loch Lomond and the Trossachs – 2002 and the Cairngorms – 2003). Other areas in Scotland have been recommended for National Park status – such as Ben Nevis, Glencoe and Black Mount; Glen Affric, Glen Cannich, Strath Farrar; Loch Torridon, Loch Maree, Loch Broom; Harris but to date no further Government action has been taken. Successive Governments have promised to consider additional National Parks as the two in existence were only considered the start of a process.
Opinions expressed in the Scottish Nature Omnibus survey commissioned by SNH included ‘80% of
(Scottish) people want to be able to see wildlife and landscape close to where they live’ and over 90% agree that ‘Scotland’s finest landscapes and wild land should be protected’ and that ‘Scotland’s nature and landscapes are what makes Scotland special.’
Summary of Discusssion Group on Landscape and Tourism
Eleven participants attended the discussion on Tourism and Recreation. The objective of the discussion was to consider ways in which (1) the experience of tourists and (2) means of recreation, given the Highland landscape, could be improved.
By far the main reason stated by tourists for visiting the Highlands was ‘the scenery and landscape’. The group preferred the term ‘visitors’ to ‘tourists’ to emphasise this fact and to note that their interests are substantially different from the interests of tourists to more conventional holiday resorts.
In discussion the following points were made:-
- It was felt that some residents in the Highlands did not always react positively to visitors for a variety of reasons.
- There is a tendency for visitors to concentrate on particular ‘hot-spots’ that have established a reputation, whereas great scenery is widespread throughout the Highlands.
- There would be value in having more small car parks on our main roads to permit visitors to pull off to admire scenery.
- Since visitors come for the scenery and landscape there could be great benefit in providing more descriptive material in such small car parks. The panorama display near Knockan Crag is a particularly good example of this.
- Walking is the commonest activity of visitors and more could be done to publicise both short and longer walks, suitable for visitors.
- Some visitors may be put off from returning because of excessive litter at ‘hot-spots’ and the lack of public toilets.
- Some visitors may have difficulty in planning their travel by public transport that is poorly integrated.
- The adequacy of Internet connections to permit visitors to obtain information once they are here was raised.
- The advertising of local events and festivals could be improved.
- The issue of having National Parks in the Highlands was raised but there was concern that the areas outside could suffer.
The remedy for many of the above issues would require public expenditure, whereas those benefiting from additional or more enthusiastic visitors are mainly in the private sector.
An important point was made that visitors will always benefit from developments that residents in the Highlands make to improve their own experiences.
Two questions were prepared for consideration by the Panel. These were :-
- Should we be spending more on managing tourists e.g. dealing with litter, having more toilets, advertising local walks, more small car parks by the sides of roads, more information boards describing scenery/geology, providing more linked up information on public transport. And how will this be paid for?
- Should we attempt to educate local inhabitants on the benefits tourists bring to the Highlands? How do we do this?
