Question reference: S5W-34177
- Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 18 December 2020
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Current status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 14 January 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, when its agencies encourage tourism in the Highlands and Islands, whether they do so following an assessment of the adequacy of basic tourist infrastructure; if they do, whether they publish such assessments, and, if they do not, (a) for what reasons and (b) whether they will set out what evaluation they have made of the impact of unregulated growth in tourist numbers.
Answer
VisitScotland, the national tourism agency, works closely with industry and local authorities to help ensure local tourism infrastructure is sufficient to meet visitor demand. Its marketing campaigns are ordinarily run in Spring and Autumn to encourage more visits in the shoulder months and trips to less busy parts of the country at peak times. While it does not specifically assess availability across Scotland, the £3m per annum Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund is a key intervention in terms of ensuring sufficient basic infrastructure, such as toilets, car parks and footpaths, in local communities to help accommodate high volumes of visitors at peak times.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise also actively engages with the tourism industry at a local, regional and national level to understand the immediate needs of the sector and emerging longer term needs. Examples of this include participation in destination-led forums such as the Cairngorm Tourism Emergency Response Group; regionally by way of engagement with groups such as the Association of Scotland’s Visitor Attractions, the NC500 hoteliers group, and Sail Scotland; and nationally as part of the Scottish Tourism Alliance Council.
HIE and VisitScotland are working with partners to review and further develop the recently launched National Tourism Strategy ‘Scotland Outlook 2030’ in the light of the pandemic to ensure the commitments in the initial document are still valid. They have supported the industry to prepare for reopening and adopt new requirements for a safe and responsible restart and have facilitated discussions with community groups and organisations to build confidence within residents and locals that the tourism industry and agencies will be work together with places and destinations during reopening.
Recognising the important strategic role of Destination Management Organisations in working with businesses and communities to support recovery, HIE has committed to provision of a £3m Tourism DMO Recovery Fund. The fund will maximise delivery of industry support and accelerate a coordinated and collaborative approach to recovery. Nationally in conjunction with partners, HIE is delivering key elements of the national programmes of support including £9m to the hotel sector to protect employment and support a sustainable future for this critical component of the industry. HIE is also supporting around 55 community organisations to deliver £2.6m of community-led tourism capital infrastructure with HIE contributing grant funding of £1.46m.