Business Focus: Creative thinking needed to ensure future for quality tourism in the Highlands

David Richardson, Highlands development manager of the Federation of Small Businesses, looks to the future of tourism in the region.

Tourists moving around the Highlands are the lifeblood that sustains businesses, communities and our way of life. In short, tourism and hospitality businesses provide the much-needed jobs that retain young people and families in countless communities, and justify, operate and preserve the services – shops, restaurants, leisure facilities and so on – that we all need. If we want to tackle our ageing and declining populations and create truly vibrant local economies, we should be doing everything in our power to nurture quality tourism. But are we?

While the importance of tourism and hospitality businesses and their financial predicament is recognised by the Scottish Government in the unprecedented support it is providing during the pandemic, tourism has for long been a Cinderella industry when it comes to public sector support.

Investment in essential infrastructure has not kept pace with growing and evolving visitor demand, a deficiency that was thrown into sharp relief last summer by the great influx of staycationers, many visiting the Highlands for the first, and quite possibly last, time. The resulting strain on infrastructure and communities was obvious. What about this year?

Quality tourism is about ensuring every element of a holiday is top-notch. Bad or inadequate infrastructure is the antithesis, leading to damage, mess, poor visitor perceptions and upset locals.

Responsibility for providing essential infrastructure rests with the public sector and Highland Council’s commitment to invest £1.5 million in things like roads, parking, visitor management, public toilets and litter and waste collection as part of its new Visitor Management Strategy is very welcome indeed. However, when spread across a region 24 per cent larger than Wales, it’s a drop in the ocean.

Highland Council must take tourism, the only game in town for region-wide recovery, more seriously. But if tourism really is to flourish, governments at all levels must commit to greatly increased investment in infrastructure. However, this does not mean introducing a damaging new tourist bed tax, or Transient Visitor Levy, to pay for it. We must be more creative.

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