Cairngorms Tourism Partnership - May 2020

This document contains the meeting notes from the Cairngorms Tourism Emergency Response Group on 18 May 2020. Discussions included business support updates, such as Highland Council having given out over £50 million in funding. They also covered the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund and the Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Hardship Fund. VisitAberdeenshire ran workshops and a webinar on visitor reassurance. VisitScotland are looking at re-opening and hygiene advice for businesses. Visitor management planning and land manager discussions are happening, with follow-up work on traffic and visitor management in Deeside and Glenmore. Communications need to be simple and consistent, with National Parks in England asking visitors to give communities time to prepare. The group are focusing on how to access the outdoors safely, with a four-point message from National Parks UK. The group is working on sector-specific guidance and visitor questionnaires. Cambridge University researchers have approached the Cairngorms National Park Authority (Park Authority) on a potential project looking at models for Covid economic recovery in National Parks. The next meeting is scheduled for 25 May.

This document contains information from a VisitScotland webinar about international markets. It covers sources of market intelligence, market recovery prioritization, and ongoing marketing activities. It discusses the impact of COVID-19 on tourism, outlines different phases of recovery, and presents sentiment from European, US, and other long-haul markets, as well as critical indicators for market prioritization to help the tourism industry navigate the pandemic. It encourages sharing VisitScotland assets and providing feedback to inform planning.

This document contains a webinar presentation from VisitScotland, dated 28 April 2020, focusing on the domestic market, called DLP. It covers the impact of COVID-19 on tourism, and the response and recovery phases planned by VisitScotland which is supporting local businesses. The presentation analyses visitor numbers, top regions, and the motivations of visitors from Great Britain (GB) and Scotland, and discusses the importance of targeting families and adapting to changing consumer and media behaviors. It outlines how VisitScotland is using storytelling, marketing, and virtual platforms to keep Scotland in the minds of potential visitors and support the tourism industry and details available support and resources for Scottish tourism businesses.

This document contains a proposal for a project that aims to help national parks in the UK recover socio-economically from the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will develop predictive models to estimate visitor capacity while considering social distancing and local factors. It also plans to create new policies and management tools with local input to encourage responsible environmental behavior. The project will gather data through interviews, surveys, and workshops, and initially focus on four national park sites, then expand to six more. Ultimately, the goal is to find the best ways to keep these areas open to the public, support local economies, protect biodiversity, and avoid overcrowding that could lead to new COVID-19 outbreaks.

This document contains a question and answer briefing from the Scottish Tourism Emergency Recovery Group (STREG) about the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the impact on outdoor visitor attractions. Key points covered include the development of common safety standards for tourism, the need for consistent messaging from public bodies and land managers, the importance of communicating alternative locations to ease pressure on hotspots, and the preparation of visitor management plans in National Parks. The document emphasizes that decisions will be based on scientific evidence and that the Scottish Government will provide further advice as the situation develops.