CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

Form­al Board Paper 5 29^th March 2019

CAIRNGORMS TOUR­ISM ACTION PLAN: ANNU­AL UPDATE

FOR INFORM­A­TION

Title: CAIRNGORMS TOUR­ISM ACTION PLAN: ANNU­AL UPDATE

Pre­pared by: MUR­RAY FER­GUSON, DIR­ECT­OR OF PLAN­NING AND RUR­AL DEVEL­OP­MENT PETE CRANE, HEAD OF VIS­IT­OR SERVICES

Pur­pose

To review annu­al pro­gress with deliv­ery of the Cairngorms Tour­ism Action Plan and look for­wards to pri­or­it­ies in the year ahead.

Recom­mend­a­tion

That the Board:

a) Note pro­gress with the cur­rent pro­gramme of work by part­ners which is deliv­er­ing both the Tour­ism Action Plan and key actions in Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2017 – 2022.

Sum­mary

This paper sum­mar­ises the stra­tegic pro­gramme of work on tour­ism that is ongo­ing by a range of part­ners to deliv­er the Tour­ism Action Plan and the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan as a con­tri­bu­tion to deliv­ery of the nation­al strategy, Tour­ism Scot­land 2020. Based on our col­lect­ive achieve­ments to date, and this planned pro­gramme of work, the Cairngorms Nation­al Park was awar­ded the European Charter for Sus­tain­able Tour­ism in Pro­tec­ted Areas in late 2017. The Park is the only des­tin­a­tion in Scot­land to hold this award, and one of only three such des­tin­a­tions in the UK.

Stra­tegic Context

1. In 2005 the Cairngorms Nation­al Park became the first Nation­al Park in the UK to be awar­ded the European Charter for Sus­tain­able Tour­ism in Pro­tec­ted Areas. In 2011 and 2017, when our pro­gress reports and new strategies were eval­u­ated, the Charter was re-awar­ded – the Park is the only des­tin­a­tion in Scot­land to hold this award, and one of only three such des­tin­a­tions in the UK.

2. The European Charter is a prac­tic­al man­age­ment tool that enables pro­tec­ted areas to devel­op tour­ism sus­tain­ably, based on five Prin­ciples: a) Giv­ing pri­or­ity to pro­tec­tion b) Con­trib­ut­ing to sus­tain­able devel­op­ment c) Enga­ging all stake­hold­ers d) Plan­ning sus­tain­able tour­ism effect­ively e) Pur­su­ing con­tinu­ous improvement

3. Scotland’s nation­al tour­ism strategy, Tour­ism Scot­land 2020 was launched in June 2012, with an ambi­tion to grow vis­it­or spend by £1bn to 2020, and reviewed in 2016 with renewed emphas­is on the four pri­or­it­ies below. The Strategy is cur­rently under review: a) Strengthen Digit­al Cap­ab­il­it­ies b) Strengthen Industry Lead­er­ship c) Enhance the Qual­ity of the Vis­it­or Exper­i­ence d) Influ­ence Invest­ment, spe­cific­ally flight access & trans­port con­nectiv­ity, built infra­struc­ture, digit­al con­nectiv­ity and busi­ness growth finance

4. The 2017 – 22 Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan includes the fol­low­ing actions, dis­trib­uted across sev­er­al pri­or­it­ies: a) Devel­op­ing new ways, includ­ing vis­it­or-giv­ing, to fund infra­struc­ture invest­ment and main­tain­ing and upgrad­ing key off-road routes includ­ing Spey­side Way, Deeside Way and the Core Paths net­work; b) Deliv­er­ing a con­sist­ent high qual­ity of vis­it­or wel­come through new and improved inform­a­tion, sup­port for ranger ser­vices and part­ner­ship work­ing to sup­port busi­nesses, com­munit­ies and vis­it­or attrac­tions; c) Improv­ing the vis­it­or infra­struc­ture in Cairngorm and Glen­more, and Tomin­toul and Glen­liv­et; d) Com­plet­ing the ​‘Snow Roads Scen­ic Route’ and devel­op­ing a sim­il­ar exper­i­ence along the A9; e) Encour­aging the pro­vi­sion of low cost camp­ing and motor-home sites in appro­pri­ate loc­a­tions; f) Improv­ing vis­it­or trans­port options and inform­a­tion; g) Bet­ter co-ordin­a­tion and pro­mo­tion of pub­lic trans­port and act­ive travel; h) Improv­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for act­ive travel in Aviemore that deliv­er improved trans­port con­nec­tions for vis­it­ors and res­id­ents; and i) Estab­lish­ing a new spa­tial pri­or­ity area to provide an enhanced level of future assistance/​collaboration over a focused time peri­od to the Dal­whin­nie, Kin­gussie, Lag­gan and New­ton­more area from ²⁰¹⁹⁄₂₀ mak­ing the most of invest­ment in the A9 dualling project.

Deliv­ery of the Tour­ism Action Plan

1. The deliv­ery of the Action Plan is over­seen by the Cairngorms Tour­ism Part­ner­ship which com­prises key busi­nesses, organ­isa­tions and agen­cies involved in tour­ism in the Park. An assess­ment of deliv­ery by part­ners against the actions set out in the Action Plan is provided at Annex I. Fol­low­ing the eval­u­ation vis­it in May 2017, Euro­parc made recom­mend­a­tions for areas of work that required fur­ther work over the life of the Plan and these are included as a remind­er in Annex 2. These recom­mend­a­tions have been dis­cussed with the Cairngorms Tour­ism Part­ner­ship and integ­rated into rel­ev­ant work plans.

2. Key high­lights in the pro­gramme of work include: a) Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship (CBP) – the CBP con­tin­ues to grow and now has over 385 mem­bers. This rep­res­ents about 35% of busi­nesses in the Park and com­pares well with aver­age Cham­ber of Com­merce par­ti­cip­a­tion level of 8 – 10%. CBP con­tin­ues to work on pro­mot­ing the Nation­al Park, sup­port­ing devel­op­ment pro­jects and rep­res­ent­ing their mem­bers’ interests through advocacy activ­ity. CBP also works pro-act­ively with neigh­bour­ing private-sec­tor des­tin­a­tion man­age­ment organ­isa­tions (e.g. Vis­it­Ab­er­deen­shire) and has been influ­en­tial in draw­ing in invest­ment for the SnowRoads Scen­ic route and for mar­ket­ing the Park. The annu­al CBP con­fer­ence in Novem­ber is a key event for tour­ism busi­nesses and CBP mar­kets the Park to the travel trade at Expo each year in April. b) Vis­it­or Mar­ket­ing – Recent activ­ity has focussed on pro­mot­ing the winter exper­i­ence in and around Badenoch and Strath­spey to com­pensate for the closed funicu­lar rail­way at Cairngorm. In Feb­ru­ary 2019 it was announced that a new £80k cam­paign ​“Dis­cov­er the Cairngorms Nation­al Park” would be launched, draw­ing on the Vis­itScot­land Growth Fund, tar­get­ing the inter­na­tion­al travel trade. c) Vis­it­or Information:

    i. Local Information Centres (LIC) – following a reduction in financial support for information centres by VisitScotland and local authorities, CNPA has agreed to support 10 centres with promotional material, information and interpretation materials. During the year the Ballater Visitor Information Centre was re-opened following long period of closure. Braemar Visitor Information Centre has closed and the building will be handed back to Aberdeenshire Council and work is required to develop a public information point or similar.
    ii. Visitor attractions – National Park interpretation is being installed in two key visitor attractions: Landmark in Carr-Bridge and Speyside Centre in Dulnain Bridge, the latter also agreeing to be an LIC.
    iii. Visitor Publications – in partnership with communities, 17 community path leaflets have been produced promoting the most-used low-ground paths. These leaflets are available on CNPA website and will also be accessible on an app in 2019. The Welcome, Gaelic Place Names, Hill Paths, Tread Lightly and Explore-for-a-Day leaflets, and the sponsored tear-off map, are also produced and widely circulated.
    iv. Web Information – The CBP website www.visitcairngorms.com promotes the park with wide range of information and business activity, offering member offers, itineraries and packages. The CNPA website aims to celebrate the special qualities of the National Park and encourage visitors to responsibly enjoy the outdoor experiences. Both websites have very good levels of engagement.
   

   d) Nation­al Park Vis­it­or Sur­vey — Since the Park was first des­ig­nated, CNPA has com­mis­sioned a Park-wide vis­it­or sur­vey every five years gath­er­ing essen­tial inform­a­tion on the vis­it­or exper­i­ence that has been widely used to influ­ence pro­grammes of work. The res­ults have been widely shared in both sum­mary form and in detail — see sum­mary at link below: https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​w​p​-​c​o​n​t​e​n​t​/​u​p​l​o​a​d​s​/​2​0​1​5​/​1​0​/​1​5​0​8​3​1​C​a​i​r​n​g​o​r​m​s​V​i​s​i​t​o​r​S​u​r​v​e​y​S​u​m​m​a​r​y​1​.​0.pdf Our fourth sur­vey is due to start in May 2019 and over the 12 month peri­od 2,500 vis­it­ors will be inter­viewed across the Nation­al Park. Data col­lec­ted in the first six months is likely to be avail­able in early 2020 with the full sur­vey avail­able in sum­mer of 2020. e) Vis­it­or Num­bers — Since des­ig­na­tion STEAM research has estim­ated the num­ber of vis­it­ors com­ing to the Nation­al Park. The most recent estim­ates are for 2017 at 1.84m vis­it­ors an increase of 6.3 per­cent over the 2016 estim­ate. The num­ber of vis­it­ors estim­ated in 2003, the year of des­ig­na­tion, was 1.42m indic­at­ing an over­all increase of nearly 30% over this 14 year peri­od. f) Vis­it­or Giv­ing Scheme — In June 2018 the Board agreed to estab­lish a Vis­it­or Giv­ing Scheme. In Janu­ary 2019 the Fin­ance and Deliv­ery Com­mit­tee agreed a Memor­andum of Under­stand­ing that would be signed between the Cairngorms Trust and CNPA. The Cairngorms Trust is now lead­ing devel­op­ment of the Scheme and the Trust Man­ager is mak­ing plans to launch the Scheme at the Cairngorms Nature Big Week­end in May. The Cairngorms Trust is cur­rently look­ing to invite loc­al nature-based pro­jects to apply for sup­port fund­ing with a small grants scheme open­ing later in the year. g) Make it Yours Cam­paign — Some 290 vis­it­or-facing staff across the Nation­al Park have par­ti­cip­ated in this train­ing pro­gramme which shares why the Cairngorms is des­ig­nated a Nation­al Park, its spe­cial qual­it­ies and, using the vis­it­or sur­vey data, looks at the exper­i­ences and inform­a­tion people are likely to want. In 2019 our focus is work­ing with part­ners in Loc­al Inform­a­tion Centres and sim­pli­fy­ing some of the inform­a­tion into an enga­ging web page or App that is access­ible to every­one. h) Euro­parc Con­fer­ence — As part of the Year of Young People 2018 the CNPA hos­ted the EURO­PARC Con­fer­ence ​“Inspired by the Next Gen­er­a­tion” on 18 – 21 Septem­ber. Over 600 European del­eg­ates, many under the age of 30, atten­ded and the con­fer­ence was form­ally opened by Mairi Gougeon, Min­is­ter for Rur­al Affairs and the Nat­ur­al Envir­on­ment and closed by John Swin­ney, Deputy First Min­is­ter and Cab­in­et Sec­ret­ary for Edu­ca­tion and Skills. The con­fer­ence was the biggest gath­er­ing of Nation­al Parks and pro­tec­ted areas ever held in Europe with world class speak­ers present­ing their views on how to get young people more involved in nature. Del­eg­ates also enjoyed a wide selec­tion of work­shops and field trips across the Cairngorms Nation­al Park as well as social even­ings which cel­eb­rated Scot­tish High­land food, drink and music. The EURO­PARC con­fer­ence report has been pre­pared and will be pub­lished on the EURO­PARC Fed­er­a­tion web­site. A Youth Mani­festo, launched at the con­fer­ence, has led to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity devel­op­ing a Youth pro­ject to take for­ward the recom­mend­a­tions presen­ted in the EURO­PARC Youth Mani­festo. i) A9 Dualling pro­ject and multi-use paths — A9 Dualling — CNPA, High­land Coun­cil and three Com­munity Coun­cils and oth­ers objec­ted to the A9 dual car­riage­way design for Dalraddy to Slo­chd sec­tion due to it not hav­ing a multi use path link­ing Aviemore to Car­rbridge. Fol­low­ing this Trans­port Scot­land has agreed to com­mis­sion a study to devel­op design options for such a path. Options will be determ­ined by late sum­mer 2019 and a com­mit­ment has been made to devel­op the route as part of the A9 dualling pro­ject if the tim­ing of con­tact can be aligned.

    i. Kingussie and Dulnain Bridge communities have both been successful in securing Sustrans funding for a feasibility study to look at path needs to make multi-use access (walking and cycling) more accessible in and around the villages. Laggan community are also looking at the potential to fund a similar project.
   

   j) Long Dis­tance Routes:

    i. Speyside Way – planning consent and funds are now in place to construct the extension from Insh to Ruthven Barracks with completion scheduled for end of 2019 and the complete extension to Newtonmore being ready to open in spring 2020. Work being undertaken in Kingussie has the potential to improve the route from Ruthven to the village. Funding has also been secured to upgrade the existing route between Aviemore and Boat of Garten. In 2019 CNPA will lead work re-developing the information, interpretation and signage along the whole route.
    ii. Deeside Way – planning consent has been obtained to construct a path linking Invercauld Bridge with the existing paths running east of Ballater. The next stage is to investigate potential funding support but it should be noted that the current non-tarmac design is not likely to meet Sustrans criteria.
   

   k) Cairngorm and Glen­more — The Cairngorm and Glen­more Part­ner­ship was formed in 2014 com­pris­ing CNPA, High­lands and Islands Enter­prise, Forest Enter­prise Scot­land, Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age and the High­land Coun­cil. The pur­pose of the Part­ner­ship is to co-ordin­ate future man­age­ment of the land in pub­lic own­er­ship at Cairngorm and Glen­more, and a long term strategy, approved by all part­ners in Octo­ber 2016, was the first stage in this work. Since then, the sig­ni­fic­ant chal­lenges of man­aging Cairngorm Moun­tain and, to a less­er extent the restruc­tur­ing of Forestry Enter­prise Scot­land (FES), has impeded deliv­ery of the Strategy. Fol­low­ing restruc­tur­ing FES will now be devel­op­ing a new vis­it­or man­age­ment plan for the area. CNPA has been suc­cess­ful in secur­ing fund­ing from the Rur­al Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Fund to build a tar­mac, multi-use path link­ing the beach to Hay­field in Glen­more in autumn 2019. Fol­low­ing that work the part­ners will need to get togeth­er and agree fur­ther pri­or­it­ies in deliv­ery of the strategy. l) The issues sur­round­ing the Cairngorm Moun­tain and CNPA’s role are con­sidered in a sep­ar­ate paper on this agenda. m) Badenoch Great Place Pro­ject — The ongo­ing deliv­ery of the scheme has poten­tial to pos­it­ively improve the vis­it­or exper­i­ence in this area based on the area’s her­it­age. Two spe­cif­ic examples are:

    i. Interpretation & Marketing Plan – work is underway to create an interpretation plan that celebrates and promotes the wide-ranging cultural heritage of this area;
    ii. Alternative Tourist Route a scoping study is underway to look at a way of encouraging travellers to leave the A9 Trunk Road and enjoy the wide ranging experiences from Dalwhinnie to Kincraig. Where appropriate CNPA are linking this with opportunities to promote the Spey and Speyside Way.
   

   n) SnowRoads Scen­ic Route — CBP launched the SnowRoads Scen­ic Route Web­site and App at their con­fer­ence in Novem­ber 2018 and fur­ther raised aware­ness with four half day work­shops in com­munit­ies along the route in Feb­ru­ary 2019. This work won the Aber­deen City and Shire 2018 Tour­ism Award for innov­a­tion. CBP has secured Vis­it Scot­land Growth Fund sup­port to deliv­er an £80k pro­ject that uses the SnowRoads to tar­get inter­na­tion­al buy­ers in France, Ger­many, Scand­inavia and North Amer­ica for the first time, encour­aging them to list the Cairngorms for trav­el­lers who design their own itin­er­ar­ies and arrange their own travel plans. This work very effect­ively links to a wide range of devel­op­ing vis­it­or exper­i­ences in east­ern Cairngorms. Tour­ist signs for the route in High­land & Moray are still await­ing install­a­tion. o) Tomin­toul & Glen­liv­et Land­scape Part­ner­ship — The ongo­ing deliv­ery of this pro­ject, sup­por­ted by the Nation­al Lot­tery Her­it­age Fund, will pos­it­ively improve the vis­it­or exper­i­ence in this area. Two spe­cif­ic examples are:

    i. Discovery Centre – this information and interpretation centre, museum and office space opened in Spring 2018 and is now one of the Park's Local Information Centres.
    ii. Tomintoul and Glenlivet – Cairngorms Dark Skies Park: The high quality of the night skies above Tomintoul and Glenlivet received a prestigious award in November 2018 by becoming Scotland's second International Dark Sky Park. Awarded Gold Tier status by the International Dark-Sky Association, the Dark Sky Park is the darkest in the UK and most northerly Park in the world. This designation has considerable potential to encourage more visitors to the area, particularly in quieter, darker months.
   

   p) Deeside and Don­side The deliv­ery of a range of pro­jects in Deeside/​Don­side has poten­tial to pos­it­ively improve the vis­it­or exper­i­ence in this area. Four spe­cif­ic examples are:

    i. Ballater Visitor Information Centre – following fire in 2015 the station visitor centre, cafe and exhibition was re-opened in August 2018 displaying information about Deeside and Cairngorms National Park.
    ii. The Fife Arms was reopened in December 2018 following a substantial renovation to provide a very high quality hotel
    iii. Braemar Highland Games Centre opened in March 2019, combining a cafe with displays, and sharing the story of Scotland’s most well-know and best attended highland games.
    iv. Strathdon – the former Colquhonnie Hotel received planning consent for a major renovation in February 2019 and is likely to open in 2020. Further new additional visitor accommodation is planned near Corgarff castle.
   

   q) Cat­er­an Coun­try — Com­munity and part­ner sup­port is now work­ing on two sig­ni­fic­ant vis­it­or exper­i­ence pro­jects in the area of Glen­shee and Blairgowrie:

    i. Cateran Ecomuseum has now secured Leader Funding with support from CNPA and Perth and Kinross Council to create an outstanding new cultural destination in Scotland’s Tay Country extending into the Glenshee area of Cairngorms National Park. Designed to reveal the hidden heritage of this captivating part of Perthshire and Angus by the community who live there, the Cateran Eco-museum tells the story of its people, places and landscapes.
    ii. Cateran Trail – Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust are looking at options for improving and better promoting the Cateran Trail.
   

Dis­cus­sion

1. Over­all, work on the Deliv­ery of the Action Plan is pro­gress­ing well and there are many excit­ing pro­jects that have been recently developed or which will come to fruition in near future. In terms of pro­cess towards the tar­gets set, we can report as follows:

Tar­get in Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2017 — 2022	Update on progress
a) Increase the eco­nom­ic impact of vis­it­ors to east­ern and south­ern Cairngorms Nation­al Park from 21% to 25% of the total vis­it­or economy	2017 STEAM data shows eco­nom­ic impact of vis­it­ors in east­ern and south­ern Cairngorms Nation­al Park, 22.8%.
b) Increase the per­cent­age of vis­it­ors using act­ive travel dur­ing their stay to 19% by 2022	2014⁄15 Vis­it­or Sur­vey indic­ates 16% of vis­it­ors using act­ive travel.
c) Main­tain or improve busi­ness per­cep­tions of NP influ­ence cus­tom­er attrac­tion and profitability	CBP Busi­ness Baro­met­er (Sep- Dec 2018): 64% of busi­nesses stated that the Park had a high level of influ­ence in attract­ing first time cus­tom­ers and over­all level of influ­ence was above the Q4 2017 as well as the Q4 Aver­age and the Over­all Aver­age. 52% of busi­nesses stated that the Park had a high level of influ­ence attract­ing repeat cus­tom­ers and over­all level of influ­ence was above Q4 2017 as well as the Q4 Aver­age and Over­all Average.

1. Along with the work men­tioned above and in Annex 1 the key high­lights in the year ahead will be: a) Com­ple­tion of the Park-wide Vis­it­or Sur­vey b) Com­ple­tion of the pro­jects on the Tomin­toul and Glen­liv­et Land­scape Part­ner­ship Pro­ject c) Deliv­ery of year 2 of the Badenoch Great Place Pro­ject d) Launch­ing the Vis­it­or Giv­ing Scheme e) Influ­en­cing devel­op­ment of the review of the Nation­al Tour­ism strategy f) Devel­op­ment of sus­tain­able plans for Cairngorm Moun­tain g) Com­ple­tion of at least two Rur­al Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Fund pro­jects – at Muir of Din­net NNR and at Glen­more NNR – and, if approved, two more at Brae­mar and at Cairngorm Moun­tain h) Rein­vig­or­at­ing deliv­ery arrange­ments for Cairngorm and Glen­more Strategy i) Sub­mis­sion of two applic­a­tions for the SNH Nat­ur­al and Cul­tur­al Her­it­age Fund j) Com­ple­tion of Spey­side Way Exten­sion k) Deliv­ery of Growth Fund Mar­ket­ing pro­gramme for the SnowRoads l) Pre­par­ing the for intro­duc­tion of the Tran­si­ent Vis­it­or Levy m) Joint work with neigh­bour­ing region­al des­tin­a­tions (e.g. Vis­it­Ab­er­deen­shire, Moray Spey­side and Tay Cit­ies to our mutu­al bene­fit n) Pro­gres­sion of agree­ment with the Chinese pro­tec­ted area with a pos­sib­il­ity of recip­roc­al vis­it o) A mod­est pro­gramme of activ­ity for the themed Year of Scotland’s Coasts and Waters

2. It is pro­posed that the Cairngorms Tour­ism Part­ner­ship com­plete a mid-term review of the Tour­ism Action Plan at end of 2019 for sub­mis­sion to the Board and to Euro­parc in early 2020.

Mur­ray Ferguson Pete Crane 21 March 2019 murrayferguson@​cairngorms.​co.​uk petecrane@​cairngorms.​co.​uk