190329CNPABdPaper5Annex2TOURISMEuroparcRecommendations

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Paper 5 Annex 2 29^th March 2019

Extract from Veri­fi­ers Report for the European Charter for Sus­tain­able Tour­ism in Pro­tec­ted Areas

Two veri­fi­ers from Euro­parc vis­ited the Cairngorms Nation­al Park for three days in May 2017 and reviewed the plans and pro­gress being made and the met with stake­hold­ers. They made the fol­low­ing recommendations.

Con­clu­sions and Recommendations

Regard­ing all the inform­a­tion giv­en in this report, the main con­clu­sion is that the Cairngorms Nation­al Park is work­ing and pro­gress­ing sat­is­fact­or­ily towards sus­tain­able tour­ism and imple­ment­ing the prin­ciples of the European Charter for Sus­tain­able Tour­ism in Pro­tec­ted Areas. In fact, there are some examples of excel­lence that should be dis­sem­in­ated among the Charter Net­work. How­ever, there is always place for improve­ment so I sug­gest the fol­low­ing recommendations:

1. Reduce impact of vis­it­ors to vul­ner­able species

Although this need is iden­ti­fied and addressed by the CNPPP and the Con­ser­va­tion Strategy, it is worthy to point it out here and to take it into account in the deliv­ery of the Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan. It is a main issue for tour­ism sus­tain­ab­il­ity and for the status of the CNP as an out­stand­ing nature travel destination.

It is recom­men­ded to pay atten­tion and under­take some clear and effect­ive meas­ures to reduce impact of vis­it­ors to vul­ner­able spe­cies as ground nest­ing birds. This could be tackled for example by:

• Provid­ing good and clear inform­a­tion about when and how to access respons­ibly to cer­tain sens­it­ive areas,
• More and bet­ter com­mu­nic­a­tion of the respons­ible out­door code, espe­cially to the for­eign vis­it­ors, mak­ing it easy and attractive.

How­ever, it would be essen­tial to involve rangers, front-line staff of tour­ism busi­nesses and vis­it­ors centres to provide effect­ive inform­a­tion and raise aware­ness of visitors.

1. Deal with illeg­al rap­tors persecution

It is essen­tial to identi­fy and imple­ment effi­cient meas­ures to reduce rap­tor per­se­cu­tion that is affect­ing the repu­ta­tion of the CNP as an out­stand­ing and sus­tain­able nature travel destination.

1. Act­ive and effect­ive man­age­ment of high vis­it­ors flows

Act­ive man­age­ment of high vis­it­ors afflu­ence to Glen­more is needed to reduce park­ing prob­lems, impacts and to improve vis­it­ors exper­i­ence and nature conservation.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Paper 5 Annex 2 29^th March 2019

There is a strategy with clear object­ives (Cairngorm & Glen­more Strategy) but effect­ive meas­ures are needed to improve pub­lic trans­port, lim­it the park­ing zones and finally reduce the amount of vis­it­ors arriv­ing in cer­tain times by private cars.

1. Great­er effort to improve know­ledge about the CNP by tour­ism professionals

Good vis­it­or infra­struc­tures and inform­a­tion mater­i­als and cam­paigns have been developed, so now it is recom­men­ded to make a high­er invest­ment in train­ing tour­ism pro­fes­sion­als to provide them a deep­er know­ledge about the Nation­al Park as a whole (nature and cul­ture val­ues, tour­ism attrac­tions, busi­nesses, respons­ible access etc.). This could be tar­geted to indi­vidu­als work­ing or will­ing to work in tour­ism busi­nesses, vis­it­or centres, loc­al entit­ies, etc. It has been suc­cess­ful in oth­er 9 Charter Parks to devel­op spe­cif­ic and com­pre­hens­ive train­ing courses com­bin­ing the­ory and prac­tice, with onsite vis­its and activ­it­ies that increases motiv­a­tion and exper­i­ence exchange. A sin­gu­lar recog­ni­tion by the CNPA to the pro­fes­sion­als par­ti­cip­at­ing in these courses could be offered.

1. Enhance­ment of sus­tain­able man­age­ment by tour­ism businesses

Big efforts have been made in the past to pro­mote sus­tain­able man­age­ment in tour­ism busi­nesses through dif­fer­ent schemes (Green Tour­ism Schemes, CNP Brand) and there prob­ably are an import­ant amount of busi­nesses imple­ment­ing effect­ive measures.

A sus­tain­able tour­ism des­tin­a­tion can­not be so without the com­mit­ment and act­ive involve­ment of the private tour­ism busi­nesses, so it is recom­men­ded to identi­fy, recog­nise, mon­it­or and pro­mote sus­tain­able best prac­tices of tour­ism busi­nesses in the CNP, pay­ing atten­tion to envir­on­ment­al man­age­ment (energy effi­ciency, water sav­ing, waste man­age­ment, waste reduc­tion and man­age­ment….), inform­a­tion about the CNP, con­tri­bu­tion to nature and cul­ture con­ser­va­tion, and sup­port to loc­al devel­op­ment (loc­al products, pro­viders, etc.).

It would be use­ful to use exist­ing schemes as the Green Busi­ness Scheme or the Qual­ity Scheme of Vis­it Scot­land or build­ing a stronger link between the CNPA and the most com­mit­ted and sus­tain­able busi­nesses through the Charter Part II – that can be adap­ted to the Cairngorms real­ity and the Make It Yours program.

It would be needed after­wards a con­sist­ent com­mu­nic­a­tion cam­paign about those busi­nesses, their com­mit­ment and best practices.

1. Vis­it­or giv­ing scheme to main­tain infra­struc­tures and con­trib­ute to conservation

The CNP have a very good net­work of paths that is being con­stantly improved, but there is uncer­tainty of avail­ab­il­ity of funds – espe­cially pub­lic ones to main­tain the net­work in the future. On the oth­er hand, there is also a need of con­ser­va­tion activ­it­ies and pro­jects to main­tain the status and level of attrac­tion of the nation­al park as a nature and out­door activ­ity destination.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Paper 5 Annex 2 29^th March 2019

Nowadays, the park is receiv­ing almost 1.7 mil­lion vis­it­ors per year, these vis­it­ors could con­trib­ute to the con­ser­va­tion and main­ten­ance of the Nation­al Park. Most of them would prob­ably be glad to make a con­tri­bu­tion to the sin­gu­lar place they have enjoyed so much. The chal­lenge here is to design a vis­it­or-friendly scheme, with low admin­is­trat­ive costs and high trans­par­ency; where tour­ism busi­nesses and loc­al entit­ies should be act­ively involved.

1. Par­ti­cip­a­tion in the European Charter Network

The European Charter Net­work now counts with 157 sus­tain­able des­tin­a­tions (pro­tec­ted areas) from 19 coun­tries and it is a good oppor­tun­ity to exchange exper­i­ences and best prac­tices or even to pro­mote CNP among a wide, inter­na­tion­al, spe­cial­ised and com­mit­ted net­work of pro­fes­sion­als (pro­tec­ted areas man­agers, tour­ism busi­nesses, pub­lic admin­is­tra­tions, etc.). Every Charter Park has a lot to offer to the net­work and can take advant­age of the exper­i­ences from oth­er parks.

I there­fore recom­mend that the CNPA make an effort to par­ti­cip­ate in the avail­able tools of the net­work: Charter News­let­ters, social media, charter meet­ings, joint pro­jects and pub­lic­a­tions, work­ing groups, etc. The net­work is a good school for pro­tec­ted areas man­agers aim­ing to pro­gress on sus­tain­able tourism.

The CNPA could also con­trib­ute as part of the net­work to make the Charter more vis­ible and val­ued by the loc­al stake­hold­ers and the gen­er­al public.

Aman­da Guz­man and Rolan­ds Auz­ins Euro­parc July 2017