Cairngorms Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan 2023 – 28

Cairngorms Nation­al Park

Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Con­tents

Fore­word 3

Ro-ràdh 4

Intro­duc­tion 6

Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan and stra­tegic con­text 7

European Charter for Sus­tain­able Tour­ism in Pro­tec­ted Areas 9

Tour­ism in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park 10

Nature 14

People 17

Place 21

Mon­it­or­ing and review 25

This doc­u­ment is avail­able in oth­er formats on request. Please con­tact the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity on +44 (0) 1479 873 535 or go to cairngorms​.co​.uk.

Cov­er image of fam­ily with dogs on the old log­ging way© Rachel Keen­an / Park Authority.

Con­tents page image of heath­er moor­land in flower and birch wood­land © Mark Hamblin.

© Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, 2023. All rights reserved.

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Fore­word

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park is a unique and beau­ti­ful place, home to icon­ic land­scapes, endangered spe­cies and over 18,000 people. A place where people and nature can thrive together.

This plan for sus­tain­able tour­ism with­in the Nation­al Park has been cre­ated dur­ing one of the most chal­len­ging and unpre­dict­able peri­ods of recent times. It aims to deliv­er key tour­ism pri­or­it­ies with­in the over­arch­ing frame­work of the newly pub­lished Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan. But the plan must help us deliv­er against the back­drop of the cli­mate and nature crises, the con­tin­ued impacts of Cov­id-19 and increas­ing pres­sures on the cost of living.

In order to address these many com­plex chal­lenges over the next five years we as a Park Author­ity and as a tour­ism sec­tor – will need to think dif­fer­ently. We will need to be col­lab­or­at­ive, to embrace new ideas, and to be rad­ic­al in our approach. Our com­mit­ment to sus­tain­able tour­ism is cru­cial. Tour­ism can con­trib­ute to the long-term eco­nom­ic prosper­ity of the Nation­al Park’s com­munit­ies, help us achieve our net zero and nature res­tor­a­tion tar­gets, and under­pin a well­being eco­nomy that works for all the Nation­al Park’s res­id­ents and visitors.

The pan­dem­ic reminded us of how effect­ive we are when we work in part­ner­ship. The Park Author­ity worked with part­ners in every com­munity to provide vital sup­port to the tour­ism sec­tor and all those who rely on it. We worked closely with our friends at the Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship to cre­ate the

Cairngorm­s­To­geth­er cam­paign, a frame­work to help busi­nesses, communities

and vis­it­ors co-exist pro­duct­ively in a pan­dem­ic. That tagline con­tin­ues to be used to pro­mote pos­it­ive ways for every­one to enjoy the Nation­al Park.

In July 2022 the Park Author­ity – along­side over 700 oth­er organ­isa­tions and busi­nesses – signed up to the Glas­gow Declar­a­tion for Cli­mate Action in Tour­ism, demon­strat­ing our com­mit­ment to meet­ing our shared cli­mate change respons­ib­il­it­ies. We are acutely aware that times are tough for the tour­ism industry just now, but it is our firm belief that sus­tain­able prac­tices and a thriv­ing eco­nomy go hand in hand with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

This plan sets out how we aim to do it. We know it won’t be easy and we will need to be flex­ible to adapt to a chan­ging eco­nom­ic, polit­ic­al and cul­tur­al cli­mate. But there is a real oppor­tun­ity here for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park to be a place that shows the way for rur­al com­munit­ies, both here in Scot­land and across the globe. I look for­ward to work­ing with you to deliv­er it over the next five years.

Janet Hunter Deputy Con­vener of the Park Author­ity and Chair of the Cairngorms Tour­ism Partnership

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Ro-ràdh

’S e àite sòn­raichte, brèagha a tha ann am Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh, a tha na dha­chaigh do chruthan-tìre suaicheanta, gnèithean ann an cun­nart agus bar­rachd is 18,000 daoine: àite far am faod daoine agus nàdar a bhith a’ soirb­heachadh còmhla.

Chaidh am plana seo, air­son tur­as­achd sheasmhach taobh a‑staigh na Pàirce Nàiseanta, a chruthachadh rè aon de na h‑amannan as dùbh­lanaiche a tha air a bhith ann o chionn ghoirid, àm nuair nach b’ urrain­near ro-innse dè dh’fhaodadh tachairt. Tha e ag amas air lìbhrigeadh nam prìom­hachas­an cudromach air­son tur­as­achd taobh a‑staigh an fhrèam-obrach Plana Com-pàirteachas na Pàirce Nàiseanta, a chaidh fhoill­seachadh o chionn ghoirid. Ach feu­maidh am plana ar cuideachadh a lìbhrigeadh fa chom­hair cùl-raon nan èigin­nean clìo­maid agus nàdair, buaid­hean leantain­neach Cov­id-19 agus cuidea­man cos­gais bith-beò a tha a’ sìor-dhol am meud.

Air­son dèi­li­geadh ris an iomadh dùbh­lan iom-fhill­te seo thairis air an ath chòig bli­adhna, feu­maidh sinne — mar Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirce agus mar roinn tur­as­achd – smaoin­tinn ann an dòigh eadar-dheal­aichte. Feu­maidh sinn a bhith co-obra­chail, a’ gabhail ri beach­dan ùra, agus a bhith radaigeach san dòigh-obrach againn. Tha ar dealas ri tur­as­achd sheasmhach deatamach. Faodaidh tur­as­achd cur ri soirb­heachas eacono­maigeach fad-ùine nan coim­hearsnachdan sa Phàirc Nàiseanta, faodaidh i ar cuideachadh gus na tar­gaidean againn a choileanadh a thaobh neoni lom agus ath-shlàn­achadh nàdair, agus faodaidh i taic a thoirt do dh’eaconamaidh sunnd a bhios ag obair air­son a h‑uile neach-còm­h­naidh is neach-tadhail sa Phàirc Nàiseanta.

Chuim­h­nich an galar mòr-sgaoilte dhuinn cho èifeach­dach ​‘s a tha sinn nuair a tha sinn ag obair ann an com-pàirteachas. Dh’obair Ùgh­dar­ras na Pàirce le com-pàir­tichean sa h‑uile coim­hearsnachd gus taic dheatamach a thoirt seachad do roinn na tur­as­achd agus dhaibh­san a tha na eis­imeil. Dh’obair sinn gu dlùth leis ar caraidean aig Com-pàirteachas Gnothachas a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh gus an iomairt #Cairngorm­s­To­geth­er a chruthachadh, frèam-obrach gus gnothachas­an, coim­hearsnachdan agus luchd-tadhail a chu­mail a’ dol ri chèile gu tarbhach ann an galar mòr-sgaoilte. Tha an abairt shuaicheantais sin fhath­ast ga chleach­dadh gus dòighean deim­hin­neach a chur air adhart sam faodadh a h‑uile duine a’ Phàirc Nàiseanta a mhealadh.

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San luchar 2022, chuir sinne – còmhla ri bar­rachd is 700 buidh­nean is gnothachas­an eile ar n‑ainm ri Foirgheall Ghlaschu air­son Gnìomh Clìo­maid ann an Tur­as­achd, a’ noch­dadh ar geall­tanais gun coilean sinn na dleastanas­an againn, a tha sinn uile a’ co-phàirteachadh, a thaobh ath­ar­rachadh na gnàth- shìde. Tha sinn glè mhothachail gur e àm dui­lich a th’ ann air­son gnìom­hachas na tur­as­achd an-dràsta, ach tha sinn a’ creidsinn gu dain­geann gu bheil cleach­daid­hean sea­smhach agus eacona­maidh shoirb­hea­chail a’ dol còmhla ri chèile taobh a‑staigh Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh.

Tha am plana seo a’ cur an cèill mar a tha sinn ag amas air sin a choileanadh. Tha fios againn nach bi e furas­ta agus gum feum sinn a bhith so-lùbaidh gus fre­a­gar­rachadh ri clìo­maid ath­ar­ra­chail a thaobh eacono­maidh, poil­it­igs agus cul­tar. Ach tha fior cho­throm ann an seo air­son Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh a bhith mar àite a tha a’ seall­tainn na slighe air­son choim­hearsnachdan dùth­chail, gach cuid an seo ann an Alba agus air feadh na cru­inne. Tha mi a’ dèanamh fiug­hair ri bhith ag obair còmhla ribh gus a chur an gnìomh thairis air an ath chòig bliadhna.

Janet Hunter Leas-neach-gairm Ùgh­dar­ras na Pàirce agus Cath­raiche Com-pàirteachas Tur­as­achd a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Intro­duc­tion

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park is the largest Nation­al Park in the UK. Along­side 18,000 human res­id­ents, a quarter of the UK’s threatened spe­cies also call it home.

People have vis­ited this spe­cial place for gen­er­a­tions, attrac­ted by the land­scape, wild­life and extens­ive oppor­tun­it­ies for out­door recre­ation. This in turn has sup­por­ted a thriv­ing vis­it­or eco­nomy, the largest employ­ment sec­tor in the Nation­al Park.

Our con­tin­ued ambi­tion is for tour­ism to be a force for good, not only in eco­nom­ic terms but also by con­trib­ut­ing to thriv­ing com­munit­ies and mak­ing the Cairngorms a great place to live and work. We want to inspire our vis­it­ors to have great exper­i­ences and to take action to address the cli­mate and nature crises, har­ness­ing their love for this place to affect pos­it­ive change.

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Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan and stra­tegic context

This doc­u­ment is the action plan for 2023 – 28 and it sits with­in the wider con­text of the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 – 27, which acts as the over­arch­ing sus­tain­able tour­ism strategy.

Launched in August 2022, the Part­ner­ship Plan sets out how all those with a respons­ib­il­ity for the Nation­al Park will coordin­ate their work to tackle the most import­ant issues in the peri­od from 2022 to 2027. The Plan sets out the vis­ion and over­arch­ing strategy for man­aging the Nation­al Park and guides the work of all pub­lic bod­ies and oth­er part­ners to deliv­er the aims of the Nation­al Park and con­trib­ute to nation­al pro­grammes of work set out by Scot­tish Ministers.

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity and the Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship have both signed the Glas­gow Declar­a­tion on Cli­mate Action on Tour­ism and the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan is our cli­mate action plan for the des­tin­a­tion. Fur­ther inform­a­tion is avail­able at unw​to​.org/ the-glasgow-declaration-on-climate-action-in-tourism.

The Part­ner­ship Plan is arranged in three sec­tions – Nature, People and Place – with each sec­tion set­ting out the out­come that we want to achieve by 2045 (the year Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment has com­mit­ted to achiev­ing net zero). Each of these sec­tions is sup­por­ted by a set of object­ives, actions for the next five years and a com­pre­hens­ive set of policies.

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The actions with­in the Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan add value to the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan and set out the con­tri­bu­tion of the wider tour­ism industry to the deliv­ery of par­tic­u­larly rel­ev­ant object­ives. In devel­op­ing the plan, we have also con­sidered how we can con­trib­ute to Scot­land Out­look 2030 – the nation­al tour­ism strategy – as well as Scotland’s Nation­al Strategy for Eco­nom­ic Transformation.

The deliv­ery of this Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan is coordin­ated by the Cairngorms Tour­ism Part­ner­ship, which brings togeth­er key busi­nesses, agen­cies involved in tour­ism, com­munity rep­res­ent­at­ives and the private sec­tor des­tin­a­tion organ­isa­tions that cov­er the Nation­al Park (includ­ing Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship, Vis­it­Ab­er­deen­shire and Vis­it Moray Spey­side). It is one of a range of advis­ory for­ums for the Nation­al Park.

Along­side this Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan there is a Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Plan that sets out a stra­tegic approach to invest­ment in, and main­ten­ance of, tour­ism and vis­it­or infra­struc­ture in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. The Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan will guide the form of any built devel­op­ment and ensure it is in the right place. The Well­being Eco­nomy Action Plan (still in devel­op­ment at the time of writ­ing) will pro­mote an eco­nomy that works for all the people of the Cairngorms. Also in devel­op­ment is the Act­ive Cairngorms Action Plan, which will include a range of actions to influ­ence how people travel to and around the Nation­al Park.

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European Charter for Sus­tain­able Tour­ism in Pro­tec­ted Areas

The European Charter for Sus­tain­able Tour­ism in Pro­tec­ted Areas is a prac­tic­al man­age­ment tool that enables nation­al parks and oth­er pro­tec­ted areas to devel­op and man­age tour­ism sus­tain­ably. It is based on five principles:

2 Giv­ing pri­or­ity to protection

Con­trib­ut­ing to sus­tain­able development

Enga­ging all stakeholders

Plan­ning sus­tain­able tour­ism effectively

Pur­su­ing con­tinu­ous improvement

The Charter is about bring­ing people togeth­er and provid­ing them with a frame­work to work col­lab­or­at­ively towards becom­ing a sus­tain­able des­tin­a­tion, with extern­al veri­fic­a­tion and recog­ni­tion of our work in this area. You can find more inform­a­tion about the Charter at euro​parc​.org.

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park has been accred­ited with the Charter since 2005, shortly after des­ig­na­tion as a nation­al park. Every five years we look back on what has been delivered over the pre­vi­ous five-year peri­od, assess what has changed and pre­pare a new Strategy and Action Plan for Sus­tain­able Tourism.

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A 08 BJV Tour­ism in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park

Vis­it­or num­bers have grown stead­ily since the Cairngorms Nation­al Park was des­ig­nated in 2003.

In 2019, the Cairngorms wel­comed an estim­ated two mil­lion vis­it­ors for the first time. Along­side that, vis­it­or sat­is­fac­tion rates had also climbed, with an aver­age sat­is­fac­tion score of over 9 out of 10. Vis­it­ors were also more likely to be attrac­ted by nation­al park status, with 55% say­ing that it was an import­ant factor in their decision to vis­it. Although most vis­it­ors were repeat cus­tom­ers, there was an increase in both first-time and over­seas visitors.

The Cov­id-19 pan­dem­ic changed everything. We worked, in com­mon with des­tin­a­tions around the world, to address the twin chal­lenges of the sud­den col­lapse of the vis­it­or eco­nomy, fol­lowed by increased post-lock­down foot­fall at key coun­tryside sites. In the Cairngorms this led to a range of chal­lenges, includ­ing more traffic and park­ing con­ges­tion, toi­let­ing prob­lems and high levels of inform­al camp­ing. This promp­ted us to take a num­ber of prac­tic­al meas­ures, includ­ing the estab­lish­ment of a Man­aging for Vis­it­ors Group and a dir­ectly-man­aged Park Author­ity Ranger Service.

GATE­HOUSE BD PRIN­CESS ROY­AL & DUKE OF FIFE MEMORI­AL PARK

CHA RAE 2 1 Insuit for bu

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DAL

Image of bikers at the Boat Hotel © Mark Craig / Park Authority

BIRRA MOR­ETTI

As the recov­ery peri­od pro­gresses, busi­ness sur­veys show that a num­ber of wider factors are still chal­len­ging the tour­ism industry. Staff­ing and recruit­ment issues con­tin­ue to prove very chal­len­ging after the loss of hos­pit­al­ity staff dur­ing the Cov­id-19 crisis, coupled with the lim­ited avail­ab­il­ity of afford­able hous­ing. Con­cerns around Cov­id-19 have not com­pletely dis­ap­peared but are now over­shad­owed by con­sumer con­cern about the cost-of-liv­ing crisis and rising energy costs. Infla­tion­ary pres­sures are also caus­ing dir­ect issues for busi­nesses, with a sig­ni­fic­ant dip in medi­um to long-term con­fid­ence. For example, in mid-2022 around 8% of busi­nesses said they were con­sid­er­ing ceas­ing to trade (source: Cairngorms Busi­ness Barometer).

These factors are set against the sig­ni­fic­ant back­drop of the cli­mate and nature crisis, our col­lect­ive response to which forms the back­bone of the Part­ner­ship Plan. As vis­it­ors return to the Nation­al Park, we need to work togeth­er to help reduce car­bon emis­sions from vehicles (respons­ible for over three quar­ters of vis­it­ors’ car­bon foot­print) and encour­age every­one to take care of this spe­cial place.

Cur­rent pro­jec­tions show that the Cairngorms Nation­al Park should reach net zero rel­at­ively early, by 2025. This is largely due to sig­ni­fic­ant poten­tial to store car­bon through peat­land res­tor­a­tion and expan­sion of wood­land. The Nation­al Park there­fore has poten­tial there­after to be a sig­ni­fic­ant car­bon sink, help­ing meet nation­al net zero tar­gets. There is an oppor­tun­ity to engage and inspire vis­it­ors with this excit­ing and pro­gress­ive work.

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Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan

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In deliv­er­ing the actions detailed on the fol­low­ing pages, all of which will help to deliv­er the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan, there are two over­arch­ing principles:

Busi­nesses, vis­it­ors and wider stake­hold­ers should be engaged in the jour­ney to net zero and nature recovery.

Com­munit­ies and loc­al res­id­ents should be involved in tour­ism decision-mak­ing where it affects them.

The actions are arranged into three sections:

Nature

កែ People

า Place

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Å Nature

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Nature

Out­come: A car­bon neg­at­ive and biod­iversity rich Nation­al Park with bet­ter func­tion­ing, bet­ter con­nec­ted and more resi­li­ent ecosystems.

Research shows that the major­ity of our vis­it­ors are attrac­ted by the land­scapes and wild­life that make this such a spe­cial place. We want to deep­en that con­nec­tion with the nat­ur­al envir­on­ment, present­ing vis­it­ors with oppor­tun­it­ies to make a pos­it­ive con­tri­bu­tion through vis­it­or giv­ing, volun­teer­ing and respons­ible beha­viour choices.

Deliv­er­ing against Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan objectives:

• A1 — Net zero
• A13 – Spe­cies recovery

Deliv­er­ing against Scot­land Out­look 2030:

• Des­tin­a­tion net zero

1. Vis­it­or investment

ACTION Encour­age vis­it­or invest­ment in the Nation­al Park through vis­it­or giv­ing, car­bon off­set schemes and oth­er incent­ives, con­nect­ing vis­it­ors with the place through fin­an­cial and emo­tion­al buy-in.

PART­NERS (lead first) Cairngorms Trust, Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, Cairngorms Busi­ness Partnership

1. Cli­mate Action Plan

ACTION Devel­op and imple­ment a busi­ness-led Cli­mate Action Plan that engages busi­nesses in oppor­tun­it­ies to lower their car­bon footprint.

PART­NERS Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship (lead first)

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1. Tech­no­lo­gic­al solutions

ACTION Invest­ig­ate tech­no­lo­gic­al solu­tions to engage vis­it­ors and nudge them towards respons­ible choices in a way that enhances their exper­i­ence of the destination.

PART­NERS (lead first) Park Author­ity, VisitScotland

1. Pre-arrival vis­it­or information

ACTION Devel­op a pro­gramme that sup­ports busi­ness engage­ment with cus­tom­ers in advance of their vis­it, includ­ing inform­a­tion about biod­iversity and respons­ible enjoyment.

PART­NERS (lead first) Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship, Park Author­ity, Growbiz

1. Redu­cing spe­cies disturbance

ACTION Devel­op and imple­ment mech­an­isms to reduce dis­turb­ance on key spe­cies and recre­ation­al impacts on high ground.

PART­NERS (lead first) Park Author­ity and NatureScot, ranger ser­vices, Cairngorms Busi­ness Partnership

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Image of cyc­lists on a bridge in Cor­rie Fee © Vis­itScot­land / Luigi Di Pasquale RB TEAM ISSU People

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People កំ

Out­come: A well­being eco­nomy that works for all the people of the Cairngorms.

Tour­ism forms a major sec­tor of the loc­al eco­nomy but there are oppor­tun­it­ies to improve the value it adds to the lives of loc­al res­id­ents and com­munit­ies, devel­op­ing and pro­mot­ing hos­pit­al­ity as a career and sup­port­ing com­munit­ies to bene­fit from the vis­it­or economy.

Deliv­er­ing against Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan objectives:

• B2 — Well­being economy
• B4 — Skills and training
• B5 – Com­munity assets and land
• B8 – Gael­ic lan­guage and culture
• B10 — A Park for all

Deliv­er­ing against Scot­land Out­look 2030:

• Our pas­sion­ate people
• Our diverse businesses

1. Com­munity-led tourism

ACTION Sup­port, encour­age and pro­mote com­munity-led tour­ism enter­prises and devel­op a com­munity tour­ism net­work for the Nation­al Park.

PART­NERS (lead first) Vol­un­tary Action Badenoch and Strath­spey, Scotland’s Com­munity Tour­ism Net­work, Cairngorms Busi­ness Partnership

1. Res­id­ent research

ACTION Mon­it­or res­id­ents’ atti­tudes to tour­ism in their com­munity through reg­u­lar sur­veys and inform­al open meetings.

PART­NERS (lead first) Park Authority

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1. Cul­tur­al heritage

ACTION Strengthen cul­tur­al events through vis­it­or engage­ment with Gael­ic and oth­er lan­guages, music, storytelling and built heritage.

PART­NERS (lead first) Park Author­ity, Cairngorms Busi­ness Partnership

1. Fair work and wellbeing

ACTION Identi­fy meas­ures and sup­port needed to encour­age fair work prac­tices and a well­being eco­nomy in the tour­ism industry.

PART­NERS (lead first) Park Author­ity, Cairngorms Busi­ness Partnership

1. Employ­ment, train­ing and skills

ACTION Pro­mote the Cairngorms as an excep­tion­al des­tin­a­tion to work in the hos­pit­al­ity industry and devel­op a train­ing ini­ti­at­ive to strengthen links between loc­al schools / fur­ther and high­er edu­ca­tion organ­isa­tions and the hos­pit­al­ity sector.

PART­NERS (lead first) Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship, High­lands and Islands Enter­prise / Scot­tish Enter­prise, Skills Devel­op­ment Scotland

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1. Busi­ness engagement

ACTION Review and refresh the ​‘Make it Yours’ busi­ness engage­ment pro­gramme to ensure it meets the needs of our part­ners and informs and inspires front­line staff.

PART­NERS (lead first) Park Author­ity, Cairngorms Busi­ness Partnership

1. Equal­it­ies, diversity and inclusion

ACTION Encour­age a more diverse range of vis­it­ors to the Cairngorms by address­ing bar­ri­ers iden­ti­fied by under- rep­res­en­ted groups and people from a wide range of socio-eco­nom­ic back­grounds, and sup­port train­ing for front­line hos­pit­al­ity staff to offer a warm wel­come to vis­it­ors of all backgrounds.

PART­NERS (lead first) Park Authority

1. Loc­al vis­it­or levy

ACTION Engage with stake­hold­ers to ensure that Scot­tish Government’s pro­pos­als for a loc­al vis­it­or levy meet the needs of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

PART­NERS Loc­al author­it­ies, Park Author­ity (lead first)

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Place LOW PR MUSIC Image of a shop­per in Aviemore Liam Ander­str­em / Park Author­ity GBYL­ITE OSPREY PUGNETS 320

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Place

Out­come: A place that people want to live in, work in and vis­it that works for all.

Vis­it­ors con­trib­ute not just eco­nom­ic­ally but socially to life in the Nation­al Park, sup­port­ing invest­ment in infra­struc­ture, busi­nesses and events to help cre­ate thriv­ing com­munit­ies. We want to spread these bene­fits by devel­op­ing and pro­mot­ing assets in com­munit­ies with addi­tion­al vis­it­or capa­city, and encour­aging vis­its at tra­di­tion­ally quieter times of year.

Deliv­er­ing against Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan objectives:

• C1 – Access to housing
• C5 — Vis­it­ors to the Nation­al Park
• C6 — A sus­tain­able destination
• C8 — Access­ible path and cycle network
• C9 — High-qual­ity vis­it­or experience

Deliv­er­ing against Scot­land Out­look 2030:

• Our thriv­ing places
• Our mem­or­able experiences

1. Tour­ism infrastructure

ACTION Pro­duce a Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Plan that defines the pri­or­it­ies for invest­ment in tour­ism infra­struc­ture for the next five years and seek addi­tion­al fund­ing for delivery.

PART­NERS Park Author­ity, Vis­itScot­land (lead first)

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1. Vis­it­or accommodation

ACTION Mon­it­or the imple­ment­a­tion of the new short-term let licens­ing arrange­ments and the devel­op­ment of meas­ures such as the short-term let con­trol areas, and ensure that we main­tain an appro­pri­ate range of accom­mod­a­tion for visitors.

PART­NERS Park Author­ity, loc­al author­it­ies (lead first)

1. Tour­ism assets

ACTION Pro­mote and invest in tour­ism assets pro­duced by pre­vi­ous place-based ini­ti­at­ives – includ­ing Badenoch: The Story­lands, SnowRoads Scen­ic Route, Tomin­toul and Glen­liv­et Dark Sky Park, Cat­er­an Eco-museum, the Spey­side Way and Deeside Way.

PART­NERS (lead first) Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship, Park Author­ity, VisitScotland

1. Redu­cing seasonality

ACTION Sup­port devel­op­ment of new products and events to encour­age vis­its at quieter times of year, par­tic­u­larly through the winter months. Com­mis­sion des­tin­a­tion mar­ket­ing cam­paigns to foster growth at tra­di­tion­ally quieter times of year and to encour­age longer stays, with increased value to the loc­al economy.

PART­NERS Park Author­ity and Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship (lead first)

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1. Busi­ness support

ACTION Devel­op oppor­tun­it­ies for busi­nesses to use their loc­a­tion in a Nation­al Park to build sus­tain­able growth through brand­ing, product devel­op­ment and tar­geted marketing.

PART­NERS (lead first) Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship, Park Authority

1. Part­ner­ship working

ACTION Build on the part­ner­ship struc­tures and policies developed in response to the Cov­id-19 lock­downs as a mod­el for resi­li­ence against future uncertainty.

PART­NERS (lead first) Park Authority

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Mon­it­or­ing and review

A com­pre­hens­ive pro­gramme of work is being set out to mon­it­or deliv­ery of the actions set out in the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan.

The mon­it­or­ing and review of this action plan will be closely tied to this work and led by Park Author­ity officers, with con­tri­bu­tions from all rel­ev­ant stake­hold­ers. The Cairngorms Tour­ism Part­ner­ship will over­see deliv­ery of the action plan and a form­al report will be taken, at least annu­ally, to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity board.

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Cairngorms Nation­al Park

Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Pro­duced by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 14 The Square | Grant­own on Spey | Scot­land | PH26 3HG +44 (0) 1479 873 535 | cairngorms​.co​.uk