Visitor survey results 2024 - 2025

me·l research Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Vis­it­or Sur­vey 2024 – 25 Find­ings Report May 2025 tel. 0121 604 4664 | Bronwyn.​Vermaat@​melresearch.​co.​uk | Elliot.​Simmonds@​melresearch.​co.​uk | www​.melre​search​.co​.uk Somer­set House, 37 Temple Street, Birm­ing­ham, B2 5DP Research Back­ground ◊ The Cairngorms Nation­al Park (the ​‘Nation­al Park’) is the UK’s largest nation­al park at 4,528km² (6% of Scotland’s land mass) and is home to one quarter of the UK’s rare and endangered spe­cies. Around two mil­lion vis­it­ors from across the world come to this spe­cial place every year. ◊ The Nation­al Park Author­ity is the organ­isa­tion that was set up to ensure that the unique aspects of the Cairngorms – the nat­ur­al envir­on­ment of the Nation­al Park, its wild­life, and its people – are looked after, both now and in the future. The Nation­al Park Author­ity provides lead­er­ship to all those involved in the Cairngorms. ◊ The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity com­mis­sioned M.E.L Research to con­duct a sur­vey with its vis­it­ors across the Nation­al Park in 2024 – 2025. This sur­vey, is inten­ded to estab­lish a baseline of vis­it­or sen­ti­ment and exper­i­ence across the Nation­al Park through­out the year. This report dis­plays the res­ults of this sur­vey. me·l research Research Objectives

• Mon­it­or changes in vis­it­or pro­file over time, and against the Nation­al Park Plan’s stra­tegic objectives
• Under­stand vis­it­or exper­i­ences of organ­ising accom­mod­a­tion, travel and exper­i­ences, and any bar­ri­ers they face in these
• Provide insight into sat­is­fac­tion levels among vis­it­ors, and any changes in these com­pared to pre­vi­ous years
• Identi­fy vari­ations in the vis­it­or exper­i­ence among dif­fer­ent vis­it­or sub­groups me·l research Meth­od­o­logy Sur­vey Delivery: The research was con­duc­ted by MEL Research’s face to face inter­view­ing team, using a sys­tem­at­ic sampling approach. Sur­veys were con­duc­ted across the year, in all months between May 2024 and April 2025, and on all days of the week. Inter­view­ers were sta­tioned at a range of 35 sites and loc­a­tions across the Nation­al Park. 1,348 inter­views were col­lec­ted by these inter­view­ers, and these res­ults are used as the primary source of data in this report.

In addi­tion to this, as a tri­al 1,008 responses were col­lec­ted via an online sur­vey dis­trib­uted by the Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship. In part due to the self-select­ing nature of this sample, the pro­file of responses differed greatly from that of the face to face sample. This data has not been included in this report due to con­cerns about the rep­res­ent­at­ive­ness of the online sample.

Res­ults reporting: This report includes data col­lec­ted between the 1^st May 2024 and 30^th April 2025. The 1,348 responses col­lec­ted by face-to-face inter­view­ers have a mar­gin of error of +/- 2.67 at the 95% con­fid­ence level. This means that for a stat­ist­ic of 50%, we can be 95% con­fid­ent that the true stat­ist­ic is between 47.23% and 52.67%. How­ever, it is of note that the mar­gin of error is high­er for ques­tions with a lower response rate.

me·l research Sample details me·l research Pro­por­tion of face-to-face inter­views col­lec­ted, by Area (grouped from indi­vidu­al loc­a­tions) | Area | | |: — — — — — — — | — — — :| | Aviemore | 9% | | Badenoch | 16% | | Glen­more | 17% | | Strath­spey | 13% | | Moray | 10% | | Aber­deen­shire | 25% | | Angus | 4% | | Perth­shire | 6% | | Loc­a­tion type | | | Attrac­tion | 33% | | Vil­lage | 36% | | Coun­tryside | 32% |

Unweighted sample base size: 1348 Vis­it­or Pro­file me·l research The vast major­ity (94%) of those inter­viewed were vis­it­ors who live out­side of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park or have a hol­i­day home with­in it In 2019 – 20 97%, and in 2014 – 2015, 96% of those inter­viewed were vis­it­ors from out­side of the Nation­al Park, and in 2009 – 2010, 77% were from out­side of the Nation­al Park.

Yes — My primary res­id­ence is in the park	5%
No — I split my time between here and some­where else	1%
No — But I have a hol­i­day home in the park	1%
No — I don’t live in the area any of the time	93%
me·l
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SQ2. Is your primary res­id­ence in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park as out­lined on this map? Sample base size: 1348
The vast major­ity (92%) of overnight vis­it­ors come from
with­in Europe (includ­ing the UK)
This includes approx­im­ately half (48%) of overnight vis­it­ors to the Nation­al Park who vis­it from Scot­land, and the 79% from the UK (inclus­ive of Scot­land). For the
pur­poses of this report, vis­it­ors have been grouped into four geo­graph­ic­al areas for ana­lys­is, dis­played in the table on the right: Scot­land (any vis­it­ors from
Scot­land), Rest of UK (vis­it­ors from the UK, exclud­ing Scot­land, unless spe­cified oth­er­wise), Europe (vis­it­ors from Europe, exclud­ing the UK, unless specified
oth­er­wise), Rest of World (vis­it­ors from out­side of Europe). These terms will be used in this way through­out the report.

The coun­try both day and overnight vis­it­ors were from was largely con­sist­ent across all sea­sons, except that in winter, the pro­por­tion from Eng­land rose to 31%.

Scot­land	57%
Eng­land	48%
Ger­many	20%
USA	27%
France	4%
Neth­erla	4%
Wales	2%
Spain	2%
Canada	2%
Aus­trali	1%
Oth­er co	1%
Sum­mary:	1%
Sum­mary:	1%
Sum­mary:	6%

Scot­land
Eng­land	Total (1274)
Ger­many
USA
France
Neth­erla
Wales
Spain
Canada
Aus­trali	Overnight Vis­it­ors Only (859)
Oth­er co
Sum­mary:
Sum­mary:
Sum­mary:

	Cairngorms Vis­it­or Sur­vey 2024 – 25	Scot­land vis­it­ors 2023 (Vis­it Scotland)
Scot­land	48%	27%
Rest of UK	29%	45%
Rest of Europe	15%	12%
Rest of world	8%	16%
Overnight vis­it­or = any num­ber of nights
Q6. Where do you live (your nor­mal place of res­id­ence)? Sample base size: 1274
Vis­it Scot­land Data from: https://​www​.vis​itscot​land​.org/​r​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​-​i​n​s​i​g​h​t​s​/​a​b​o​u​t​-​o​u​r​-​v​i​s​i​t​o​r​s​/​v​i​s​i​t​o​r​-​s​urvey
Vis­it­ors were more likely to be from Scot­land than in
pre­vi­ous years
Non­ethe­less, the greatest pro­por­tion of vis­it­ors had trav­elled from with­in Scot­land in both 2024 – 2025 and 2019 – 2020, with the rest of the UK being the second
most com­mon source of vis­it­ors to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

Scot­land Vis­it­or ori­gin yearly trend Rest of UK / Brit­ish Over­seas Ter­rit­or­ies / Crown Depend­en­cies 2024 – 2025 (1274) Europe 2019 – 2020 (2262) Rest of world 2014 – 2015 (2458) Overnight vis­it­or = any num­ber of nights Q6. Where do you live (your nor­mal place of res­id­ence)? Vis­it­ors most com­monly came from Aberdeen/​Aberdeenshire or the High­lands While 36% vis­ited from Aber­deen­shire, the High­lands or Aber­deen City, 8% were from Edin­burgh, 7% from Fife and 4% from Glasgow.

Area of Scot­land lived in
Aber­deen­shire	15%
High­lands	12%
Aber­deen City	9%
Edin­burgh City	8%
Fife	7%
Moray	5%
Glas­gow City	4%
Perth and Kinross	4%
Angus	3%
Dun­dee City	3%
South Lanark­shire	3%
East Lothi­an	2%
Falkirk	2%
Ren­frewshire	2%
Through­out this report, each sea­son has been cat­egor­ised as follows:
Spring: March – May
Sum­mer: June – August
Autumn: Septem­ber – November
Winter: Decem­ber — February

Spring Vis­it­ors more likely to
vis­it from:
Ren­frewshire (4%)
East Dun­bar­ton­shire (2%)
West Dun­bar­ton­shire (2%)
Autumn Vis­it­ors more likely to
vis­it from:
Glas­gow City (8%)
South Ayrshire (3%)
Sum­mer Vis­it­ors more likely
to vis­it from:
Angus (6%)
Winter Vis­it­ors more likely to
vis­it from:
Fife (11%)
me·l
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Q7. In which loc­al author­ity in Scot­land do you live? Sample base size: 804. Show­ing fig­ures of 2% or higher.
Whilst four in ten (41%) vis­it­ors from Eng­land came from the
North, many came from fur­ther afield, includ­ing 13% from the
South West
This demon­strates the appeal of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park, with people trav­el­ling from across Eng­land to enjoy everything the area has to offer. Compared
to the rel­at­ive pop­u­la­tions of each region, vis­it­ors were more likely to come from the North West, York­shire and the Hum­ber, the South West and the North
East.

Area of Eng­land lived in
: — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —	—:
North West	18%
York­shire and the Humber	13%
South West	13%
South East	10%
North East	12%
East Mid­lands	16%
Lon­don	11%
East of England	9%
West Mid­lands	9%
Pop­u­la­tion of UK (2021 Census)

By Sea­son: Those who vis­ited in Spring were sig­ni­fic­antly more likely to be from the North West (30%) than in oth­er sea­sons. In Winter, vis­it­ors were more likely to be from Lon­don (18%) than in oth­er seasons.

By meth­od of trans­port Vis­it­ors from the North West were sig­ni­fic­antly more likely to have trav­elled by motorhome or camper­van (23%) than vis­it­ors from oth­er areas of England

By age Among vis­it­ors from the UK, those who were 35 – 44 years old were par­tic­u­larly likely to be from the South West (23%) or Lon­don (17%), more so than vis­it­ors of oth­er ages.

By NRS Social Grade Among vis­it­ors from the UK, those in NRS social grade A were most likely to be from Lon­don (16%).

Q8. Where in Eng­land do you live? Sample base size: 247, exclud­ing those who didn’t provide their region. The Cairngorms Nation­al Park attracts both new and return­ing vis­it­ors 25% of vis­it­ors had nev­er vis­ited before, and 9% had vis­ited before but not in the last five years. Two thirds (66%) had vis­ited in the last five years, with one in five vis­it­ors vis­it­ing more than 20 times in this period.

This mix sug­gests that the Cairngorms Nation­al Park offers exper­i­ences that appeal to and attract new vis­it­ors, as well as provid­ing pos­it­ive exper­i­ences that drive repeat vis­its. This gives the Nation­al Park a strong vis­it­or base.

The pro­por­tion of first-time vis­it­ors was high­er among those from Europe (exclud­ing the UK) (72%) and the rest of the world (82%), how­ever giv­en the jour­ney time taken for these groups to get to the Nation­al Park, the pres­ence of a num­ber of repeat vis­it­ors among them shows a strength of con­nec­tion felt by some vis­it­ors to the Nation­al Park. Vis­it­ors in Sum­mer (27%) and Autumn (29%) were more likely to be first-time vis­it­ors than vis­it­ors in Spring (21%) and Winter (16%)

Young­er vis­it­ors were also more likely to be first-time vis­it­ors, with 36% of those aged 16 – 34 on their first vis­it to the Nation­al Park. Mean­while 25% of those aged 65+, and 24% of those aged 55 – 64, had vis­ited more than 20 times in the last five years. Num­ber of times vis­ited the Cairngorms Nation­al Park in the last five years 2024 – 2025 (1274) 2019 – 2020 (2179) 2014 – 2015 (2553) Q9. Includ­ing this vis­it, how many times have you vis­ited the Cairngorms Nation­al Park in the last five years? Sample base sizes in brack­ets Repeat vis­it­ors had most com­monly pre­vi­ously vis­ited in sum­mer (87%) Most vis­it­ors ten­ded to report that they had pre­vi­ously vis­ited in the sea­son of their cur­rent vis­it. For example, of those who had been to the Nation­al Park before, 97% of those inter­viewed in winter had pre­vi­ously vis­ited in Winter, while only 51% had vis­ited in Sum­mer. This may be due to a pref­er­ence for the types of activ­it­ies that vis­it­ors like to take part in on their vis­it, as 32% of vis­it­ors who were inter­viewed in Winter had par­ti­cip­ated in winter sports such as skiing.

Among those who had only vis­ited 2 – 3 times in the last five years, includ­ing their cur­rent vis­it, Sum­mer was by far the most vis­ited sea­son, with 72% stat­ing they had pre­vi­ously vis­ited in Sum­mer, while 42% had vis­ited in Spring, which was the next most com­monly vis­ited season.

Sea­son pre­vi­ously vis­ited in (all repeat visitors)
Spring	72%
Sum­mer	87%
Autumn	69%
Winter	63%
Sea­son pre­vi­ously vis­ited in, among those who had
pre­vi­ously vis­ited (split by sea­son of cur­rent visit)
Spring (192) Sum­mer (379) Autumn (123) Winter (145)
Q10. In the past five years, in what season/​s have you vis­ited the Cairngorms Nation­al Park? Sample base size: 839
There was an increase in vis­it­ors on a short break compared
to pre­vi­ous years
Day trip­pers were most com­mon in sum­mer (37%).
Res­id­ent
2024 – 2025 (1348)
Day trip­per
2019 – 2020 (2262)
Short break (1−4 nights)
Longer break (5+ nights)
Pre-2024 – 2025 ques­tions text read — Q5. How many of these nights will you be spend­ing in the Cairngorms area?
(If none, enter 0)
In 2024 – 25 vis­it­ors were asked — Q4. How many nights will you be stay­ing in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park on this trip? Sample base sizes in
brack­ets
The vis­it­or pro­file skews slightly older with 32% of visitors
over the age of 55
: — — — — —	—-:
Under 5 y	2%
5 to 11 y	3%
12 to 17	8%
18 to 24	8%
25 to 34	6%
35 to 44	6%
45 to 54	15%
55 to 64	15%
65+	16%
	15%

    18% of visitor groups had children under the age of
    18 in them, although this was higher in Winter (28%)
    and lowest in Autumn (8%).
    Approximately 16% of visitors are under the age of
    18.
    Visitors on trips of 4-7 nights were more likely than
    those on trips of other lengths to be travelling with
    children aged 5-11 (16%, compared to 11% of all
    visitors) and aged 12-17 (13%, compared to 8% of all
    visitors).

Sum­mary: Q11. Includ­ing your­self, how many people are in the fol­low­ing age groups in your group? Vis­it­a­tion with chil­dren is most com­mon in Winter, although only slightly more so than in Sum­mer and Spring The pre­val­ence of vis­it­ors who are under-18 is rel­at­ively stable across Spring, Sum­mer and Winter (16%, 17%, 18% of vis­it­ors are under 18 respect­ively) based on the group com­pos­i­tion repor­ted dur­ing interviews.

• Pro­por­tion of vis­it­ors who are under 18 by season:
• Spring: 16%
• Summer:17%
• Autumn: 9%
• Winter: 18%

Under 5 years Spring (801) Sum­mer (1518) Autumn (359) Winter (422) 12 to 17 years Sum­mary: Q11. Includ­ing your­self, how many people are in the fol­low­ing age groups in your group? Sample base size: 3100 The age pro­file of vis­it­ors was con­sist­ent with pre­vi­ous years | | | |: — — — — — -| — — — — — — — — — :| | | Respond­ent age | | Under 5 years | | | 5 to 11 years | | | 12 to 17 years | | | 25 to 34 years | | | 35 to 44 years | | | 45 to 54 years | | | 55 to 64 years | | | 65+ | | Q41. What is your age group? Sample base size: 1348 The Cairngorms Nation­al Park attracts a mix of employed and retired vis­it­ors | | | | |: — — — — — — — — -| — — — -|: — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -| — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -| | | 2024 – 25 | | |: — — — — — — — — -| — — — — — — — -|: — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — |: — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -| | | Vis­it­or Sur­vey | | | 2019 – 20 | | |: — — — — — — — — -| — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -|: — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — |: — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -| | | Vis­it­or Sur­vey | | | Scot­land | | | Full time employ| Vis­it­or Sur­vey | Full time employ| Full time employ| Retir­ees included 29% of those aged 55 to 64, indic­at­ing that the Nation­al Park attracts retir­ees under­neath the state pen­sion age. Part time employ|60% | Vis­it­or Sur­vey | Full time employ| Full time employ| | Self-employed|60% | Vis­it­or Sur­vey | Full time employ| Full time employ| Vis­it­ors on longer trips were more likely to be retired, with 34% of those stay­ing for over sev­en nights being retired. They also made up 26% of vis­it­ors who had been to the Nation­al Park 20+ times in the last five years. |Part time employ|60% | Vis­it­or Sur­vey | Full time employ| Full time employ| Vis­it­ors from over­seas, par­tic­u­larly those from Europe (exclud­ing the UK), were most likely to be full time employed (74%) | Self-employed |60% | Vis­it­or Sur­vey | Full time employ| Full time employ| Vis­it­ors in Winter were less likely to be retir­ees than in oth­er sea­sons, with only 17% of vis­it­ors in winter being retired, com­pared to 22% in sum­mer. Mean­while, 12% of vis­it­ors in Winter worked part-time, com­pared to 6% in sum­mer. | Self-employed |60% | Vis­it­or Sur­vey | Full time employ| Full time employ| Retired vis­it­ors were more likely to be vis­it­ing the Nation­al Park to enhance their men­tal health (25% cf. 21%), with the most com­mon activ­ity retir­ees are hop­ing to engage in being ​“just relax­ing” (76%), with this group sig­ni­fic­antly less likely to be enga­ging in more act­ive pur­suits. Those who are full time employed were most likely to be vis­it­ing to take part in out­door pur­suits (42% than vis­it­ors as a whole (38%).) me·l research Q42. What is your employ­ment status? Sample base size: 1348

• Census employ­ment type is asked dif­fer­ently to this sur­vey so com­par­is­ons are indic­at­ive only Almost one in six (17%) vis­it­ors vis­ited the Nation­al Park with a dog The pro­por­tion vis­it­ing with a dog increased from 15% in ²⁰¹⁹⁄₂₀, how­ever in pre­vi­ous years own­ers were not asked how many dogs they atten­ded with.

Most of those trav­el­ling with a dog were with only one dog, with 12% of all vis­it­ors vis­it­ing with one dog, and 4% with 2 or more dogs. Of those who vis­ited with a dog, less than 1% stated that this was an assist­ance or ser­vice dog.

First time vis­it­ors were least likely to vis­it with a dog, with only 7% doing so. This could be because first time vis­it­ors are more likely than repeat vis­it­ors to be from over­seas, with no over­seas vis­it­ors bring­ing a dog on their vis­it. How­ever, it could also be due to a lack of aware­ness among first time vis­it­ors of the suit­ab­il­ity of the Nation­al Park for dogs.

Vis­it­ing with a dog was most com­mon among those vis­it­ing for 4 – 7 nights, with 22% of those vis­it­ing for this length of time vis­it­ing with a dog. 15% of day trip­pers were trav­el­ling with dogs. No Yes — 1 dog Yes — 2 or 3 dogs Yes — More than 3 dogs Prefer not say Q12a. Are you vis­it­ing the Nation­al Park with a dog as part of this vis­it? Sample base size: 1348 Vis­it­ors to the Nation­al Park are rel­at­ively equally split in terms of their sex and gender Respond­ents to the sur­vey were asked to write in their sexu­al ori­ent­a­tion in a free text box on the tab­let the sur­vey was com­pleted on. These responses were then coded into cat­egor­ies, which are dis­played below.

It is of note that the most fre­quent repeat vis­it­ors were more likely to be male than female, with 57% of those who vis­ited 20+ times in the past five years identi­fy­ing their sex and gender as male, while 37% iden­ti­fied as female. Older vis­it­ors were also slightly more likely to be male, mak­ing up 56% of those aged 65+, while 39% iden­ti­fied as female.

This pro­por­tion was sim­il­ar to in 2019 – 20, when 56% iden­ti­fied their gender as male, and 44% as female. | Sex (coded from free text responses) | | |: — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -| — — — :| | Male | 50% | | Female | 45% | | Prefer not to say | 4% | | Gender (coded from free text responses) | | | Male | 50% | | Female | 45% | | Identi­fy in anoth­er way | 0%| | Prefer not to say | 5% | Q36a. What is your sex? Sample base size: 1347 Q37. What is your gender? Sample base size: 1347 The major­ity of vis­it­ors are classed as being in the ABC1 Social Grade 78% are in the ABC1 Social Grade and 17% in C2DE. The pro­por­tion of vis­it­ors from these social grades is there­fore at a sim­il­ar level to res­id­ents. Accord­ing to the 2024 – 25 res­id­ent sur­vey, 73% of res­id­ents of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park were in the ABC1 Social Grade. Accord­ing to the 20 22 Census 45% of res­id­ents in Scot­land were in Social Grade ABC1 and 32% in C2DE. There­fore, when look­ing at the census data, ABC1 is over-rep­res­en­ted in vis­it­ors to the Nation­al Park.

Occu­pa­tion of Chief Income Earner
High­er mana­geri­al, admin­is­trat­ive or pro­fes­sion­al occu­pa­tion (e.g., Chief Exec­ut­ive Officer, seni­or man­ager in large organisation)	26%
Inter­me­di­ate mana­geri­al, admin­is­trat­ive or pro­fes­sion­al occu­pa­tion (e.g., uni­ver­sity lec­turer, teach­er, mid­wife, seni­or nurse, middle man­age­ment exec­ut­ives in large organ­isa­tion, account director/​manager)	38%
Super­vis­ory, cler­ic­al and juni­or mana­geri­al, admin­is­trat­ive, pro­fes­sion­al occu­pa­tion (e.g., nurse, account exec­ut­ive, admin­is­trat­ive assist­ant, stu­dent nurse/​teacher, stu­dent liv­ing away from home)	14%
Skilled manu­al occu­pa­tion (e.g., nurs­ing carer, bus driver, tradesperson)	14%
Semi-skilled / unskilled manu­al occu­pa­tion (e.g., appren­tice, trainee)	3%
Cas­u­al work­er, unem­ployed with state benefits	3%
Don’t know / Not sure	1%
Prefer not to say	4%
ABC1
C2DE
Q43. Please tell me which one of the fol­low­ing options best described the kind of work the Chief Income Earner in your
house­hold does, or did before retire­ment? Sample base size: 1348
The major­ity of those inter­viewed were white
78% iden­ti­fied as White Scot­tish or oth­er White Brit­ish iden­tit­ies. 18% of all vis­it­ors were from anoth­er ​‘oth­er’ eth­ni­city, although most of these iden­ti­fied as
European or Amer­ic­an eth­ni­cit­ies. In the 2019 vis­it­or sur­vey, 97% of vis­it­ors were White (unspe­cified wheth­er this is UK or Scot­tish visitors).

This is largely rep­res­ent­at­ive of the broad­er demo­graph­ics of the area, how­ever, may sug­gest more could be done to make the Cairngorms feel like a Nation­al Park for all.

Q44. What is your eth­nic group? Sample base size: 1348 Many vis­it­ors pre­ferred not to provide their sexu­al­ity | Sexu­al­ity | | |: — — — — — — — — — — — | — — — -:| | Het­ero­sexu­al / Straigh| 50% | | Gay / Les­bi­an | | | Bisexu­al | 2% | | |1% | Pan­sexu­al / Queer / Oth­er sexu­al iden­tity Prefer not to say

• Q38. What is your sexu­al ori­ent­a­tion? Sample base size: 1347

Access­ib­il­ity Require­ments me·l research A minor­ity (5%) of vis­it­ors had a phys­ic­al or men­tal health con­di­tion This was highest among vis­it­ors from the UK (out­side of Scot­land) (7%), those aged 65+ (8%) and carers (11%).

In 2019 – 2020, 9% repor­ted that they or someone in their vis­it­or group had a dis­ab­il­ity or health con­di­tion, how­ever as this ques­tion asked about the whole vis­it­or group not just the respond­ent, they should not be dir­ectly compared.

Q45. Do you have any phys­ic­al or men­tal health con­di­tions or ill­nesses last­ing or expec­ted to last for 12 months or more? Sample base size: 1348 One in twenty (5%) vis­it­ors have caring respons­ib­il­it­ies This rises to 7% among those vis­it­ing from Scot­land. At a nation­al level, 88% report hav­ing no caring respons­ib­il­it­ies, with 12% hav­ing caring respons­ib­il­it­ies. This sug­gests that carers are less likely to be vis­it­ors to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

Q46. Do you have any caring respons­ib­il­it­ies? Sample base size: 1348 Nation­al data drawn from Scot­tish Census 2023 A small num­ber of vis­it­ors require some access­ib­il­ity adapt­a­tions to make their vis­it more com­fort­able This is largely reflect­ive of the small num­ber of vis­it­ors indic­at­ing they had a men­tal or phys­ic­al health con­di­tion. The most fre­quently iden­ti­fied adap­tion is a great­er num­ber of places to rest (2% of over­all, 24% of those who required an adjust­ment). This is also rein­forced by 93% of vis­it­ors express­ing sat­is­fac­tion with the access­ib­il­ity of the Nation­al Park. Q34b. Does any­one in your group require any of the fol­low­ing to make your/​their vis­it to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park more com­fort­able or access­ible? Sample base size: 1348 Exper­i­ences were mixed when it came to being able to access these adapt­a­tions Of those who desired each adap­tion, the highest pro­por­tion who could actu­ally use the adapt­a­tion was cap­tions, how­ever as only one per­son reques­ted this, it is of less­er import­ance com­pared to oth­er options.

The largest caps in avail­ab­il­ity of adapt­a­tions were audio inform­a­tion, which was only able to be used by 1 out of the 7 vis­it­ors who said it would have made their vis­it more com­fort­able or access­ible, and, and inform­a­tion in braille, which was only used by 1 out of the 5 vis­it­ors who stated it would have helped their vis­it. Q34c. Which of these have you been able to use on your vis­it? (Per­cent­ages rebased) Sample base sizes in brack­ets, shown as a % of those who stated each would make their vis­it more com­fort­able or access­ible Plan­ning a Trip to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park me·l research The oppor­tun­it­ies to engage with the out­doors and nature are the key drivers of vis­its to the Nation­al Park Q13a. What were you most hop­ing to get out of your vis­it to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park on this trip? Sample base size: 1348 Overnight vis­it­ors and those from out­side of Scot­land are more likely to vis­it to exper­i­ence the beauty of nature and a place with fas­cin­at­ing his­tory and cul­ture Mean­while, day vis­it­ors are more likely than overnight vis­it­ors to be vis­it­ing for reas­ons linked to per­son­al enrich­ment, such as pur­su­ing a per­son­al interest or hobby, or enhan­cing their phys­ic­al health and well­being. Sim­il­arly, vis­it­ors from Scot­land are more likely to vis­it to spend time with friends or fam­ily, to enhance phys­ic­al health or well­being, or to take chil­dren some­where they would enjoy, than oth­er vis­it­ors. Q13a. What were you most hop­ing to get out of your vis­it to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park on this trip? Sample base sizes in brack­ets Rel­at­ive to each oth­er, older vis­it­ors have a great­er interest in enhan­cing their phys­ic­al or emo­tion­al health and well­being, while young­er vis­it­ors have a great­er interest in tak­ing part in out­door activ­it­ies and spend­ing time with friends and fam­ily Q13a. What were you most hop­ing to get out of your vis­it to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park on this trip? Sample base sizes in brack­ets Fig­ures that are sig­ni­fic­antly lower than the over­all sample are high­lighted pink, those that are sig­ni­fic­antly high­er than the over­all sample are high­lighted teal Half of vis­it­ors had known How vis­it­ors heard about the Cairngorms Nation­al Park about the Cairngorms Nation­al Q13e. How did you hear about the Cairngorms Nation­al Park as a place to vis­it pri­or to this vis­it? Sample base sizes in brack­ets Vis­it­ors from main­land Europe and the rest of the world most com­monly found out about the Nation­al Park via Google, the Vis­it Scot­land Web­site and Social Media Q13e. How did you hear about the Cairngorms Nation­al Park as a place to vis­it pri­or to this vis­it? Sample base sizes in brack­ets Fig­ures that are sig­ni­fic­antly lower than the over­all sample are high­lighted pink, those that are sig­ni­fic­antly high­er than the over­all sample are high­lighted teal Young­er vis­it­ors are sig­ni­fic­antly more likely to have heard about the Nation­al Park via Social Media and oth­er online chan­nels Q13e. How did you hear about the Cairngorms Nation­al Park as a place to vis­it pri­or to this vis­it? Sample base sizes in brack­ets Fig­ures that are sig­ni­fic­antly lower than the over­all sample are high­lighted pink, those that are sig­ni­fic­antly high­er than the over­all sample are high­lighted teal •This is likely explained by 72% of vis­it­ors trav­el­ling to the Nation­al Park using a private car, with a sim­il­ar pro­por­tion using a car to get around the Nation­al Park. The pro­vi­sion of toi­lets, paths and tracks being well main­tained and pro­vi­sions for chil­dren are also import­ant to poten­tial vis­it­ors. Very import­ant •Quite Import­ant •Neither Not very import­ant •Not at all import­ant mel research Q13b. How import­ant are the fol­low­ing to you when decid­ing where to vis­it on a day out? Unweighted bases in par­en­theses Approx­im­ately two-thirds say that the Cairngorms’ Nation­al Park status is an import­ant con­sid­er­a­tion when decid­ing where to vis­it •Pos­it­ively, only less than 1% of vis­it­ors were not aware the area was a des­ig­nated Nation­al Park. •The status of Nation­al Park is sim­il­arly import­ant across all cohorts of vis­it­ors, though those aged 16 – 34 do tend to value this more than older vis­it­ors (78% com­pared to 70% of those aged 55 – 64). It was also of high import­ance to first time vis­it­ors (78%). Very import­ant Q16. In your decision to vis­it the Cairngorms Nation­al Park, how import­ant was the fact that this area is a Nation­al Park? Sample base size: 1348 Vis­it­or Beha­viour me·l research

Private cars are the primary means of trans­port to and around the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Private or hired vehicles includ­ing private cars, motorhomes, hire cars and motor­bikes were the most com­mon vehicles used among all vis­it­or groups, although those from Scot­land were more likely than those from fur­ther afield to use private cars to get to the Nation­al Park (84%). Mean­while, hire cars were most com­monly used among vis­it­ors from Europe (33%) and the rest of the world (48%), while motorhomes were most com­monly used by vis­it­ors from the rest of the UK (14%), and Europe (15%). Look­ing at the trans­port used to get to the park, while there has been a decline in those using a private car (from 75%), there has been a cor­res­pond­ing increase