Managing for visitors

Nearly two million people visit the National Park every year. Our managing for visitors' activity helps ensure that everyone who enjoys the Cairngorms can do so safely and with ease while still protecting its special qualities.

Tread lightly

High visitor numbers can lead to pressures in some of the more popular locations across the Cairngorms National Park. To help minimise these pressures and ensure our visitors continue to have a high-quality experience, we work with our partners to provide facilities, services and advice.

Our Active Cairngorms Action Plan outlines our priorities that will help our visitors enjoy the National Park’s special qualities in a sustainable way, through appropriate promotion of the wide range of recreational opportunities available. This work also focusses on influencing visitor behaviour to reduce the impact of disturbance on sensitive species and habitats.

To help coordinate this activity, we facilitate a Managing for Visitors group that brings together land managers from the private sector and non-governmental organisations along with public sector partners including local authorities, Forestry and Land Scotland, NatureScot, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. This group meets fortnightly from Easter to October, and monthly in winter to help exchange information and provide strategic support to the site-based visitor management activity undertaken by partners.

The Park Authority also employs a team of countryside rangers and provides financial and practical support and training to several partner ranger services who collectively provide consistent advice and support to visitors. In addition to the direct engagement with visitors, these rangers provide a range of services in the background such as litter collection, environmental protection and path surveys as well as gathering data to help guide future investment in the National Park.