Question reference: S5W-36211
- Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 11 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has in place to prevent damage by irresponsible tourists in the Highlands and Islands when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
Answer
The Visitor Management Group published a series of actions on 19 March that the Scottish Government and its agencies will take to support rural visitor management in 2021.
This includes increasing the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund to £6.2m in 2021-22 and the introduction of a one off £2.75m fund to be managed by NatureScot that will support temporary measures for the 2021 summer season. This will include, for example, support for temporary toilets and ranger posts.
Given the breadth of involvement in this work it has been hard to achieve a comprehensive overview of all of the actions that are being implemented this summer. More detail on the strategic and operational actions being taken forward can be found on the Visitor Management section of VisitScotland’s website through this link: https://www.visitscotland.org/about-us/what-we-do/working-in-partnership/visitor-management-plan .