Marking the successes of the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund

This month marks three years since the Scottish Government announced the creation of the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) with £6m of investment available to improve the visitor experience, writes Lynn Hamilton, VisitScotland’s RTIF manager.

In those three years, tourism trends and visitor behaviour have changed and the fund has allowed VisitScotland to respond to calls for additional and improved infrastructure across Scotland, working with our partners to achieve solutions. 

Visitor numbers to Scotland have grown over recent years for various reasons, including the successful marketing of the NC500 driving route, the popularity of film and TV tourism through such global hits as Outlander and Harry Potter and the increase in cruise liner arrivals and the growth of motorhome sector. 

In some locations, this has had a detrimental impact on both the visitor experience and local communities due to current infrastructure being unable to accommodate the growing numbers.

Managed by VisitScotland on behalf of the Scottish Government, the RTIF was created to improve the quality of the visitor experience in rural parts of Scotland that have faced pressure on their infrastructure due to this increase in visitor numbers. 

It aims to reduce the impact of visitor numbers on local communities and facilities and create a more collaborative and sustainable approach to infrastructure provision and long-term maintenance of local facilities for the benefit of communities as well as visitors.

So what have been some of its successes?

Seventeen applications were approved in round one of the funding and a further 13 in round two. Round three is currently underway with successful applications due to be announced in early December.

In total, around 760 new car parking spaces have been created - including overnight motorhome bays – as well as seventeen new chemical waste disposal facilities.

The small village of Hoswick in Shetland applied for funding through their local council to help improve access for coach tours visiting three local knitting businesses situated down a single-track road caused issues for both the local bus and villagers trying to get about. Funding of £131,660 built a 12-space car park, including two accessible spaces, eight cycle racks and six interpretation panels. 

This was a real partnership project as the local community really got behind it as they knew would improve their lives and Shetland Islands Council were also fantastic in their support of it. 

Feedback received in the final project claim stated: “The project has had a galvanising effect on the community with the project linking well to other initiatives which have been undertaken over the past few years in the area. The combination now of businesses with goods of interest to visitors (4), the café, signposted walks and bike path/parking have increased the attractiveness of the area from a visitor perspective so it can confidently and effectively promote itself to the visitor market directly and through local tour agents as a viable and interesting place for visitors to spend time to enjoy the scenery and wildlife of the area. There is much confidence for the future on the back of this project being completed.”

A £64,997 successful RTIF project at the foot of Bla Bheinn on Skye to alleviate parking and toilet issues saw the number of parking spaces increase from 16 to 26, included two composting toilets, picnic tables and visitor interpretation boards using sympathetic landscaping design. 

Another £281,000 project in West Loch Lomond saw improvement work at three sites – Luss, Tarbet and Inveruglas, to improve the toilets, create electric vehicle charging points and a chemical waste disposal point at Tarbet.  

This year has been extremely challenging for tourism across Scotland and when lockdown restrictions eased, there followed numerous reports of parking issues in tourism hotspots, complaints about motorhomes clogging the roads, toilets being closed or unfit for use and ‘dirty’ camping.

The RTIF has been vital in helping to improve and alleviate such issues in many areas and to date, has given £5.6m funding to 30 projects across the country since 2017*. In the Highlands alone, £2.5m in RTIF funding has been spent on projects to improve the visitor experience.

Now is the ideal time for community groups and other agencies to identify their local infrastructure needs in preparation for applying to their local authority or national park for funding, which we are hoping will be announced soon. 

For more information on RTIF, please visit: https://www.visitscotland.org/supporting-your-business/funding/rural-tourism-infrastructure-fund

*This figure does not include the three pilot projects funded directly by the Scottish Government before the first round of RTIF was announced in March 2018.ENDS