‘Challenging’ Skye tourism in spotlight
The impact of the booming tourism industry on the Isle of Skye topped the agenda of a meeting of Highland Council’s Isle of Skye and Raasay committee on Monday.
Members discussed the impact of the booming tourist industry during a report by the council’s principal tourism officer Colin Simpson, who revealed tourists brought in £145m to the island’s economy in 2017.
Mr Simpson outlined the council’s role in tourism, presented figures on the level of Skye tourism.
‘The estimated 2017 figures for Skye are 660,000 visitors, spending 1.6m overnight stays with an economic impact of £145m,’ said Mr Simpson, who updated members on the progress of local applications for the Scottish Government’s Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund.
A £300,000 award to the Fairy Pools project to develop visitor services, including toilets, at the Glenbrittle pools and waterfalls, and £100,000 for road improvements and parking at Neist Point lighthouse, were two of the first projects given funding.
Highland Council has now received applications for Storr toilets and motorhome services, Portree car parking and motorhome services and Blabheinn parking and toilets.
Mr Simpson said: ‘New developments include the growth of the cruise industry, increasing requests from film and TV shoots to locate in the area and the development of the events industry.
‘Visitor behaviour is changing and creating ‘honeypots’.
‘The unknown of Brexit and the ever-increasing need of providing funding and match funding for tourism development adds up to a challenging tourism environment that needs more investment if it is to thrive.’
Councillor John Finlayson, standing in as chairman in the absence of councillor John Gordon, thanked Mr Simpson and his team for their hard work.
He said: ‘Without doubt, the tourism challenges experienced here on Skye, while mirrored in some ways in other parts of the Highlands, are unique on Skye due to their individual locations.
‘There are many infrastructure challenges on Skye which affect tourists and locals and while services are doing their best to support the issues presented here and we welcome their continued support, we still need to work together to identify funds to support the unique issues we face and attain more successful Rural Infrastructure Funded projects in partnership with local communities.’