How much are Scotland's national parks really worth?

The summit of Corn An Tuirc in Glenshee in the Cairngorm National Park.The summit of Corn An Tuirc in Glenshee in the Cairngorm National Park.
The summit of Corn An Tuirc in Glenshee in the Cairngorm National Park.
A new study has been revealed as ministers consider whether a third national park should be created in Dumfries and Galloway.

National parks can “deliver improved public well-being” for both visitors and locals, a new report has found, with the study adding that Scotland’s two existing national parks regularly generate over £700 million a year for the country’s economy.

Scottish Environment Link published a new assessment as Holyrood ministers consider whether a third national park should be created in Dumfries and Galloway.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon announced in July that the Scottish Government was “proposing to create a new national park for Scotland” in the area, with further work to be carried out.

Meanwhile, Deborah Long, director of Scottish Environment Link, said that national parks “bring significant sustainable economic and social development for communities in their areas”.

She added that their new report not only made the case for national park status for Dumfries and Galloway, but for “further national parks elsewhere in Scotland in the future”.

Scotland currently has two designated national parks, in the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The new report said national parks “make a significant contribution to the local economy in and around their areas, primarily through the spending and employment opportunities generated by the visitor economy”.

It added: “The overall value of the visitor economy in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park was £418.5 million in 2018, and £308.5 million was generated within the Cairngorms National Park economy through visitor and tourism business expenditure in 2019.

“This means that Scotland’s National Parks regularly generate over £700 million of economic impact per annum in their visitor economies alone, more than 30 times the £22 million invested in them by the Scottish Government each year.”

National Parks “tend to attract greater levels of inward investment” in areas such as tourism, outdoor recreation and leisure developments, the report added.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As a result, it said, awarding an area national park status can “attract more visitors, increase average spend per visitor and lengthen the visitor season, thereby increasing tourism-related employment and sustaining small-scale tourism businesses”.

With around six million people visiting the two national parks each year, the report added that “tourism accounts for around 60 per cent of the economy in the Cairngorms National Park and supports 6,200 jobs in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park”.

It also said Scotland’s two national parks were exceeding Scottish Government targets on affordable housing – which require 25 per cent of new homes built to be affordable.

In the Cairngorms, 175 affordable homes were built between 2016 and 2021, with 45 per cent of properties in four key settlements meeting this criteria. Meanwhile, in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, 207 homes were built between 2018 and 2022, of which almost two-thirds (62 per cent) were affordable.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Adding that national parks were both “popular with the public and deliver significant value for money”, the report added that they “support affordable housing and create high-quality jobs” and “deliver improved public well-being for residents and visitors”.

Nikki Sinclair, national parks strategy project manager for the Scottish Campaign for National Parks, insisted the social and economic case for such areas was “strong”.

She stated: “This report sets out how our existing national parks deliver for people living and working in them, and for businesses based in them.”

Comments

 0 comments

Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.

Dare to be Honest
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice