The long road: There is still a long way to go to make Scotland's tourism sector sustainable

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, one of Scotland’s two national parks, is a thriving tourist hotspot. On sunny days the “bonnie banks” teem with visitors lining its many bays, out on the water and eating and drinking in the pubs and restaurants. It’s a key part of the local economy, with four million people visiting each year, bringing in £400m-500m and supporting 6,000 jobs.  

However, it does not come without its challenges for locals. The narrow, winding A82, especially around Balloch, Luss, and Balmaha, often becomes gridlocked at peak times, and parking can be scarce, leading to verge damage and blocked access for residents and emergency vehicles. And more so than ever there are mounting environmental concerns over the area’s water quality and ancient woodland. 

According to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), between 2017 and 2023, Luss Bay, one of the area’s busiest swimming spots, regularly only achieved a “sufficient” classification. Sepa say this is due to spikes in bacterial counts after heavy rain when sewage overflows and field runoff washes into the loch. On one occasion during the period, a sample taken returned a reading six times higher than permitted sewage limits. 

According to the national park, only 42 per cent of water bodies inside the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park met “good ecological condition” in 2018-19. This was down from 44 per cent in 2016, largely due to issues like diffuse rural pollution. 

The park’s ancient woodlands have also faced challenges recently, with the park authority assessing many areas of the woodlands as “unfavourable” or “recovering” due to pressures like over-grazing by deer and livestock. 

In recent years, residents, local MSPs and councillors have contested a proposed £40m Flamingo Land development they argue will negatively contribute to the environmental impact. The Lomond Banks project would see the construction of a resort including a monorail, waterpark, hotel and restaurants in Balloch. But there are fears it could increase flood risk and damage the ancient woodland. It has been dubbed “the most unpopular planning application in Scottish history” after a petition against the plans received over 155,000 signatures. 

Campaign groups, supported in the main by MSPs Ross Greer, Pam Gosal and Jackie Baillie, have long raised environmental concerns over the plans. Lynne Somerville, a member of the Balloch and Haldane Community Council, which opposes the plans, argues the Lomond Banks project “is in breach” of the statutory aims of the national park set out in the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, in particular, conserving and enhancing the natural and cultural heritage of the area and promoting the sustainable use of the natural resources such as land and water.

“And that’s fundamentally why the national park unanimously rejected it,” she says.  
Somerville sets out what the main concerns are. “There’s a flood risk, which is a real issue. There are already houses close to Woodbank House which have suffered serious flooding in recent years. However, the main flood risk is at West Riverside, and there’s also a worry that contaminated soil from that area could get into the water and that is a risk to the people who dunk in the loch and the fish stock. 

“The quality of the loch is questionable as it is, if you look at the quality compared to what it was 100 years ago.” 

She adds there is estimated to be an extra 1,000 cars per day if the plans go through. “I don’t know if you’ve been to Balloch on a sunny day, but the roads get far too busy. I’ve spoken to an ambulance driver who told me they have had a child die because they’ve been stuck on that road.” 

Last September, the planning application was unanimously rejected by the national park’s board. It was a huge victory for those who had spent years campaigning against it. However, in May a Scottish Government reporter overturned the decision on appeal. Public finance minister Ivan McKee then recalled the plans, saying “the development raises issues of national significance in view of its potential impact on Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park”. This means Scottish ministers will take the final decision on the development, a decision McKee had previously resisted. 

Somerville tells Holyrood she believes the Scottish Government has been forced to come to this decision following mounting pressure in the Scottish Parliament. That seems to be the case, as the decision came the day before a Scottish Labour debate on the topic, led by Baillie, which would have likely resulted in a government defeat. 

Somerville is clear, many residents are not opposed to inward investment. “We’re not parochial, we’re not insular. It just needs to be sustainable and sympathetic to the local area.” 

There is national recognition that the tourism industry needs to move with the country’s climate and biodiversity ambitions. In March 2020, then-first minister Nicola Sturgeon unveiled the Scotland Outlook 2030 strategy (aimed at making the sector more sustainable) at the Scottish Tourism Alliance’s (STA) annual conference in Glasgow. It came six months after the Scottish Government had set out its national aim of achieving net zero by 2045. 

Sturgeon announced the government would invest £5.5m over five years to back the strategy, telling the conference that it represented “a bold new approach” to ensuring tourism supported communities, businesses, environments, and visitor experiences. 

Run in collaboration with the Scottish Government and its agencies, the STA’s strategy set out its vision for making Scotland a world leader in 21st-century tourism by focusing on increasing the sector’s responsibility, inclusivity and sustainability while benefitting local communities, and protecting natural and cultural heritage.  

It recognised that the sector is a “significant consumer of energy and producer of waste” and it has a “key role” in addressing this. The strategy committed to ensuring “Scotland’s tourism sector will make a full contribution to our national ambition to become a net zero society by 2045”. 

The approach signalled a shift from prioritising visitor numbers alone to ensuring tourism delivers long-term value for Scotland’s people, places, and environment. 

However, just weeks after the announcement, stay-at-home measures were put in place across the UK in response to the Covid pandemic, and that led to the industry leadership group only being established two years ago. Now that the ball is rolling three years later than expected, Marc Crothall, the chief executive of STA, says the big challenge is decarbonising the sector “at scale”. 

“Hospitality, in particular, is struggling, and we don’t yet have enough resilience in our balance sheet across the sector to march on at the pace that we would have liked to in 2020. 

“The sector has taken several shocks in that time, not just Covid. There’s a lot of other new costs and the impact of the economy.” 

The strategy emphasises the importance of spreading visitors out across Scotland. Some of the most popular destinations in Scotland – Edinburgh, Skye, and the North Coast 500 (NC500) – all benefit from the economic gains tourism brings to the areas, however they are subject to overcrowding at peak times of the year, which is particularly troubling for Skye and communities on the NC500 which have limited transport infrastructure. Increasingly there is pressure on access to housing for locals due to the surge in short‑term rentals, which has driven up rental prices and removed some of the long‑term housing stock. 

Alex Gray, the treasurer of Gairloch Community Council, says Gairloch – a village of around 600 people on the NC500 route – is “nearing full capacity at peak times”. There is a balance that needs to be struck, he says, between managing local concerns about traffic and the impact on the environment and the contribution to the local economy. 

“We’re at a tipping point. If we start seeing more tourists it will be very difficult,” he says. “In the 10 years we’ve had the NC500, it has definitely made a difference economically. It has put the place on the map, so to speak, and many businesses wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for it. However, it is very seasonal, and it’s short, which makes it problematic for local employment and the sheer traffic on the road is substantially different. 

“There is also the environmental concern with littering and wild camping and there have been reports of people discharging dirty water.” 

Last year, toilet and shower facilities were installed at the beach by the local development group to alleviate the concern of waste being dumped. It is kept running by donations and has proved “very successful” according to Gray.  

However, his concern is that the public toilets that do exist on the route are run by the communities, not the council, leaving many areas without adequate facilities to accommodate the current level of tourism. He believes it should be an obligation for councils, on environmental grounds, to provide facilities. 

One of the key national challenges will be decarbonising the transport aspect of the sector, particularly for trips like the NC500 and to remote areas of the Highlands, the west coast and the Borders, where rail and buses are not as readily available as the rest of the country. 

While there are now reliable electric vehicle charging points in key towns on the NC500 like Ullapool, Dornoch, Thurso and John O’Groats, there are still significant gaps. For example, the 95-mile stretch between Gairloch and Durness is without EV charging. 

To bridge this gap, the Highland and Islands Transport Partnership is currently supporting Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Orkney Islands Council, Shetlands Islands Councils and Argyll and Bute Council to develop their EV strategy and deliver their procurement plan to attract private investment alongside public funding to improve EV infrastructure.  

While this is positive, there are also concerns over the rising cost of charging in places like the Highlands. In March 2023, chargers over 43kW rose from 30p per kWh to 70p and from 20p per kWh to 35p for chargers 22kW or less. This was driven by a 160 per cent rise in electricity supply costs since 2020. 

Crothall says if the sector is going to thrive in this new age of net zero, alongside the current challenges for business, the Scottish and UK governments need to “recognise the importance” it has on “the wider economy”. 

“[Businesses that support tourism] don’t just happen. They need to be supported by the right policy and there needs to be very careful consideration before we layer any more taxes or anything that causes the risk of forcing them away or making it harder to employ people. 

“People choose to visit a destination to do stuff, and if stuff doesn’t exist or there isn’t accommodation, then they won’t come. And that ripple effect will massively impact what is a £16bn industry, and all of that impact benefits local economies, particularly in rural Scotland.”