Tourism Development Strategy for Wester Ross

During 2014, we commissioned a long term development strategy for Wester Ross. However, this was pre - North Coast 500, and of course the impact of that has taken everybody by surprise. Unfortunately, while the previous strategy was aimed at attracting folk to the area the problem is now coping with the numbers we now have!

And before anybody shouts out "We're just too busy"...... the area had more visitors in the 70's - 80 '  - 90's. However, we also had far more B&B's, arguably better roads, and certainly more facilities such as Public toilets and so on. But while visitor numbers and infrastructure slowly decling in the "00's" against a background of cheap holidays / value of the pound and so on, the North Coast 500 has almost replaced these numbers overnight, yet the infrastructure is still lagging well behind.

Therefore, the original document has been realigned to examine the Wester Ross tourism industry in the light of developments - this includes the NC500, but also things like the Wester Ross Biosphere. You can download the strategy here.

The intention is to provide a framework for the industry as a whole - not just for ourselves - and opinions and feedback was encouraged from across the area. This included visitors, local communities, agencies such as Highland Council and others, and many businesses that work here.

The project was funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the work completed by Tourism and Leisure Solutons, of Perth. Visit Wester Ross is extremely grateful for the assistance we have received from all of the above.

Now - the trick is to achieve the targets we have set out!