It was meant to be the year everything went back to normal in the Perthshire tourism sector.
After two years of pandemic havoc, fewer hospitalisations and lighter restrictions left many hoping 2022 might resemble the pre-pandemic world.
But with the cost of living now skyrocketing, some Highland Perthshire residents are no longer optimistic they have left the days of ‘dirty camping’ behind them for good.
‘Dirty campers’ plagued local communities earlier in the pandemic when foreign travel was difficult. Irresponsible groups trashed campsites, destroyed trees and left human waste uncovered in the open.
As Scottish Tourism Month begins, we speak to tourism sector leaders in Perthshire to see how they are dealing with the latest set of challenges.
Is Perthshire a victim of its own success?
There was an average of 830,000 overnight visits to Perth & Kinross from 2017-2019, a 4% increase over the preceding years.
But with that comes problems.
Two of the biggest issues are a lack of toilets and car parking spaces, tourism sector figures say.
Graham Jones has been campaigning for greater area funding through the Tay, Rannoch and Tummel Camping Management Action Group.
He says the lack of toilet facilities all but guarantees human waste will end up in loch and river water.
“Officials make a lot of effort to attract people to the area, but they don’t do anything to ensure the required facilities are in place.
“It’s madness, really.
We will be back to square one.”
Graham Jones on the prospect of losing rangers
“How do you define success?
“Is it whether there are facilities in place to make everything safe for visitors and the impact it has on communities, or is it just the economics and how many visitors arrive?
“There needs to be a multi-agency approach to this.
“At the moment, no one is showing any leadership and no one seems to know where different responsibilities lie.”
Rangers combat dirty camping problem
Perth & Kinross Council hired rangers to patrol “dirty camping” hotspots last year.
With international travel largely grounded in 2020 and 2021, people flocked to Highland Perthshire on holiday — although some visitors would leave rubbish behind, angering local communities.
The rangers have been largely hailed as a success, but Graham is worried that funding for them is coming to an end.
He said: “Funding is only currently in place until the end of this year. What will happen after that?
“We will be back to square one if it’s not extended.”
How is the cost of living crises hitting Perthshire tourism businesses?
Jill Scougall is co-owner of Milton of Fonab Caravan Park in Pitlochry.
She says the cost of living crisis has already had an impact on her business.
“The way we have to structure our prices, we set them the year before for when people are booking them.
“So last year we had no idea this cost of living crisis was coming, so we didn’t know to set our prices accordingly.
“We can’t go back to our customers and ask them for more money now, so we have to suck up the difference.”
Another challenge for the local business is filling vacancies.
Jill explains it has been increasingly difficult to find staff post-Brexit.
“A lot of our staff were foreign, like practically all businesses in the tourism sector.”
“After Brexit most of them went home so finding staff has been a huge task.
“Everyone is having to pay over the odds to attract workers.”
‘Destination management’
Members of communities such as Pitlochry and Aberfeldy met with tourism minister Ivan McKee last month.
Highland Perthshire SNP councillor Mike Williamson set up the meeting.
He described tourism as the “largest economic driver” in the region, impacting on communities large and small.
“I believe we have to move from destination promotion to destination management,” he says.
“The cornerstone to this should be a visitor management strategy.”
A PKC spokesman confirmed there will be 10 rangers this year – as opposed to last year’s seven.
He says the local authority plans to test a “range of digital solutions” such as “remote sensor monitoring of camping hotspots”.
Further funding decisions on the ranger scheme will come next year.
“The visitor ranger scheme is funded until October this year and any extension to it would need to be considered as part of the 2023/24 revenue budget next year.”
