£250,000 investment in Highland adventure tourism

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has approved investment in the design and delivery of a business support programme for adventure tourism, believed to be the first of its kind.

The £251,575 investment will form part of the HIE-led Northern Innovation Hub (NIH), a project that received £11 million from the UK government and £1.7m European Regional Development Fund support as part of the Inverness and Highland City Region Deal.

The adventure tourism programme will provide intensive engagement, support and interventions for up to 50 businesses and providers in the sector across the Highland Council area.

Seb Shingler, development manager for tourism in HIE’s Northern Innovation Hub team, said: "The Highland Council area has more adventure tourism-related businesses than any other Scottish local authority area.

"The sector also has significant potential for further growth, with most firms expecting more activity in the medium and longer term.

"It is therefore logical that tourism, particularly adventure tourism, is one of the key sectors covered by the Northern Innovation Hub.

"We are looking to engage a contractor to help develop the programme.

"It will include industry research and market intelligence, case studies and examples. It will help develop methods of attracting new customers, particularly from international markets, and to overcome the barriers specific to the sector."

The project will act as a pilot and could eventually be rolled out across Scotland.

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