'Relentless over-promotion' fury at plan to 'brand' Scottish Highlands to the world

Residents in the Highlands have been asked to take part in a consultation on how the Scottish Highlands should be “branded to the world”, as concerns were raised over “relentless over-promotion” of the region.

The survey is led by Highland Tourism, a community interest company (CIC) set up to work with stakeholders to promote the region as a “sustainable tourist destination”.

Highland Tourism said it has spent the past three years hosting workshops and roadshows asking locals how they want the Highlands to be presented to visitors.

It is now consulting communities in the region, home to the well-travelled North Coast 500 route, on the “essence of a brand” the CIC has developed from its research.

Ambassadors for Highland Tourism include MSP and Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, George Baxter, of renewable energy company GreenPower International, and Martin Hall, from Tomatin Distillery.

Yvonne Crook, chairwoman of Highland Tourism CIC, who was recently shortlisted as Social Enterprise Volunteer Champion by Social Enterprise Scotland, said: “Over the past three years, we’ve held events with our group of what is now 200 ambassadors, a series of roadshow events in early 2024 held at different locations across the Highlands.

“Most recently, we held a conference in Inverness in May. We have received feedback from hundreds of people in the Highlands on what they think a ‘Highland brand’ should look and feel like, and they have told us how they want the Highland of Scotland to be showcased to the world.

“We’ve taken these thoughts and ideas and created an essence of a brand for the Highlands, and we are now inviting feedback on this presentation to enable a community-led approach to the next stage of building the brand.”

There has, however, been some backlash to the notion of “branding” the Highlands. Some residents have also claimed they and their local community councils have not been consulted on the move.

Robin Pettigrew, who lives on the NC500 route and who has been vocal on the topic of ‘over-tourism’, said he and those in his community had not been made aware of the consultation, nor were they approached by the community interest company in the past three years.

Speaking to The Scotsman, he said: “Yes, we need a sustainable and responsible tourism, but this relentless over-promotion is not giving us it.

“How are we going to get the facilities and the infrastructure to deal with more people coming here because at the moment, people can’t even get the people to work in the various industries because they can’t house them.

“This branding is absolute nonsense. We need to stop this over-promotion and have more nuanced and targeted promotion.”

He described those behind Highland Tourism CIC as “business folk”, adding: “Perhaps we need to do a clear and transparent consultation with the communities themselves.”

Owners of Bad Girl Bakery Jeni Iannetta and Douglas Hardie, who have branches in Inverness and Muir of Ord, are part of a network of bakers and street food businesses across the Highlands.

The couple said they had not been made aware of Highland Tourism CIC’s consultation, but said they were keen on businesses collaborating to help trade and tourism in the region.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Ms Iannetta said: “I don’t know anything about Highland Tourism, but encouraging collaboration is definitely a good idea. Since Brexit and Covid, it’s been really hard for hospitality, but a lot has come out of it where businesses have come together to collaborate with each other to keep each other going.

“We’re sort of already doing it.”