Highland Visitor Survey - Caithness and Sutherland

A number of different public sector organisations play an important role in delivering the tourism product in the Highlands of Scotland. A rolling programme of local visitor surveys was established in 1996 to assist these organisations in developing strategic plans. This rolling programme was supplemented with a major study of visitors to the Highlands which was undertaken in 1997.

As a result of the need to extend and update knowledge of visitors and their visit who come to the Highlands, a group of organisations (including HOST, the Highland Council and HIE Caithness and Sutherland) identified the need to conduct a further large-scale survey of visitors to the Highlands during 2002/3.

The specific objectives of the study were as follows:

• To supply information about the profile of visitors and their visit to guide future tourism policy and activity.
• To provide comparisons with the data gathered in the 1997 survey and information that can be updated in future studies for tracking purposes.
• To furnish information that can be used to assist in the production of estimates of the volume and value of visitors to the overall study area, the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board (HOST) / Highland Council (HC) area and individual LEC areas.

The downloadable reports cover the main findings from the interviews conducted in the Caithness and Sutherland area, and for the area covered by HOST.