Badenoch MSP announces funding for rural tourism hotspots to double
A special fund to help improve facilities at tourist hotspots in rural areas is to have its funding allocation doubled, Badenoch MSP Kate Forbes has confirmed.
In her capacity as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Ms Forbes has just announced in her Budget statement earlier that the next round of funding for the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund will increase from just over £3 million to £6.2 million.
As a backbencher, the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch was instrumental in calling for such a fund in the first place.
Through the first three rounds of awards it has since delivered almost £4 million of improvements to her constituency alone – with lifeline funding helping popular tourist attractions such as Glenmore and Loch Morlich, the Fairy Pools in Skye, Glenfinnan in Lochaber, and Cromarty on the Black Isle.
Ms Forbes MSP said: “The Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund has been an invaluable resource for communities across the Highlands and I am delighted to announce that its funding will be doubled.
“The RTIF was first created to meet the very problems highlighted by my constituents, and it has certainly helped do so.
"In places right across my constituency from Glenfinnan to Glenmore, and from the Fairy Pools to Cromarty, the RTIF has truly empowered communities to solve local problems.
“The rapid increase in tourism in rural areas inevitably puts pressure on parking, toileting and camper van facilities, and RTIF has targeted funding at the places that need it most.
“I hope this new and substantially increased funding will continue to relieve pressures at tourism hotspots across the Highlands.”
