How to implement slow-adventure tourism in Scotland?

New opportunity for slow-adventure tourism in Scotland

When you visit a new country or place, it means adapting to your surroundings and not leaving any trash behind. The amount of tourist that visit certain places in Scotland disrupt the normal life routine of the local people and even cause traffic jams for example in the Scottish Highlands. In addition, the so-called 'over-tourism' form a threat to places that are already vulnerable.

Scottish Highlands

To be more specific, a lot of these places are just merely stops known as honeypot sites were people take selfies and continue their journey. Generally, a tourist does not spend much money locally because it is just part of one of the many stops. The major issue is that almost every tourist wants to visit as many places as possible and only go to all the same well-known places known stimulated by social media channels and marketing campaigns. So, how can this behaviour change?

According to the Press and Journal (Bellshaw & Steve, 2019), there is a need for long-term sustainability where there is a collaboration between the local organisations and communities. Tourist should be encouraged to not only visit the well-known places but stay a bit longer to discover the less known places in different seasons. By organising activities with the local community, the relation with the local people could improve and Scotland's nature can be appreciated in all its seasons. This form of 'slow adventure' tourism makes it possible to attract more people to discover unspoiled areas of Scotland. Instead of mass-tourism, slow adventure focusses on organising activities with the local businesses with a wide range of adventures as foraging, cycling, kayaking, and even visits to the sauna. This could be used as a marketing brand to capture tourist interest for more authentic and immersive experiences. So, it does not reduce tourism but divide it more to the less known places that could help the local communities through not only taking selfies but listen to stories.

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