Hillwalking and Munro bagging have reached dizzying heights with research finding that walking holidays now generate up to £1.26 billion a year for the Scottish econom (Gurpreet Narwan writes).
According to VisitScotland, the country’s rugged landscape attracted four million UK visitors in 2015. About 23 per cent of 55 to 64-year-olds and 26 per cent of those aged between 16 and 34 participated in a long walk during their stay in Scotland.
Country parks proved popular with families and dog owners. Strathclyde Country Park in Motherwell emerged as the most popular outdoor attraction with more than 5.4 million visitors in 2015, while Rouken Glen Park in Giffnock increased visitor numbers by more than a fifth to about one million.
Walking also emerged as one of the most popular activity pages on the national tourism agency website, with “Munro-bagging” viewed on average 68 times per day last year.
The popularity of walking holidays has been attributed in part to a growing network of nationally-promoted trails, which are distinctively waymarked, largely off-road and offer a range of visitor services. One of the newest trails, the John Muir Way, had between 240,000 and 300,000 visits in its first year of operation in 2014-2015.
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Brendan Paddy, director of the walking charity Ramblers Scotland, said: “These are fantastic new figures, which highlight the huge and growing importance of walking to the Scottish economy. It’s vital that we work together as a nation to capitalise on this, by protecting the environment, promoting access and continuing to invest in improved paths, campsites and mapping.”
Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland’s chief executive, said the growing interest in health and wellbeing “presents a fantastic opportunity for Scotland to promote itself, not only through its inspiring landscapes but also through the health benefits of walking and being outdoors.”
• A man has died while walking in Glen Coe. Emergency services were called to the scene near the Clachaig Inn at about 1.20pm on Wednesday. Police Scotland said the man had not yet been formally identified and a report would be sent to the procurator fiscal.