A Visitor Management Plan was developed for Dornoch Area Community Interest Company (DACIC) to help them manage the increase in visitors to the area. The group embraced the opportunity to create a sustainable plan to maximise the visitor experience, enabling them to enjoy the town and its special qualities, whilst minimising and negative impacts on the local environment and community.
Work undertaken
Prepared between December 2020 and February 2021, it involved engagement and consultation (primarily online workshops) with the community, DACIC, Dornoch Focus Group, Dornoch Area Community Council (DACC), tourism businesses, The Highland Council, Highlands and Island Enterprise (HIE) and other community representatives.
Output
The plan addressed the forthcoming 2021 tourism season and longer-term visitor demand expected in Dornoch, providing a cohesive strategy for visitor planning. This brought together all of the ideas from businesses and the community; providing some “joined up thinking”.
The output was a practical document which outlined both short term and long term actions, based on the priorities of the community and agencies we spoke to. Short term actions included communications improvements, signage, overflow capacity and car park improvements. The longer term phases of the plan included ways to increase capacity, improve facilities, manage traffic and install new pay and display parking.
SKS’s work facilitated the collaboration and support from all areas of the community, giving us a plan to follow that everyone has bought into.
