Scottish Household Survey: Tourism Sentiment, 2025

Perceptions of tourism impact management

Views on whether enough action was being taken to address any negative impacts of tourism in local areas were divided, with 14% of adults in Scotland agreeing that enough action was being taken (3% strongly agreed; 11% tended to agree) and a similar proportion (15%) disagreeing (8% strongly disagreed; 8% tended to disagree). Almost three in five either said the question was not applicable to them (29%) or neither agreed nor disagreed (28%).

Perceptions varied across local authority areas (Table 10). The highest levels of agreement were recorded in Na h-Eileanan Siar (33%), Shetland Islands (32%) and Orkney Islands (28%). However, these areas were also among those recording the highest levels of disagreement: Orkney Islands (41%), Highland (35%), Na h-Eileanan Siar (32%) and Shetland Islands (31%), suggesting views were more polarised in these areas.

Views on this issue were stronger and more divided in rural and island communities than across Scotland as a whole (Figure 4). In rural areas, around one-fifth of adults agreed (20%) and disagreed (19%) that enough action was being taken (Table 9), while in island areas a slightly greater proportion disagreed (39%) than agreed (33%) (Table 11).

Figure 4:  Views on whether enough action was being taken to address any negative impacts of tourism in local areas were divided, with stronger views in rural and island communities

Percentage of adults agreeing enough action is being taken to address any negative impacts of tourism in their local area, Scotland, island and rural areas, 2025