Visitor Experience Outcome VE2:
There are more opportunities to enjoy water-based recreation and sporting activities across the Park’s lochs, rivers and coasts.
Why is this outcome important?
Many of our lochs in the Park are popular for water-based sport and recreation activities, with changing trends of what people come here to do. We are seeing growth in the popularity of canoeing and openwater swimming and new activities, such as paddleboarding.
Boating and fishing continue to be popular and the availability of boating facilities (publicly-accessible piers, pontoons and moorings) continues to fall short of demand.
The well-established Loch Lomond Byelaws continue to work effectively, helping our Ranger Service to achieve balanced management of the lochs in a way that enables a wide range of recreational activities, while minimising conflicts.
Open water swimming event
The success of the Loch Lomond Waterbus has made better use of the Loch’s piers with services now also connecting into Loch Katrine. It has benefited our lochside communities by offering an appealing sustainable transport alternative to visiting by car.
The Scottish Marine Tourism Strategy identifies that there is potential to capitalise on and grow water-based tourism in the Park. This can be done through continued investment in infrastructure, the promotion of routes, activities and itineraries, as well as linking Clyde coastal and inland waters by improving facilities on Loch
Lomond, Loch Long and Loch Earn. Appropriate pier infrastructure will also be required to accommodate the
Maid of the Loch as efforts continue to bring this historic paddle steamer back into operation.
The strategy also says that other lochs have the potential to support more non-motorised activities. So it is important that we work with partners to further develop the opportunities on our lochs, rivers and coasts in the Park.
Our priorities for action:
- Visitor Experience Priority 7: Ensuring larger lochs are managed to support and facilitate both water craft and other recreational uses while maximising safety for all users and protecting the quality of water environments.
Boating on Loch Lomond
- Visitor Experience Priority 8: Contribute to delivering the Scottish Marine Tourism Strategy by securing investment in more publically accessible boating and recreational facilities such as piers, pontoons and moorings for a range of users Loch Lomond, Loch Long and Loch Earn.
Pontoon at Loch Lomond in Balloch
- Visitor Experience Priority 9: Continuing to improve and develop the Waterbus network on Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine and enabling new opportunities on Loch Long.
Waterbus on Loch Katrine
- Visitor Experience Priority 10: Providing facilities and promoting services, locations and itineraries that encourage established and emerging forms of water recreation such as fishing, kayaking, canoeing, open water swimming and board sports.
Open water swimming on Loch Lomond
Who can help make this happen?
| LEAD DELIVERY PARTNERS INCLUDE: |
| SportScotland |
| SUPPORT DELIVERY PARTNERS: |
| Local Destination Organisations |
| Community Development Trusts |
| Community Councils |
| VisitScotland |
| Scottish Enterprise |
| Clyde Marine Planning Partnership |
| Maid of the Loch – Loch Lomond Steamship Company |
How will we measure success by 2023?
- Increased participation in particular water sports as a reason to visit the Park.
- Increased usage of publicly managed boating facilities.
- Number of scheduled Waterbus routes and number of visitors using services.
Questions
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