In February 2015, the North Highland Initiative launched a campaign to lure more tourists to Scotland’s North Coast 500, a circular route that begins and ends at Inverness Castle. In early press coverage, the road was called “Scotland’s answer to Route 66,” and the group — and dozens of other newspapers — latched on to it.
Three years later, the initiative probably can be called a success, according to a report from The Herald of Scotland:
New industry figures from the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA) show that visits to its member sites rose dramatically in 2017, the fourth year running that an increase in numbers has been recorded with over 30 million visits to 232 of the organisation’s member sites in 2017, a rise of 9.7 per cent over the previous year.
The two top sites – the National Museum of Scotland and Edinburgh Castle – each attracted more than two million visits, the first time that any visitor attraction in Scotland has surpassed the two million milestone.
However, the Highlands had a huge increase in tourist numbers last year, with Inverewe Garden in Wester Ross recording a 110 per cent rise driven in part by the recent popularity of the North Coast 500 touring route, boosted by marketing and the comparison to the famous US road trip route. (my emphasis)
The Orcadian, also based in Scotland, reported:
The reported increase in numbers for Scotland comes on top of a 6 per cent rise seen the year before and a 3.4 per cent rise in 2015, as sites across Scotland enjoy a period of sustained growth.
Douglas Walker, Chair of ASVA said: “These figures demonstrate that the visitor attractions sector in the North of Scotland is in robust health. A number of elements seem to be driving this growth, including increased numbers of cruise ships visiting Invergordon, the continuing popularity of the North Coast 500 touring route, and the addition of new, direct flights into Inverness Airport.”
On top of that, Travel magazine just last month declared the North Coast 500 one of the world’s best-value tourism spots. The Daily Mail in London reported in the wake of Travel’s declaration:
The study, carried out by the University of Glasgow Training and Employment Research Unit, estimates the route has attracted 29,000 additional visitors and £9 million additional spend in its first year.
The research drew upon various data, including figures from tourism information centres along the NC500 that showed an average 26 per cent increase in visitor numbers since it opened.
This compares with a six per cent average increase across Highland.
So it seems the North Coast 500 is a major driver of the tourism surge in Scotland.
Granted, the North Coast 500 doesn’t resemble Route 66’s plethora of old-school diners, abandoned gas stations and the arid mountains and mesas of the Southwest. Nor is it close to Route 66’s length of 2,300 miles. But the road boasts its share of independently owned inns, narrow but sparsely traveled roads and spectacular scenery.
It isn’t the first time a foreign tourism bureau has used Route 66 to rebrand a road. Australia’s Newell Highway tried it in 2014. I’ve seen no reports, however, whether the Newell saw an uptick in tourism after its Route 66 tag.
Several U.S. highways on U.S. shores have compared themselves to Route 66, as well.
(Image of the North Coast 500 by Steve Carter, courtesy of the North Highland Initiative)
This is amazingly great news! Great outcome that Scotland has discovered the 66ish approach of having a “The roadtrip is the destination” philosophy. Very very NICE indeed! Perhaps, other countries in Europe will discover the same in they’re own neck of the woods as well.