Sustainable Tourism Enterprise and Economic Growth

Visitor Management Plan 2027–2037

Draft August 2026

IMAGE: The cover shows the Orkney Islands Council crest above a photograph of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, with people gathered outside. The cover text reads “Visitor Management Plan 2027 – 2037”, “Draft August 2026” and “Sustainable Tourism Enterprise and Economic Growth”.

Executive Summary

Orkney Tourism

Tourism is a cornerstone of Orkney’s economy and a key pillar of local prosperity. In 2024, an estimated 450,000 visitors generated more than £114 million in expenditure, supporting employment and sustaining many local businesses that serve both residents and visitors. Orkney attracts visitors from around the world through the islands’ internationally significant natural and cultural heritage, the award-winning food and drink and arts, crafts and designs, as well as a year-round calendar of events.

Visitor numbers have risen steadily over the past two decades, particularly within the cruise segment, and this trend is expected to continue. As tourism demand grows, there is an increasing need to protect public services, support community wellbeing, and contribute positively to resident quality of life and the visitor experience.

The Council’s role

The Council supports vital elements of the tourism system and plays an important role in safeguarding the places, services and experiences that define Orkney. However, high-volume visitor arrivals during a concentrated summer season can place pressure on services, infrastructure, public spaces and natural and cultural heritage. Key sites, main towns and transport services can experience crowding and congestion, while ageing infrastructure and gaps in essential facilities and services make it challenging to meet the needs of both residents and visitors. These pressures are compounded by fiscal and operational constraints across the Council.

As tourism is not a statutory service, there is no ring-fenced funding for long-term investment. Therefore, the Council continues to engage with the Scottish Government and key stakeholders on tourism levy models that are appropriate to island circumstances and could provide a sustainable funding mechanism. However, there is a possibility that a viable tourism levy model may not materialise for several years, if at all. In the meantime, the Council must manage growing demand within limited resources. Sustaining the public services that support tourism will also require close collaboration across Council services, with communities helping to inform priorities so that action delivers positive outcomes for communities.

VMP purpose and aim

The Visitor Management Plan (VMP) outlines the Council’s approach to strengthening the quality and resilience of Council services that support tourism. Its aim is to deliver targeted, solution-focused interventions that manage visitor impacts, safeguard community wellbeing and protect natural and cultural heritage.

The plan focuses exclusively on operational visitor management, meaning the practical conditions that influence how visitors interact with Orkney’s places and communities. It identifies pressures on Council services, infrastructure, public spaces and the wider tourism system, determines priorities that are realistic within the Council’s remit and current and potential resources, and sets out the operational measures required to maintain public service resilience under sustained and seasonal demand.

The VMP is not a destination management plan and does not assume wider destination management responsibilities. However, it provides the basis for the Council’s contribution to destination management by clarifying how Council services, infrastructure and public spaces are managed and maintained within the Council’s remit in response to tourism pressures.

Capital investment is outwith the scope of the VMP and such infrastructure projects sit within the Strategic Tourism Infrastructure Development Plan, which the VMP informs by identifying where operational pressures indicate a need for future investment.

Should a levy be introduced in future, the VMP provides a framework for identifying operational priorities that could be supported by levy income.

Regenerative tourism

A regenerative tourism approach provides the foundation for the VMP, moving beyond sustainability’s focus on minimising harm and instead actively improving the long-term health and resilience of places and communities. It recognises that tourism sits within a wider living system in which the wellbeing of communities, services, infrastructure, landscapes and businesses are interconnected. This approach reframes tourism’s purpose by recognising that great destinations are built on thriving places and that community prosperity and visitor experience are inseparable.

Success is measured by community wellbeing rather than visitor volume. Local economic activity remains essential, but financial benefit is understood as one part of a wider system of social, environmental and cultural value in which community needs are the starting point and tourism aligns to support those needs wherever possible.

Regenerative principles guide timely, decisive actions that address emerging pressures, strengthen environmental stewardship, support long-term resilience of infrastructure and services. The approach aligns with the Council’s commitments to climate action, community wealth building, inclusive growth and sustainable public services. It sets a clear ambition for the Council’s role in tourism within its remit, signalling a commitment to ensuring that tourism strengthens communities, safeguards the environment and sustains services and infrastructure that support both resident quality of life and the visitor experience.

Evidence base

The VMP is underpinned by a robust evidence base developed through an Internal Operational Review, community and industry engagement, income generation and savings research and secondary analysis.

Seven themes describe the main points of intersection between visitor activity, community wellbeing and the operation of Council services and infrastructure that support tourism:

• Governance, strategy and transparency
• Visitor information, behaviour and communications
• Transport, roads and movement
• Volume tourism management
• Essential infrastructure
• Visitor accommodation and residential housing
• Internal Council administration

Eight cross-cutting issues were identified that span multiple themes, services and locations, and require coordinated, multi-service responses:

• Seasonal pressure on Council services
• Transport capacity and connectivity limitations
• Infrastructure pressures and maintenance backlogs
• Fragmented visitor information and communication
• High visitor volumes at sensitive natural and cultural sites
• Irresponsible visitor and business behaviour
• Reduced residential housing availability
• Limited internal coordination and operational capacity

Five systemic conditions influence how visitor pressures develop and how effectively they can be managed. They underpin many of the cross-cutting issues and constrain the Council’s ability to effectively support tourism:

• Community trust and participation erosion
• Funding and resource limitations
• Data and monitoring gaps
• Policy and strategic alignment challenges
• Resident and visitor needs imbalance

Income generation and savings options were explored to support the financial sustainability of public services that support tourism. Opportunities were identified, including optimising existing income streams, introducing new income streams and improving operational efficiencies. These options are intended to support service resilience, not to generate profit beyond statutory and permissive powers. They are complementary to, rather than dependent on, future tourism levy decisions.

Action Plan and delivery

The Action Plan translates this evidence into a practical, prioritised programme of work guided by eight principles:

• Evidence-led
• Community-centred
• Visitor management focused
• Remit-aligned
• Deliverable and resourced
• Financially sustainable
• Cross-service and partnership-oriented
• Responsible and regenerative

Actions include operational visitor management measures and studies that inform future capital investment. They are designed to strengthen the Council’s ability to manage tourism pressures within existing powers, support communities by aligning activity with local priorities and lived experience and provide a coherent structure for coordinated action across services.

Given financial and operational constraints, not all actions will be deliverable at once or fully funded from the outset. The VMP helps the Council to sequence and resource activity, drawing on closer collaboration across services, supported by existing budgets, income optimisation, new income and savings, external grants and, where necessary, targeted new budget allocations. It sets out a pragmatic approach to managing visitor impacts, protecting public services and places, and embedding a regenerative approach to tourism in Orkney.

Contents

• 1. Introduction
     • 1.1. Context
     • 1.2. Purpose and scope
     • 1.3. Visitor management
     • 1.4. Aim and objectives
     • 1.5. Structure
• 2. Strategic Context
     • 2.1. Council priorities
     • 2.2. Council tourism remit
     • 2.3. Tourism strategies and plans
     • 2.4. Tourism commitments
     • 2.5. Regenerative tourism
• 3. Methodology
     • 3.1. Research methods
     • 3.2. Data analysis
• 4. Findings
     • 4.1. High-level themes
     • 4.2. Cross-cutting issues
     • 4.3. Systemic conditions
     • 4.4. Income generation and savings
     • 4.5. Implications for visitor management and the VMP
• 5. Action Plan
     • 5.1. Action planning principles
     • 5.2. Funding and resourcing considerations
     • 5.3. Action Plan
• 6. Delivery and Review
     • 6.1. Cross-service coordination
     • 6.2. External collaboration
     • 6.3. Annual review process
• Appendix 1. Our Orkney, Our Story Report
• Appendix 2. Evidence Consolidation and Issues Analysis
• Appendix 3. Income Generation and Savings Options Analysis

Tables

• Table 5.1. Summary of actions
• Table A2.1. Our Orkney, Our Story issues
• Table A2.2. Internal Operational Review issues
• Table A2.3. Orkney Islands Visitor Survey 2024 issues
• Table A2.4. Evidence source mapping
• Table A2.5. Thematic codebook
• Table A2.6. Consolidated issues
• Table A3.1. Longlist of income generation and cost savings opportunities
• Table A3.2. Council remit assessment

1. Introduction

This section sets out the purpose, scope, aim and objectives of the Visitor Management Plan (VMP). It explains why the plan is needed, the Council’s role in visitor management, and the outcomes the VMP seeks to support for communities, visitors and the Council. It also outlines how the document is structured.

1.1. Context

Tourism is a cornerstone of Orkney’s economy and a key pillar of local prosperity. In 2024, an estimated 450,000 visitors generated more than £114 million in expenditure, supporting employment and sustaining many local businesses that serve both residents and visitors.

Orkney attracts visitors from around the world through the islands’ internationally significant natural and cultural heritage, the award-winning food and drink and arts, crafts and designs, as well as a year-round calendar of events.

Visitor numbers have risen steadily over the past two decades, particularly within the cruise segment, and this trend is expected to continue. High-volume visitor arrivals during a concentrated summer season between May and September can place sustained pressure on Council services, infrastructure and public spaces. Key sites, main towns and transport services can experience crowding and congestion, while ageing infrastructure in many areas and gaps in essential facilities and services make it challenging to meet the needs of both residents and visitors. These pressures are compounded by fiscal and operational constraints across the Council.

The overall level of funding available to the Council is expected to continue falling in real terms, while significant cost pressures linked to demographic change, statutory service requirements and welfare reform are anticipated to persist. All services are required to deliver additional efficiency savings and minimise budget pressures within approved allocations, and long-term financial planning anticipates a widening funding gap over the next decade.

While Council support underpins vital elements of the tourism system through its mandatory, permissive and discretionary powers, tourism is not a statutory service and there is no ring-fenced funding for long-term investment. Therefore, the Council will continue to engage with the Scottish Government and other key stakeholders on tourism levy models that are appropriate to island circumstances and could provide a long-term funding mechanism. However, there is a possibility that a viable tourism levy model may not materialise for several years, if at all. In the meantime, the Council must manage growing demand within limited resources. Further detail is provided in Section 4.4.2.

Orkney Islands Council (2026). Key Facts and Figures 2025-2026.

Sustaining and enhancing public services that can support tourism therefore requires working smarter: strengthening collaboration across services, improving operational efficiency, optimising existing income streams and developing new income and savings options where appropriate. Community participation and insight are also essential.

The Local Place Plans currently registered with the Council provide valuable evidence on the challenges communities face and what they need to thrive, and further plans anticipated in the coming months and years will add to this understanding. Drawing on these priorities to inform action planning and future VMP reviews can help build trust, create opportunities for stronger collaboration and partnership working, and ensure the plan contributes to better outcomes for communities.

1.2. Purpose and scope

The VMP provides a structured, evidence-based approach to managing the impacts of visitor activity on Council services, assets and public spaces. Its purpose is to ensure that tourism supports community wellbeing, protects public services and contributes positively to resident quality of life and the visitor experience.

The plan focuses exclusively on the Council’s operational visitor management. It identifies pressures on Council services, prioritises interventions and sets out the operational measures required to maintain public service resilience under seasonal tourism demand. This ensures coordinated, sustainable and service-focused responses within the Council’s remit.

The VMP does not function as a destination management plan. It provides the basis for the Council’s contribution to destination management by setting out how Council services, infrastructure and public spaces are managed and maintained in response to visitor pressures, but it does not assume wider destination management responsibilities.

The plan also does not serve as a capital investment plan. Capital tourism projects, including new infrastructure, major upgrades and long-term asset development, are addressed through the Council’s Strategic Tourism Infrastructure Development Plan (STIDP) as further described in Section 2.3. The VMP informs the STIDP by identifying where operational pressures indicate a need for future capital investment.

Should a tourism levy be introduced in future, the VMP provides a framework and evidence base for identifying operational priorities that could be supported by levy income.

1.3. Visitor management

1.3.1. Definition of visitor management

Visitor management refers to the coordinated application of measures that regulate visitor flows, behaviour and impacts to protect places, support community wellbeing and sustain the quality of the visitor experience. It encompasses both physical and operational measures (“hard” approaches) and educational or behavioural measures (“soft” approaches) and is applied to ensure that visitor activity remains within the capacity of the services, assets and environments on which it depends.

In practice, visitor management includes actions such as managing access, reinforcing infrastructure, providing information and interpretation, dispersing visitors and coordinating service delivery. These approaches are essential to minimising adverse impacts, protecting sensitive sites and maintaining high-quality experiences for visitors and residents.

1.3.2. Difference between visitor management and destination management

Visitor management is distinct from destination management. Destination management is a broader, strategic leadership function concerned with coordinating all aspects of a destination that contribute to the visitor experience. It involves multiple partners and encompasses the planning, development, marketing and management of a destination.

Visitor management is a core element of destination management, focusing on the operational conditions that influence how visitors interact with places and communities. It is concerned with managing pressures, safeguarding assets and ensuring that services and infrastructure can operate effectively under visitor demand. While visitor management contributes to destination management, it does not replace it and does not encompass the full range of destination-wide responsibilities.

1.3.3. The case for a VMP

The Council requires a VMP because tourism has a direct and growing impact on the public services for which it is responsible. Rising visitor numbers, strong seasonality and concentrated day visitor demand place sustained pressure on essential services, infrastructure, public spaces and natural and cultural heritage.

These pressures are exacerbated by fiscal constraints, ageing infrastructure and the lack of coherent destination management framework to coordinate strategic tourism planning and development in Orkney. Without a structured approach, the Council’s ability to maintain service quality, protect assets and support community wellbeing is increasingly challenged.

A VMP provides the framework needed to identify pressures, prioritise interventions, coordinate responses and ensure that Council support for tourism aligns with its remit and responsibilities. It enables the Council to contribute effectively to wider destination management while remaining focused on the services and assets it directly manages.

1.4. Aim and objectives

The VMP provides an evidence-based approach to strengthening the quality and resilience of Council services that support tourism. Its aim is to deliver targeted interventions that manage visitor impacts, safeguard community wellbeing and protect natural and cultural heritage.

To deliver this, the plan focuses on three core areas:

(1) Community and experience

• Maintain access to services and protect assets – ensure Council services and public spaces remain accessible and well-maintained and protect Council-managed natural and cultural assets, particularly where visitor use creates pressure.
• Improve the experience of Orkney for residents and visitors – enhance the quality, consistency and sustainability of Council services and public spaces used by both residents and visitors, while ensuring activity does not compromise local needs.

(2) Operational pressure and management

• Relieve tourism pressure on infrastructure and services – implement targeted physical, operational, educational and behavioural measures that reduce strain on known pressure points across Council assets and services.
• Coordinate service delivery – strengthen cross-service collaboration to optimise delivery of Council services that support both residents and visitors, improving efficiency, resilience and accessibility.

(3) Investment and resourcing

• Prioritise interventions – provide a clear, evidence-based framework for prioritising Council visitor management activity.
• Identify resourcing needs – set out the resourcing implications of proposed Council visitor management activity and specify where further assessment of staff capacity, operational budgets and service requirements will be needed.
• Explore opportunities for income generation and savings – assess opportunities to generate income and reduce costs to sustain the delivery and long-term viability of Council services that support tourism. These options are complementary to, rather than dependent on, future tourism levy decisions.

1.5. Structure

The VMP is structured as follows:

• Section 2 – Strategic Context sets out the Council’s priorities, remit, relevant strategies and the regenerative tourism approach underpinning the plan.
• Section 3 – Methodology describes the research methods and analytical process used to develop the evidence base.
• Section 4 – Findings summarises the high-level themes, cross-cutting issues, systemic conditions and income-related considerations.
• Section 5 – Action Plan presents the action planning principles, funding and resourcing considerations, and the detailed action plan.
• Section 6 – Delivery and Review outlines how the VMP will be coordinated, delivered and reviewed.

2. Strategic Context

This section positions the VMP within a wider strategic landscape that influences how the Council supports tourism, manages visitor pressures and delivers public value. It summarises the Council’s priorities, its remit in relation to tourism, and the national and local tourism strategies and plans that guide activity in Orkney.

It also introduces regenerative tourism as the approach that underpins the plan, recognising that while the Council is committed to responsible and sustainable tourism, the VMP signals an ambition to move towards a more regenerative model that places community needs at the centre of decision-making.

2.1. Council priorities

The Council Plan 2023-2028 sets out four strategic priority themes: Growing our Economy, Strengthening our Communities, Developing our Infrastructure, and Transforming our Council. These are underpinned by core principles that guide all decision-making, including protecting the environment and combating climate change; equality, fairness and inclusion; sustainable and accessible services; community wellbeing; and community wealth building.

There is a distinct relationship between each of the Council’s strategic priorities and tourism. The first three themes shape the context within which the Council addresses visitor pressures and opportunities, while the fourth provides the organisational foundation that supports effective responses.

(1) Growing our Economy

Tourism is a key sector contributing to local prosperity, with the Council committed to supporting sustainable economic growth, maximising investment, and developing the green and blue economies.

(2) Strengthening our Communities

Visitor pressures directly affect community wellbeing, access to services and the quality of public spaces. The Council prioritises community-led approaches and equitable access to opportunities.

(3) Developing our Infrastructure

The Council manages essential infrastructure used by both residents and visitors and must maintain these assets in the context of rising visitor numbers and fiscal constraints.

(4) Transforming our Council

Organisational capacity, workforce, systems and processes provide the foundation that enables the Council to deliver public services, including those that support tourism.

The VMP contributes to these priorities by strengthening the resilience, quality and sustainability of public services that support tourism, reinforcing the Council’s wider economic, community, infrastructure and organisational aims.

2.2. Council tourism remit

The Council is responsible for a broad range of public services and regulatory functions that support the wellbeing and development of Orkney’s communities. While tourism is not a statutory service, it is supported through three areas of Council responsibility:

• Mandatory duties – services the Council is legally required to provide, such as managing the Harbour Authority, maintaining roads and providing public transport.
• Permissive powers – activities the Council chooses to deliver, including strategic tourism planning, economic development with tourism as a priority sector, museums and leisure services such as camping facilities, and support for community-led local development.
• Regulatory powers – statutory functions that set standards and control certain activities, including licensing of short-term lets, taxis and private hire vehicles.

Through these responsibilities, the Council plays an important role in supporting the tourism system and managing tourism impacts on infrastructure, services and communities.

The Council Delivery Plan 2023-2028 identifies sustainable development of tourism, hospitality and destination management as a priority within a wider commitment to supporting and investing in businesses across Orkney. This reflects the Council’s role in contributing to destination management alongside other partners, while not leading it.

The VMP sits within this remit by providing a structured approach to identifying pressures on Council services, prioritising interventions and supporting the sustainable development of tourism. It acts as the Council’s mechanism for contributing to wider destination management while remaining focused on the services and responsibilities for which the Council is accountable.

2.3. Tourism strategies and plans

The VMP aligns with national and local tourism strategies and plans, which provide direction for responsible and sustainable tourism development.

Scotland Outlook 2030: Responsible tourism for a sustainable future (2020)

Scotland’s national strategy positions responsible tourism as the foundation for future growth, emphasising community benefit, environmental stewardship, and high-quality experiences. The VMP aligns with these principles by ensuring that Council visitor management decisions reflect national expectations for sustainability and inclusive growth.

Visitor Management Strategy for Scotland (2021) and Visitor Management Action Plan (2025)

These national frameworks highlight the need for coordinated place-based management of visitor pressures, improved infrastructure, data-led decision-making and partnership working. The VMP provides the Council’s framework for delivering these requirements locally, particularly in relation to infrastructure, public services and community wellbeing.

Orkney Tourism Strategy 2020-2030: A strategy for sustainable tourism (reviewed 2022)

The local strategy sets a vision for Orkney as a world-class sustainable destination that enriches the lives of residents and visitors. Its objectives include responsible visitor management, supporting infrastructure development, wider community benefit, and reduced tourism climate impacts. The VMP supports these objectives by focusing on visitor pressures affecting Council assets and services.

Strategic Tourism Infrastructure Development Plan (2022)

The STIDP provides the Council’s strategic framework for capital investment in infrastructure that supports both residents and visitors. It identifies infrastructure gaps, visitor pressure points and long-term development needs and prioritises projects that relieve tourism pressure and improve asset resilience and accessibility.

The STIDP establishes a long-term pipeline for Council, partner and community investment, offering the strategic foundation to support external funding opportunities. The VMP complements the STIDP by providing the operational evidence base, identifying where tourism places sustained pressure on Council services and assets, thereby informing future capital investment decisions.

Together, the two plans ensure a coordinated approach in which operational visitor management (VMP) and capital infrastructure development (STIDP) are clearly distinguished but strategically aligned.

The STIDP is scheduled for review during the 2026/27 financial year to ensure that capital priorities remain responsive to emerging pressures, changes in funding opportunities, operational evidence and stakeholder views.

2.4. Tourism commitments

Council commitment to responsible tourism

The Council recognises the pressures created by visitor growth, strong seasonality, ageing infrastructure and climate change, and the need for more responsible tourism management to protect community quality of life and the visitor experience.

Enhanced data collection, strategic planning and targeted investment in personnel and infrastructure are considered essential to supporting sustainable tourism development. The VMP contributes to this by providing a structured approach to identifying pressures and prioritising responses within the Council’s remit.

Council commitment to climate action

The Council supports the principles of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, particularly its emphasis on decarbonisation, regeneration and collaboration. This commitment is reflected in prioritised interventions within the VMP’s action plan where appropriate.

2.5. Regenerative tourism

Regenerative tourism moves beyond sustainability’s focus on minimising harm and instead seeks to improve the long-term health and resilience of places and communities. It recognises that tourism sits within a wider living system in which communities, services, infrastructure, landscapes and businesses are interconnected and the wellbeing of one affects the wellbeing of all.

In this model, tourism is not defined solely by financial transactions between visitors and businesses. It is defined by the extent to which it contributes to thriving communities and a flourishing environment.

For Orkney, a regenerative approach offers a practical and necessary evolution in how tourism is understood and managed. Rising visitor numbers, strong seasonality, ageing infrastructure and fiscal pressures mean that simply sustaining the status quo is no longer enough.

A regenerative approach reframes tourism’s purpose for the twenty-first century by positioning it to support community resilience, protect the places people value and sustain an essential cornerstone of Orkney’s economy. This recognises that great destinations are built on thriving places and that the quality of life for residents is inseparable from the quality of experience for visitors.

Within this model, success is measured by community prosperity and wellbeing rather than visitor volume. Local businesses and wider economic activity remain essential to Orkney’s economy and to vibrant communities, but financial benefit is understood as one part of a wider system of social, environmental and cultural value. Community needs are the starting point and tourism aligns to support those needs wherever possible.

For the Council, regenerative tourism is most relevant where visitor activity affects the quality, capacity and sustainability of public services. Applying regenerative principles means:

• Enhancing community benefit by ensuring visitor activity supports, rather than compromises, access to essential services and public spaces.
• Strengthening environmental stewardship by preventing avoidable impacts and protecting Council-managed natural and cultural heritage assets.
• Supporting long-term resilience by prioritising actions that reinforce the robustness of infrastructure, services and operational capacity.
• Aligning with wider commitments including climate action, community wealth building, inclusive growth and sustainable public services.

Within the VMP, regenerative tourism provides a guiding lens for prioritising interventions that leave Orkney’s communities and environment better off over time. It encourages timely, decisive actions that address emerging pressures, improve the conditions that support community wellbeing, and ensure that tourism contributes positively to the places residents value and the public services they rely on every day.

While the Council’s remit does not extend to destination-wide tourism management, adopting regenerative principles sets a clear ambition for the Council’s approach to tourism within its remit and establishes its role in contributing to destination management. It signals a commitment to ensuring that tourism in Orkney strengthens communities, safeguards the environment and sustains the services and infrastructure that support both resident quality of life and the visitor experience. It also sends a clear message that the Council intends to lead by example, moving beyond sustaining what exists towards regenerating what Orkney needs for the future.

3. Methodology

This section describes the purpose of the evidence base and how it was developed to inform the VMP. It summarises the research methods used, including the Internal Operational Review, community and industry engagement, income generation and savings research, and secondary data review, and outlines the analytical approach used to identify issues and consolidate them into priority themes.

3.1. Research methods

3.1.1. Approach

The VMP is underpinned by a robust evidence base developed through a comprehensive programme of engagement and research. The aim was to identify and understand the impacts of tourism on Orkney’s communities, businesses and environment by engaging directly with those who experience the pressures and those responsible for managing them.

This process ensured that the VMP is evidence-led and responsive to Orkney’s needs, reflecting lived experience across the islands, capturing operational insight from Council services and focusing on issues the Council can meaningfully influence.

The evidence base draws on four main components:

• Internal Operational Review of Council services – a structured review to identify which services support tourism, the scope of that support, associated pressures and interdependencies, and opportunities for service improvement and, where appropriate, income generation.
• Community and industry engagement – a programme of engagement to capture community and industry perspectives on tourism, understand the pressures they experience, and prioritise opportunities to improve how tourism is supported locally.
• Income generation and savings research – targeted exploration of options to sustain and improve Council services that support tourism, including opportunities to optimise existing income streams and develop new ones, alongside consideration of potential efficiency measures. Tourism levies were not within the scope of this research.
• Secondary research – review of existing datasets, strategic documents and place-based plans to provide quantitative, qualitative and contextual insight into visitor behaviour, infrastructure use and wider trends, and to ensure alignment with national and local policy direction.

Together, these sources provide a comprehensive picture of tourism pressures, service impacts, community expectations and strategic opportunities.

3.1.2. Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder engagement formed a core part of the evidence base. It was designed to capture a wide range of perspectives from Orkney residents, community organisations, tourism businesses, sector representatives, Council officers and other local authorities, ensuring that the VMP is grounded in lived experience and operational reality.

A range of engagement formats was used, including an anonymous online survey, targeted online and in-person discussions and facilitated in-person workshops. Using multiple methods helped to overcome the limitations of any single approach by enabling participation across the islands and gathering representative and actionable feedback. This combination of methods also provided a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of stakeholder sentiment and priorities.

The programme of engagement included:

(1) Collaborative Creative Conversations on Funding Tourism in Orkney

Two facilitated small group conversations were held in April 2025 to explore complementary or alternative measures to a visitor levy that the Council could implement to generate income to sustain services that support tourism. The discussions focused on current Council expenditure on tourism, existing income streams and opportunities for new or enhanced revenue.

One session was held in person at the St Magnus Centre and the other was online. A total of 18 participants from across Orkney attended, representing a community development trust, the tourism and energy sectors, tourism associations, local businesses and public sector organisations.

(2) Exploring Tourism Income Generation Virtual Roundtable

A virtual roundtable took place in June 2025 to exchange practical insight with local authority colleagues on complementary or alternative income-generating measures to a visitor levy.

The discussion focused on existing approaches to income generation from tourism activity, potential for revenue growth through new or optimised income streams and opportunities for collaboration among local authorities to maximise impact and efficiency.

The session was attended by 16 officers from six local authorities, including Orkney, Argyll and Bute, Eilean Siar, Highland, Moray and Renfrewshire, with a separate one-to-one discussion held with Shetland Islands Council.

(3) Our Orkney, Our Story Research Project (OOOS)

The Our Orkney, Our Story research project was undertaken by a local consultant from August to November 2025 to understand community and other stakeholder perceptions of tourism in Orkney.

The first phase of research comprised two strands:

• Community stories – an online storytelling platform enabled residents and visitors to share written narratives and photographs about their experiences of tourism. Open for six weeks from early August to late September 2025, it generated 237 anonymous submissions containing 443 individual story, experience, reflection or idea statements, with contributions predominantly from residents (92%).
• Stakeholder conversations – one-to-one and group interviews were conducted from mid-September to early November 2025 to capture perspectives from those with operational or strategic roles in the sector. Fourteen interviews were held with 46 participants from community organisations, industry representatives and public bodies, generating 423 distinct perspective statements.

Building on the community stories and stakeholder conversations, four in-person community tourism workshops were held in October and November 2025 to present and discuss phase 1 findings and identify priority actions. A total of 42 participants took part across a selected community tourism panel session and three open community workshops.

The programme of engagement produced a total of 866 individual perception contributions and 133 suggested actions. Although overall participation was modest, the consistency of themes emerging across community stories, stakeholder interviews and workshop discussions provides strong reassurance about the reliability of the evidence. This convergence of perspectives indicates that the research offers a credible and representative account of local tourism experiences and perceptions.

The full OOOS report is provided in Appendix 1.

(4) Internal Operational Review of Council Services (IOR)

The IOR was undertaken to understand which Council services support tourism and in what capacity, and to identify pressures, gaps and opportunities. It was informed by 20 initial one-to-one and team interviews with officers across relevant service areas, conducted via Teams or in person, while some officers provided written responses.

A consistent set of guiding questions explored:

• tourism support – how each service supports tourism, either directly or indirectly
• challenges and pressures – operational issues affecting service delivery
• evidence and data – available information and gaps
• support needs – requirements to sustain or improve delivery
• income-generating activity – existing and potential revenue opportunities

Follow-up interviews, both individual and group, were held to explore synergies across services based on the initial findings and to discuss potential actions.

3.1.3. Secondary research

Secondary research provided quantitative, qualitative and contextual insight into visitor behaviour, infrastructure use and wider trends, complementing the primary evidence set out in Section 3.1.2.

Key sources included:

• Orkney Islands Visitor Survey 2024 (OIVS) – a comprehensive survey jointly commissioned by the Council and VisitScotland, providing quantitative and qualitative insight into visitor profiles, behaviours, motivations, satisfaction, spend and visit numbers. It offers core evidence on visitor demand and pressures relevant to Council services.
• Local Place Plans (LPPs) – community-led plans currently registered with the Council for Birsay (2025), Dounby (2024) and Stenness (2025) provide locally generated insight into place-specific issues, aspirations and priorities, including tourism pressures and opportunities where relevant.
• Orkney Matters One (OM1, 2021-2022) and Orkney Matters Two (OM2, 2024) – two Council-led community engagement exercises capturing views on local priorities, pressures and service challenges across Orkney. Together, they provide broad community-generated context on pressures that intersect with visitor activity and the capacity of local services.

Together, these sources strengthened the evidence base by corroborating officer insights, contextualising community perspectives and providing a broader understanding of tourism issues and trends.

3.1.4. Further research

A local consultant undertook targeted research into income generation and cost-saving opportunities, including benchmarking against other Scottish local authorities, legal considerations, operational requirements and potential new activity.

3.2. Data analysis

3.2.1. Evidence Consolidation and Issues Analysis

The analysis of the primary evidence (OOOS, IOR, OIVS) followed a structured process to ensure that issues were identified consistently across the three core primary sources which represent community and industry perspectives, Council operational insight and visitor feedback.

Across these sources, statements describing problems, pressures or constraints were extracted. Descriptive content, impacts and proposed solutions were distinguished from underlying issues so that the analysis focused on the core problems rather than consequences or preferred interventions.

The resulting issue statements were reviewed to remove duplication, merge closely related points and ensure clear, consistent wording before being consolidated into a single master issues list.

Secondary sources (LPPs, OM1, OM2) were reviewed separately to test the extent to which they corroborate or contextualise the primary evidence. Their role in triangulation is described in Section 3.1.3 and in the full Evidence Consolidation and Issues Analysis set out in Appendix 2.

The resulting consolidation informs the high-level themes, cross-cutting issues and systemic conditions presented in Sections 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3, respectively.

3.2.2. Issues and actions development

The consolidated master issues list produced through the Evidence Consolidation and Issues Analysis in Appendix 2 was coded into seven themes to provide a consistent structure for analysis.

Within each theme, these issues informed the development of an initial list of potential actions, drawing on officer insight, IOR findings, community and industry engagement and income generation research.

This initial list was then circulated to relevant Council services for review. Services were asked to refine action descriptions, identify anticipated timescales and resource requirements, and provide a view on relative priority.

Feedback from this stage was used to determine which actions could realistically be taken forward within the VMP period and to finalise the Action Plan presented in Section 5.3.

3.2.3. Income Generation and Savings Analysis

The income generation and savings research was analysed separately due to its distinct purpose. The longlist of options was compiled from community, business and public sector engagement, IOR insight, discussions with other island authorities, local authority benchmarking and targeted further research.

Each option was assessed against the Council’s remit (see Section 2.2) to determine whether it could be delivered directly, influenced through partnership, supported by the Council or was outside Council powers.

A framework for later practical and financial feasibility evaluation was established, but feasibility was not assessed at this stage. The full analysis is provided in Appendix 3 and the findings are summarised in Section 4.4.

4. Findings

This section summarises the key findings emerging from the evidence base. It draws on the primary and secondary research described in Section 3 and the Evidence Consolidation and Issues Analysis in Appendix 2 to identify the high-level themes, cross-cutting issues and income-related considerations that inform visitor management in Orkney.

These findings provide the basis for the prioritisation approach and action planning process in Section 5.

4.1. High-level themes

Analysis of the primary evidence identified seven themes that describe the main points of intersection between visitor activity, community wellbeing and the operation of Council services and infrastructure that support tourism in Orkney.

These themes reflect the consolidated issues set out in Appendix 2 and provide an organising framework for the issues and wider analysis in this section and for the actions in Section 5.3.

The themes are:

• Governance, strategy and transparency – leadership, strategic planning, decision-making, transparency, reinvestment of tourism income.
• Visitor information, behaviour and communications – visitor and business behaviour, responsible tourism messaging, availability and quality of visitor information and access to visitor services.
• Transport, roads and movement – road network suitability, public bus and ferry capacity, footpaths and cycle paths, wayfinding and connectivity between transport modes.
• Volume tourism management – operational management of high-volume, time-concentrated visitor flows.
• Essential infrastructure – adequacy, resilience and servicing of, and access to, infrastructure used by residents and visitors.
• Visitor accommodation and residential housing – availability, diversity and affordability of visitor accommodation and impacts of tourism accommodation on residential housing supply.
• Internal Council administration – internal processes, staffing capacity and cross-service coordination.

4.2. Cross-cutting issues

The evidence base identifies eight cross-cutting issues that span multiple themes, services and locations across Orkney. These issues cannot be addressed through isolated interventions and therefore require coordinated, multi-service responses.

They occur where pressures affect more than one element of the tourism system, involve several Council services or have impacts that extend beyond a single site.

(1) Seasonal pressure on Council services

Concentrated seasonal visitor demand places sustained operational strain on Council services that support tourism, particularly museums and heritage sites, waste management, environmental health, customer services, libraries and public facilities servicing.

These pressures reduce service resilience, leading to reduced availability of key facilities and slower response to resident and visitor needs during peak periods.

(2) Transport capacity and connectivity limitations

Bus services are often at or beyond capacity on busy cruise days, while inter-island ferry services experience vehicle space limitations during the visitor season.

Limited public transport timetabling to certain areas, combined with visitor difficulty interpreting schedules, reduces the ease of movement around the islands, making it harder to disperse visitors and encouraging continued reliance on cars.

(3) Infrastructure pressures and maintenance backlogs

Key infrastructure, such as roads, parking, paths and public toilets, is not designed for current peak season, high-volume use.

Budget and staffing constraints contribute to maintenance backlogs and limit new infrastructure investment, reducing availability across multiple locations and exacerbating consequences such as outdoor toileting and improper motorhome waste disposal.

(4) Fragmented visitor information and communication

Visitor information about Council services and facilities is not easily found or coordinated across Council and destination platforms such as Orkney.com. There is no longer a dedicated in-person visitor information service for independent visitors.

These gaps, combined with shortcomings in destination signage and wayfinding, contribute to navigation challenges, inappropriate behaviour and avoidable pressure on sensitive sites and facilities, while Council customer services and libraries experience increased demand from visitors seeking information.

(5) High visitor volumes at sensitive natural and cultural sites

Sensitive natural and cultural heritage sites are vulnerable to the scale and timing of current seasonal visitor volumes, which exceed what these locations were designed to accommodate.

Concentrated arrivals, particularly on cruise days, create crowding and intensify pressure on fragile environments, historic buildings and limited onsite facilities, contributing to erosion, access conflicts and inappropriate behaviour in sensitive areas.

(6) Irresponsible visitor and business behaviour

Evidence of disrespectful actions, improper site use and irresponsible waste disposal reflect gaps in key infrastructure, visitor information and responsible tourism messaging.

Such instances of visitor and business behaviours undermine safety, environmental quality and community wellbeing.

(7) Reduced residential housing availability

Conversion of residential properties to short-term lets and other visitor accommodation contributes to the reduction in housing availability and affordability for residents in affected communities.

This pressure is perceived to play a role in wider recruitment challenges, limits options for key workers and affects the longer-term sustainability of local communities.

(8) Limited internal coordination and operational capacity

Fragmented responsibility for infrastructure used by visitors, combined with limited staffing capacity, constrains strategic planning, delays operational response and limits the Council’s ability to pursue external funding and deliver improvements.

4.3. Systemic conditions

The evidence base highlights five systemic conditions that influence how visitor pressures develop and how effectively they can be managed. These conditions do not operate as discrete issues but extend across Council functions and other elements of the tourism system.

They underpin many of the cross-cutting issues identified in Section 4.2 and challenge the Council’s ability to effectively support tourism in Orkney.

(1) Community trust and participation erosion

Communities want meaningful involvement in tourism decisions and more proactive, transparent communication that acknowledges impacts and reports on investment, progress and community benefits.

They perceive that engagement exercises rarely lead to visible action, and the absence of regular reporting has reduced confidence that concerns are being addressed, allowing misunderstandings to persist and frustration to grow.

As a result, some residents feel that the Council is not listening and that tourism is being done to them rather than with them. There is a strong willingness to support improvement, but long-standing unresolved pressures have undermined confidence that the Council will act.

(2) Funding and resource limitations

Tourism is not a statutory service, and its support is underpinned by discretionary resources spread across mandatory, permissive and regulatory Council functions.

Limited staff capacity, statutory workload pressures and recruitment challenges constrain the Council’s ability to maintain infrastructure and manage tourism pressures. Current budgets are insufficient and a sustainable funding model for long-term investment in tourism does not currently exist.

These pressures hinder the Council’s ability to respond to seasonal demands and erode the resilience of public services relied on by residents and visitors, undermining the wider tourism system.

(3) Data and monitoring gaps

The Council has limited consistent, timely and coordinated data on tourism usage, visitation and movement patterns and its approach to collecting or sharing information across services or with stakeholders could be more coherent.

Challenges in distinguishing between resident and visitor use of public services, combined with inconsistent internal data sharing, reduces understanding of visitor behaviour and tourism impacts.

These gaps undermine the Council’s ability to design targeted interventions, anticipate and manage service demand, plan effectively across services and evaluate outcomes. They also limit effective measurement of how tourism impacts public service provision, local communities and the wider tourism system.

As a result, evidence-based decision-making is constrained, and the Council cannot optimise its contribution to wider tourism development and management.

(4) Policy and strategic alignment challenges

Orkney’s Tourism Strategy does not include an action plan, delivery framework or monitoring arrangements, which limits its implementation and evaluation.

Cruise, which accounts for around half of all visitors and operates as a distinct high-volume segment, is operationally well managed within its own system but does not have a strategic framework that aligns it with wider tourism activity.

In the absence of a coherent framework to coordinate destination management, key stakeholder organisations, including the Council, mainly operate within their own remits, priorities and resource capacity, which risks duplicated effort, conflicting activity and missed opportunities.

Destination marketing is also not aligned with Council strategic tourism planning activity, limiting its potential as a visitor management tool and contributing to fragmentation.

(5) Resident and visitor needs imbalance

Seasonal visitor pressures intersect with essential services relied on by residents and access to public spaces. Tensions can arise where visitor demand exceeds available capacity, leading to constraints on daily use of shared services and facilities and influencing perceptions of tourism.

These perceptions are also affected by instances of disrespectful visitor behaviour, irresponsible business practices and reactive communication from the Council.

4.4. Income generation and savings

4.4.1. Opportunities

The evidence base identifies several opportunities to strengthen the financial sustainability of Council services that support tourism, responding to the pressures highlighted in Sections 4.2 and 4.3.

These opportunities are organised into three categories:

• Optimising existing income streams to improve the consistency, transparency and effectiveness of current charging structures.
• Introducing new income streams to support long-term service resilience, subject to feasibility, proportionality and alignment with Council powers.
• Improving operational efficiencies to help reduce pressure on overstretched services and facilities while maintaining service quality.

These categories cover five areas of activity, including infrastructure and service charging, commercial and retail activity, visitor access and ticketing, premium visitor experiences, and funding, governance and delivery mechanisms.

Full details are provided in the Income Generation and Savings Options Analysis in Appendix 3. Income-related options will be considered alongside remit, feasibility and proportionality when developing and prioritising actions in Section 5 to support the financial sustainability of Council services, rather than to generate profit beyond the Council’s statutory and permissive powers.

4.4.2. Tourism Levies

The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 provides discretionary powers for local authorities to introduce a levy on overnight stays for the purpose of generating income to develop, support or sustain facilities and services which are substantially for or used by visitors.

The levy excludes segments such as cruise ship passengers and other day visitors, wild campers and motorhomes not staying in registered campsites.

In early 2025, the Council investigated the feasibility of an overnight visitor levy for Orkney. The research found:

• strong opposition from residents and local businesses
• concerns about fairness, business viability and destination competitiveness
• limited revenue potential once administrative costs and exemptions were included
• viability highly sensitive to exemption levels, seasonal variations and accommodation attrition
• stakeholder preference for simpler, fairer models such as cruise ship and point-of-entry, targeting high-impact visitor segments

On 23 September 2025, the Council’s Policy and Resources Committee agreed not to progress an overnight levy at this time. The Committee also agreed to continue engagement with the Scottish Government on alternative levy models more appropriate to an island context.

Income generation and savings options in Appendix 3 are therefore complementary to, rather than dependent on, future levy decisions. Cruise ship and point-of-entry levies remain preferred by stakeholders but require enabling legislation, which has not yet been confirmed by the Scottish Government.

4.5. Implications for visitor management and the VMP

The findings highlight structural pressures across Council services, infrastructure and operational coordination that influence how tourism is experienced in Orkney. These pressures have direct implications for how visitor management should be approached and for the priorities the VMP must address.

First, current day-to-day service operations are not sufficient to manage the scale and seasonality of tourism, particularly where pressures accumulate across multiple services and sites. Peak season demand, infrastructure deficiencies, fragmented responsibilities and gaps in visitor information provision erode operational resilience and constrain the Council’s ability to manage cumulative pressures.

These conditions require improved data and monitoring to anticipate demand and target interventions effectively, as well as coordinated, cross-service action rather than isolated interventions, with each service contributing to a shared approach to strengthening operational capacity and protecting public services.

Second, expanding and optimising income generation and savings is essential to sustaining the services and infrastructure that support tourism. IOR evidence highlights chronic structural funding gaps, maintenance backlogs and operational capacity pressures that cannot be addressed through existing budgets alone.

Strengthening financial sustainability is therefore imperative to maintaining service quality for residents and visitors and to supporting the long-term resilience of Council assets. This need is particularly acute given current fiscal circumstances and the possibility that a viable tourism levy model may not materialise for several years, if at all.

Third, the evidence highlights a persistent gap between community expectations and the Council’s remit in tourism leadership. Community and other stakeholder feedback calls for the Council to take a stronger, more visible role in coordinating tourism across Orkney.

However, the Council does not have a statutory mandate or sufficient resources to lead destination management, and its responsibilities are limited to specific services and regulatory functions (see Section 2.2).

The absence of a coherent destination management framework, combined with intensifying tourism pressures, has contributed to assumptions about the Council’s role and frustration at perceived inaction, compounded by reactive communication and inconsistent engagement.

Addressing these challenges will require the Council to communicate its remit and limitations more transparently, engage more meaningfully with communities and other stakeholders, and participate in destination management coordination within its defined powers and resources.

Finally, resident wellbeing and visitor experience are interdependent and interconnected. Measures to improve infrastructure, preserve or increase service availability, encourage responsible behaviour and support community priorities must be integrated into the VMP to ensure that tourism contributes to Orkney’s long-term resilience.

In line with the regenerative tourism approach set out in Section 2.5, the VMP should prioritise actions that restore capacity where it is under strain, protect the places and services residents rely on and enhance the conditions that support community wellbeing.

5. Action Plan

This section presents the Council’s Action Plan for responding to issues identified through the VMP evidence base. It sets out the principles that guide action planning, outlines funding and resourcing considerations and presents the resulting set of actions by theme.

5.1. Action planning principles

The Action Plan is guided by a set of principles that reflect the Council’s commitments to responsible tourism, climate action, community wellbeing and sustainable public services, and the VMP’s ambition to apply a regenerative approach to tourism.

These principles set out how actions were developed and will be taken forward:

• Evidence-led – actions respond directly to pressures and opportunities identified through the VMP evidence base and consolidated issues in Appendix 2.
• Community-centred – actions prioritise community benefit and public service resilience.
• Visitor management focused – actions address the conditions that influence how visitors interact with places and communities, and do not extend the Council’s role into wider destination management leadership.
• Remit-aligned – actions reflect the Council’s statutory duties, permissive powers and regulatory functions to deliver, influence or support.
• Deliverable and resourced – actions are designed to be realistic, with a reasonable resourcing route identified for each.
• Financially sustainable – actions support the long-term viability of Council services that support tourism and, where appropriate, are informed by income generation and savings opportunities.
• Cross-service and partnership-oriented – actions recognise interdependencies across Council services and, where relevant, with communities and other external partners.
• Responsible and regenerative – actions encourage responsible behaviour by visitors and businesses, strengthen environmental stewardship and seek, where possible, to restore or enhance the long-term resilience of public services, places and communities affected by tourism.

5.2. Funding and resourcing considerations

The deliverability of actions depends on access to appropriate staffing and financial resources. For each action, a realistic resourcing route has been considered.

In practice, this will draw on one or more of the following options:

• Using existing service budgets, where capacity allows.
• Optimising current income generation and savings, for example by improving existing charging and efficiency.
• Developing new income generation and savings measures where appropriate and within the Council’s powers.
• Securing external grant funding where suitable opportunities exist.
• Seeking additional budget allocations, including spend-to-save proposals, as a last resort where other routes are not appropriate or sufficient.

Opportunities to improve efficiency and alignment of existing activity, including cross-service working, will be considered alongside these funding routes when determining how best to resource actions.

Not all options will be available or suitable for every action and not all actions will be fully funded at the point of adoption of the VMP. This set of routes provides a framework for identifying and pursuing appropriate resourcing options, with new budget allocations requested only where other avenues cannot reasonably meet the need.

More detailed feasibility assessment and, where appropriate, business case development may be required for individual income generation and savings options, as described in Appendix 3, before implementation decisions are made.

5.3. Action Plan

5.3.1. Detailed actions

The detailed actions are derived from the consolidated issues in Appendix 2 and the action development process described in Section 3.2.2. Issue numbers correspond to Table A2.6 in Appendix 2.

Actions are organised under the seven themes identified in Section 4.1 and assigned an indicative timescale aligned with Council financial years and the VMP 10-year period:

• Short-term (ST) – 0 to 2 years, 2026/27 to 2028/29
• Medium-term (MT) – 3 to 5 years, 2029/30 to 2031/32
• Long term (LT) – 6 to 10 years, 2032/33 to 2036/37

Some actions span more than one timescale where delivery is phased or dependent on external factors.

Theme 1: Governance, strategy and transparency

GST1. Engage with the Scottish Government on islands-appropriate tourism levy

GST2. Improve access to tourism-relevant data across Council services

GST3. Develop process for monitoring tourism impacts on public services

GST4. Investigate options for a collaborative destination management framework

GST5. Develop cruise management plan

GST6. Report annually on Visitor Management Plan delivery

Theme 2: Visitor information, behaviour and communications

VBC1. Deliver responsible tourism communications plan

VBC2. Provide targeted pre-arrival information for motorhome visitors

VBC3. Install responsible waste disposal signage in countryside toilets

VBC4. Investigate feasibility of motorhome visitor management platform

VBC5. Explore physical information provision at Council sites

VBC6. Improve visitor information on the Council website

VBC7. Develop Orkney responsible cruise tourism guidance

VBC8. Investigate options for a tour operator information resource

VBC9. Review and align Council marketing

Theme 3: Transport, roads and movement

TRM1. Investigate feasibility of an integrated transport platform

TRM2. Support community-led promotion and development of car-free visitor travel to ferry-linked isles

TRM3. Review road adaptations on high-traffic tourism routes in West Mainland

TRM4. Audit directional road signage across Orkney

TRM5. Assess options to reduce coaches and motorhomes on B-roads

TRM6. Design circular routes from key settlements

TRM7. Improve visitor information on Core Paths

TRM8. Review vehicle access to Point of Buckquoy car park

Theme 4: Volume tourism management

VTM1. Assess options for an online booking system for Council-managed cultural heritage venues

VTM2. Develop proposal to extend parking charges to additional Council car parks

VTM3. Review Cruise Ship Booking and Confirmation Policy

VTM4. Strengthen NHS and community pharmacy planning for cruise days

Theme 5: Essential infrastructure

EIF1. Review Strategic Tourism Infrastructure Development Plan

EIF2. Develop public toilet strategy

EIF3. Enable payment at public toilets

EIF4. Investigate options for coach and motorhome waste disposal facility

Theme 6: Visitor accommodation and residential housing

VAH1. Develop planning policy for tourism accommodation

VAH2. Review grant support for visitor accommodation

VAH3. Support development of an Orkney accommodation database

VAH4. Research Orkney motorhome market

VAH5. Explore development of overnight motorhome aires

Theme 7: Internal Council administration

ICA1. Review donation facilities and retail offering at St Magnus Cathedral

ICA2. Develop coordinated resource proposal for Council visitor-facing services

ICA3. Consider consolidation of responsibility for Council car parks serving visitor sites

ICA4. Establish list of short-term let businesses liable for commercial waste fees

5.3.2. Summary of actions

Table 5.1 provides an overview of all actions in the VMP, organised by theme. Each action is assigned a delivery pathway to indicate whether it is taken forward through the VMP, the STIDP or a combined VMP→STIDP route.

VMP actions are operational visitor management measures within the Council’s remit, while STIDP actions are capital infrastructure projects prioritised and delivered through the STIDP, and VMP→STIDP actions begin as operational measures or studies and inform subsequent capital investment decisions.

Table 5.1. Summary of actions

6. Delivery and Review

This section outlines how VMP actions will be coordinated, delivered and reviewed. It sets out processes for cross-service and external partner collaboration and annual review that ensure visitor management activity remains proportionate, evidence-led and responsive to emerging pressures.

6.1. Cross-service coordination

Effective visitor management requires coordinated action across multiple Council services. Delivery of the VMP will be supported through a cross-service officer group comprising representatives from relevant services.

The Sustainable Tourism team will act as the coordinating lead for the VMP, convening the cross-service officer group and facilitating collaboration across services as appropriate.

The group will:

• coordinate operational planning and delivery
• share intelligence on visitor pressures and service impacts
• support the development and implementation of VMP actions
• identify emerging issues and propose adjustments to the Action Plan
• ensure alignment with statutory duties and corporate priorities

6.2. External collaboration

The Council will continue to work collaboratively with external partners whose activities intersect with visitor management. This includes, but is not limited to, community organisations, heritage bodies, transport operators, tourism businesses and national agencies.

Collaboration will focus on:

• sharing information on visitor pressures and operational issues
• coordinating messaging and visitor information
• supporting responsible access and behaviour
• aligning interventions where responsibilities overlap
• identifying opportunities for joint working

This partnership approach recognises that visitor management is a shared responsibility and that coordinated action delivers better outcomes for communities and visitors.

6.3. Annual review process

The VMP provides a long-term strategic framework, with an action plan reviewed annually.

The review will:

• assess progress against agreed actions
• consider new evidence, trends and operational pressures
• identify emerging issues requiring attention
• update priorities and actions where necessary
• ensure alignment with the Council’s STIDP and other relevant plans

The annual update will be coordinated through the cross-service officer group and reported by the Sustainable Tourism team through the Council’s established governance processes.