'Our Orkney, Our Future’ - project launched to gather tourism views

Orkney Islands Council has launched a new project to gather the views of local people and industry on tourism in the county.  

A key part of this is an online platform - Our Orkney, Our Future - through which participants can upload imagery and written content about their experiences of the impacts of tourism in Orkney – positive, negative or neutral. 

It is hoped this will create a rich and diverse community-led evidence base to inform planning, policy, and action across the Council and its partners, helping to build a more grounded understanding of the pressures and opportunities tourism presents and generate a prioritised set of ideas and actions for the future. 

The project is the first stage in the development of the Council’s Visitor Management Plan which will be aimed at enhancing the public services that support tourism while protecting the wellbeing of local communities and the environment. 

With over 450,000 visitors arriving in Orkney each year, tourism brings significant economic, social and cultural benefits - but also places increasing pressure on infrastructure, services, natural resources and our local communities.  

The Visitor Management Plan seeks to address these challenges by identifying and then prioritising improvements to public services that fall within the Council’s remit. 

The wider project will include interviews, and facilitated workshops, capturing both industry perspectives and the lived experiences of residents.  A reference group - comprising representatives from the community, public sector, and tourism industry - has been guiding the project’s development. 

The online platform – and instructions on how to take part – can be accessed here https://form.typeform.com/to/I3EOFqOh  

Submissions can be entered up to Friday 19 September.