Flowing Forward – Shaping Sustainable Tourism in The Flow Country

The Flow Country Partnership was delighted to host Flowing Forward: Shaping Sustainable Tourism for The Flow Country on the 12th of November 2025 in Wick, and the 13th of November 2025 in Armadale. The events aimed to explore the collaborative opportunities between the World Heritage Site, local businesses, tourism providers, stakeholders, policy makers and community members and highlight the themes around responsible and sustainable tourism in and around Caithness and Sutherland. Looking ahead, we’ll be using the ideas and discussion from the events in the development of the World Heritage Site’s Sustainable Tourism Strategy in the coming months, overseen by our Tourism Working Group. These events ensure the views and needs of the people are fully integrated into the development of the World Heritage Site’s next steps.

We had a morning of fantastic speakers including the North West Geopark, Wester Ross Biosphere, the Head of Tourism for North Yorkshire Council and Armadale Farm and Forse of Nature,  two inspiring local businesses currently utilising what the Flow Country has to offer. Our breakout sessions allowed us to hear from our attendees on the opportunities and challenges that face tourism in Caithness and Sutherland. Our afternoon bus tours took us to see the existing infrastructure previously delivered by the Flows to the Future project at Loch Rangag and Strathy Pools, where we explored what outputs people would want to see more of from the World Heritage Site. We went on to visit the Camster Regeneration Project and Strathnaver Museum which was a great opportunity to see what exciting projects and infrastructure are currently in the area, and what the World Heritage Site can look to build upon.

It was fantastic to see such a great turnout we hope the events informed and inspired people to the possibilities of how the World Heritage Site can contribute long lasting benefits to the local communities and visitors to the area. Some of our main takeaways from the day included:

  • The opportunities to build on and promote the huge variety of existing tourism experiences and infrastructure currently well established in the area. This includes collaboration with local businesses and enterprises, community groups, museums exhibits, neighbouring designated sites and interpretation materials that are all currently providing a fantastic service to the area. The World Heritage Site can look to build on what’s currently there, all the while supporting the local community and economy, jobs and livelihoods.
  • The encouragement of outdoor activities and promotion of sustainable travel around the Flow Country. Some fantastic ideas were discussed including the linking of long and short distance multi-use trails, nature walks, guided tours and themed outdoor events while building on opportunities to develop outdoor retail and adventure businesses.
  • Spotlighting education, linking local schools and higher education with wider organisations and partnerships to promote learning within the Flow Country, for both visitors and the local community. We have the ability to promote the Flow Country on the world stage, highlighting its global importance while always ensuring the protection and respect of the area.
  • Encouraging regional sustainability, local identity and supporting the infrastructure that ensures people are able to live and stay in the local area.
  • We discussed the challenges faced by increased visitors including traffic congestion, increased anti-social behaviour and the pressure on community capacity that is currently experienced by people living in the area
  • The shortage of key infrastructure and facilities was highlighted, along with the difficulties surrounding accessibility for all
  • The limitations of centralised advertisement of the existing tourism experiences and infrastructure available to visitors in the area.
  • The limitations of available funding.

Looking ahead to our next steps, we’ll be building on the outputs from the events in the development of our Sustainable Tourism Strategy. The Strategy will look to provide long lasting benefits for local communities and visitors to the Flow Country while ensuring the conservation objectives of the World Heritage Site are protected. The Strategy will be overseen by our Tourism Working Group made up of key tourism stakeholders currently working and operating within the Flow Country, who will ensure the views of local people are heard and will help influence any decision-making going forward. Once drafted, we will present the draft strategy back to the community at similar event next year, allowing feedback from people living and working in the Flow Country. We want this Strategy to work with and for the local community and ensure it correctly represents the people it will be directly impacting.

Thank you to everyone who attended the events and provided their views on the next steps for tourism in the World Heritage Site. If you have any further input or additional comments, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our World Heritage Site Co-ordinator at [email protected]. We look forward to presenting our draft Sustainable Tourism Strategy in Spring/Summer 2026.

Presentations

You can view the presentations from the events below.

Wick – 12 November 2025

Armadale – 13 November 2025

  • World Heritage Status – Unlocking Engagement and Understanding with New Audiences
    Tony Watson, Head of Tourism, North Yorkshire Council (same video as shown at the Wick event)

  • Ambassador Scheme for Businesses in the North West Highland Geopark – TBC
    Fiona Saywell, North West Highland UNESCO Geopark

  • Living and Working in the Flow Country
    Joyce Campbell, Armadale Farm

We would like to thank our sponsors at Nuclear Restoration Services Ltd (Dounreay) and The Highland Council Ward Fund for funding these events.