Previous projects

Exploring a regenerative tourism approach to rural community development in Scotland & Ireland

This project, running from January to June 2023, will see researchers from CRTR work with partners at Munster Technological University to investigate how we can transcend the extant practice of gauging the health of the tourism sector by the value of its economic contribution and, instead, think in terms of measuring success with a wider range of more inclusive, non-monetary indicators.  The project is funded by the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh through their Ireland–Scotland Bilateral Network Grants scheme.

COVID-19 had a profound effect on the tourism sector globally. As the industry moves into a more resilient, post-pandemic recovery, there is an opportunity to promote more responsible tourist behaviour and address sustainability challenges in the sector that have been brought into sharp relief. Sustainable, or responsible, tourism focusses on reducing the negative impacts of tourism.

Regenerative tourism practices, on the other hand, aim to replenish and restore what we have lost by helping to build communities that thrive, while allowing the planet to thrive too. This project brings together the two universities to explore the regenerative tourism paradigm in a rural community development context.

The objectives of the project are to:

1. Act as a two-way conduit for the sharing of applied research and teaching expertise on regenerative tourism.
2. Enable the development of a wider network of key stakeholders such as SMEs, communities, destination management organisations and policy makers. The research will create learning opportunities for stakeholders to reflect on tourism in their own communities and build capacity for rural development through regenerative tourism, fostering better places to visit and live.
3. Form the core of a new consortium that will seek further external funding for a transnational project on the application and adoption of regenerative tourism for rural community development.
4. Initiate policy and practice discourse amongst stakeholders, both at policy maker and community level through the dissemination of project findings.

The Coast that Shaped the World (COAST)

Find out more here about the ‘Coast that Shaped the World’, a project gathering maritime stories from 20 destinations across the west coast – stories that shaped our coastal communities into what they are today and which convey how our maritime cultural and natural heritage helped to shape the world.

T-CRISIS NAV

Funded through the ERASMUS + programme, and led by CRTR, the goal of T-Crisis Nav was for the partners in Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and Spain to develop a range of online resources which would help tourism SMEs to navigate their way through crisis.  The open access resources, covering topics such as coping with crises, liquidity management and adaptive leadership, were all developed to help tourism SMEs to gain the knowledge and management competencies to navigate their company through Covid, and other crises, and to become more crisis-resilient in the future.

PEAK - New Heights for Youth Entrepreneurship

PEAK is a mountain entrepreneurship programme for youth which empowers participative and decisive action towards the rejuvenation of mountain economies and sustainable mountain development.  It has the following objectives:

• Unlock the economic potential of youth entrepreneurship and new economic niches (such as offering tours or selling added value regional products)
• Combat and reverse depopulation by attracting young people to stay, move to – or move back to – mountain areas and become entrepreneurs
• Empower youth through entrepreneurship to be equal partners and torchbearers in creating and implementing goals toward environmental sustainability

The main results of PEAK will be open educational resources for non-formal youth education and a multilingual, interactive VLE platform to enable remote and distance learning and foster peer connections and collaboration among PEAK entrepreneurs across Europe.

The project, starting in May 2021, will last for 24 months and has the following partners:

• The Centre for Recreation and Tourism Research, University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland (lead partner)
• The National Technical University of Athens, Greece
• FAS, Iceland (high school)
• Momentum Marketing Services, Ireland (SME)
• Canice Consulting, Northern Ireland (SME)
• Meridaunia Local Action Group, Italy (NGO)

SCITOUR

Sustainable development, rural development, scientific tourism, digital interpretation, education

The SCITOUR (scientific tourism) project created the ‘Wonder Seekers’ marketing brand for small tourism companies offering experiences that combine travel and immersion in the outdoors with hands-on learning and sharing knowledge in an accessible way.   In collaboration with institutions in other Arctic and peri-Arctic countries Finland, Iceland, and Greenland, the centre helped businesses exploit new sustainable tourism opportunities, create new products and to market themselves in new and engaging ways.

CRTR staff and the Centre for Mountain Studies at Perth College UHI collaborated with tour guides and other experience providers in Scotland. The centre worked with web developers and a marketing agency to develop Wonder Seekers branding, a new and bespoke website, and coordinate a transnational marketing campaign. 

​SCITOUR was part-funded by the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic programme of the European Union.

StoryTagging

Sustainable development, rural development, cultural heritage, digital interpretation

The StoryTagging project involved gathering heritage stories from across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and then recruiting locally based artists and musicians to produce a new showpiece inspired by one of the stories. These were promoted on a bespoke website under the brand name Northword. The showpieces included paintings, textiles, soundscapes, a podcast, and more. This activity was aimed at enhancing the profile of creatives based in remote areas, developing a digital skills hub with useful resources, and providing a case study of how stories can be used to create a sense of place, enhance a brand and sell a product. ​

CRTR staff worked with project partners at RGU Orkney and in Northern Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Russia. We oversaw the gathering of stories form the west coast and islands of Scotland, worked closely with the creatives as they developed their showpieces, organised a series of showcase events, and oversaw the communications work of the project. 

StoryTagging was part-funded by the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic programme of the European Union.

Ethical Tourism Recovery in Arctic Communities (ETRAC)

ETRAC was a one-year project led by Karelia University of Applied Sciences and with a further Finnish partner in the University of Lapland. The 2021-22 project was co-financed by the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme.  The approach was to draw upon the collective experience of the lead partners from four previous NPA projects - ARCTISEN, W-POWER, SHAPE and SAINT - to share new approaches to tourism in Arctic and peri-Arctic areas with an expanded network of end-users through a dynamic new web platform.

The aim was to support short-term business recovery from the pandemic while exploring options for a more culturally and locally sensitive tourism future.  To achieve that the partners worked with local SMEs, communities, DMOs and other stakeholders to enable them to consider aspects such as diversifying the business, working collaboratively, acquiring new skills or creating new digital tourism streams.

Atlantic Cluster for Technological and Economic Innovation in the Marine-Leisure Industry (CAPITEN)

Sustainable development, rural development, marine tourism, community engagement

CAPITEN was a European collaborative project aimed at promoting marine tourism across five partner countries. CRTR staff managed the initiative in Scotland, undertaking several projects: 

• Helping to coordinate an inventory of visitor facilities at over 300 coastal sites across the west coast of Scotland
• Working with web developers and tourism and design consultants to develop MaraMap, an interactive tourist map of the west coast of Scotland highlighting local facilities and cultural and natural heritage sites
• Supporting the creation of the Lochaber Snorkel Trail
• Drawing on our specialism in Slow Adventure to develop new tourism experience products in Scotland and Galicia
• Supporting a program teaching School of Adventure Studies students how to become snorkel instructors
• Supporting a program teaching local primary school children how to snorkel, and coordinating  a ‘Baton Relay’ across the west coast of Scotland to celebrate Scotland’s Year of Coast and Waters- both sadly abandoned due to Covid-19 restrictions 

CAPITEN was part-funded by the Interreg Atlantic Area programme of the European Union.

PrEseRvIng and sustainably governing Cultural heritage and Landscapes in European coastal and maritime regions (PERICLES)

PERICLES was a Horizon 2020 project with a consortium with a core of ten research institutes in Denmark (lead partner), France, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Greece, Estonia and Portugal. It developed resources that help to:

• Develop an in-depth understanding of the societal importance of the cultural heritage of marine and coastal landscapes.
• Provide a comprehensive and participatory framework for the sustainable management of these coastal landscapes.
• Document and assess risks and mitigation of threats to cultural heritage.
• Provide policy advice to improve the integration of cultural heritage in environmental instruments.

Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme ‘Slow Adventure’ Project

Slow Adventure in Northern Territories (SAINT) was the centre’s flagship project from 2015-18.  It brought together 11 partners in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Finland and Northern Ireland in a €1.7 million, trans-national project whose overall objective was to help SMEs to develop collaborative tourism products or packages and extend their market reach to new consumer groups.

A new company was spun out of the project, Slow Adventure Ltd, which today packages and sells a range of slow adventures in Scotland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Italy.