CairnGorm Mountain retains gold status in Green Tourism Awards

For the 8th year running the visitor attraction at CairnGorm Mountain has been awarded the highest status – Gold – in the Green Tourism Scheme administered by Visit Scotland.
 
The Green Tourism Business Scheme, has been running since 1997 and with over 2000 members across the whole of the UK and Ireland, it is the largest and most established scheme of its type in the World. In Scotland the GTBS was developed in partnership with VisitScotland and it is recognized by UK national government as a crucial part of its drive towards sustainability.

Of note to climbers and mountain trekkers is the “Snow White” project which provides bags and carrying pots as (well as a disposal facility on their return to the car park) for climbers who go snowholing in the winter. This is in order that there is not an unpleasant legacy for summer climbers. The pictures (below and right) show Coire Domhain, a popular site for snow holing and it is in these patches that the main pressure exists and where the snow white project improves the cleanliness.

Cairngorm Mountain substantially consolidated its GTBS GOLD award with highlights from the audit including praise for its UV treated water, ecological waste water treatment, excellent mountain interpretation, good visitor recycling facilities, local crafts and the use of recycled paper. Of particular note were the continued development and promotion of the Snow White project, habitat development and preservation and their ‘leave no trace’ practices. The assessors noted that considerable efforts had been made to make the business more sustainable with ongoing projects to improve facilities and a very good working action plan related to all things sustainable which they are continuing to develop and update.

Commenting on the attraction’s increased score of 85% in the assessment CairnGorm Mountain Green Tourism Co-ordinator Dougie Somerville said:

“We are delighted to have retained our gold award in this scheme and to have increased our score to 85%. Helen Wink and the rest of the team must be congratulated on their efforts to ensure that the standard we have reached has been maintained for another year in the face of ever tougher criteria. Staff at CairnGorm are committed to contributing to making our operations more sustainable while delivering a high quality service and we appreciate this being recognised by this award.”

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