What are the social and economic opportunities of the Cairngorms?

Answer 1

The main social opportunity in the Cairngorms is tourism; however, it is also an economic factor, as it brings in money for the local area. An average of 1.2 million people visit the Cairngorms each year; an average of £240 million is brought in by tourism each year. Typical tourist activities involve skiing or Snowboarding in Corrie Cas, fishing in Loch Morlich, rock-climbing at Lurcher's Crag, camping in the Muir of Alvy or sightseeing in Lochan Eilan Castle. The skiing alone brings in £149 million per year. As a result of this, there are 4000 jobs - employing local and non-local people - in the skiing industry alone. About 61% of those visiting the Cairngorms come from outside of Scotland.

All this has greatly affected the local villagers from Aviemore, and has greatly impacted upon their lives. For instance, many tourists are purchasing holiday homes in Aviemore; this drives up the prices of houses there, leading to conflict between holidaymakers who buy the properties, and local residents who then become unable to purchase these properties as a result. Also, the tourism creates many other jobs, such as hotel staff, workers in restaurants or bar employees ; 37% of Aviemore's population are employed in such vocations. The economic side of tourism has led to the expansion of the Aviemore village - the current population of Aviemore is around 2700.

This has all contributed toward an increasingly efficient infrastructure: examples include Aviemore train station and the A9 bypass, both of which were brought about to ease tourist access, therefore allowing extra passing trade into Aviemore.

The main economic opportunities in the Cairngorms are quarrying, farming, hydroelectric power schemes and reservoirs.

There is a quarry at Kincraig, extracting minerals such as bauxite and iron ore in what is known as primary industry.

Farming in the Cairngorms - e.g. Guislich Farm - would be mainly hill-sheep farming (due to the land's relief); also, sheep require a lot of grazing land, and vast areas are available.

Hydroelectric power (HEP) uses the motive power of water in streams to generate and store a renewable, cheap, non-polluting source of energy.

In the high land of the Cairngorms, a lot of rainfall is received, making the area ideal for reservoirs; an example of this is the area surrounding Loch Einich, which is already an ample store of water.