Tourism and population change: Long‐term impacts of tourism in the Badenoch and Strathspey district of the Scottish highlands

Long‐term effects of tourism development on the magnitude and characteristics of the host population are examined. The case study focuses on the period from 1961 through 1981 in the Badenoch and Strathspey District of the Scottish Highlands. During this period tourism became the primary employer and economic mainstay of the district, resulting in substantial in‐migration and a consequent reversal of population decline. Changes in the population's structure and sub‐areal distribution, and the mechanisms by which the changes occurred are analysed. It is concluded that tourism has been a useful tool in achieving population‐related aims of regional development in the Highlands, but it has not been an ideal mechanism for creating population stability.