Loch Ness Hub & Travel - Green Tourism: Gold!
Loch Ness Hub & Travel is thrilled to announce its recent accolade of achieving GOLD Green Tourism Award Status, building on its commitment to sustainability and responsible tourism. This achievement comes on the heels of the company’s previous accreditation for the Real Living Wage, showcasing its dedication to both environmental stewardship and fair labour practices. READ THE PRESS RELEASE
As a community benefit company, taking care of our people and planet is at the forefront of everything that we do. From day 1, we have promoted and help deliver slow and sustainable tourism by not only supporting all the long distance trail walkers to The Highlands, but also collaborating with our community and national partners to ensure our community is a better place to live, work and visit.
On the shores of world famous Loch Ness, we are very fortunate to live in an area of great natural beauty here in Glen Urquhart, and with Glen Affric on our doorstep, protecting these areas of natural beauty are vital for their very existance and future. At Loch Ness Hub & Travel, we are passionate about the area that we are lucky to represent and call home, so we work tirelessly to promote green tourism by encouraging and providing tools for visitors to make ethical, responsible and sustainable decisions during their visit to our community.
Below are just some of our efforts towards this:
Fully refurbished building to maximise efficiency rating, including FREE public toilets which incorporated:
- Installation of Air Source Heat Pump and new radiators
- Installation of solar panels
- Connection to RHI via Local Enery Source
- New double glazed units
- New loft insulation
- FREE Motorhome Service Point to ensure safe and appropriate disposal of toilet chemicals
- LED lighting throughout
- Battery storage and on site EV charger for our own vehicle
It is not only about the visitor information building however:
- ebike Hire to facilitate less car journeys, for visitor authentic experience, community ebike trials, staff commuting and more
- Luggage Transfers for Great Glen Way, Affric Kintail, East Highland Way and Loch Ness 360 trail users
- Developed our own walking leaflet to include heritage trails, leading to associated sign boards
- Partnered with Scottish Woodlands and Forestry Land Scotland to develop new sign posting for walking trails in our community
- Partner with Historic Environment Scotland to deliver shuttle transfers via electric vehicle
- Deliver community transport with our Electric Vehicle to local Primary Schools, (including school meals), Childcare Centre, local sports clubs
- Partner with Scottish Water to host a top up tap scheme, also partnering our local DMO, Visit Inverness Loch Ness on their top up tap scheme
- Promoting responsible tourism via the Scottish countryside code
- Providing authentic tours in our Glen, e.g. our, Heritage Trail Walks, Self Guided eBike Trails and our Croft and Highland Coo Tour
Visit Green Tourism – Promoting sustainable business tourism | Green Tourism – Green Tourism (green-tourism.com) - Case study – Local Energy Scotland – Loch Ness Hub – Local Energy Scotland
- Case Study – Highlands and Islands Enterprise – Loch Ness Hub | Highlands and Islands Enterprise | HIE
