A TRAVEL expert has labelled Scotland’s iconic NC500 route as a “motorhome traffic jam” ahead of the summer season.
The 516-mile route, dubbed Scotland’s Route 66, is one of the most popular destinations although has been plagued by a number of issues.
We previously told how a councillor in the Scottish Highlands was left fuming with a large number of campervans disrupting locals.
READ MORE: Scottish restaurant on NC500 in appeal for ‘dine and dash’ tourists
Speaking to the BBC, travel journalist Simon Calder spoke about the issues of bad visitors on the route.
He gave advice on how to be a good visitor and said: “Make sure you are engaging with the local community so that means ideally in BnBs run by real people rather than a big California corporation.
“It means shopping in all the local shops, enjoying the local pubs and so on. All the things that most people want to do in Scotland as a tourist, except of course, I will mention NC500.
“An amazing tourism marketing device but is now a motorhome traffic jam because people are just stocking up at the nearest big supermarket and then that’s it.
“They are not spending money or engaging with the local community, they are just causing a lot of problems.
“A lot of local people say, ‘stay with the locals rather than a month them by parking your campervan’.”
We also told last month how Highland Council banned caravans from staying overnight at Rogie Falls, a popular walking spot around 20 miles west of Inverness.
Highland residents were also left angry after discovering freshly cut tree stumps on the route which appeared to have been used for firewood.
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