Tough decisions needed to deliver secure future for Cairngorm Mountain
HIE still working towards new masterplan for the long term future of Cairngorm Mountain
The future of Cairngorm Mountain will have to involve a year-round offering to attract visitors.
A report by Audit Scotland says the attraction faces an uncertain future, given the challenges ahead.
Repairing the funicular railway could cost up to £15 million pounds.
The Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) are being asked to put Badenoch & Strathspey communities at the centre resort's future, while HIE should consider previous issues when looking at new operators.
The UK's highest railway has been closed since September 2018 due to structural problems, but back in 2014, HIE awarded Natural Assets Investments Limited a 25-year lease to run the resort and funicular.
However by late-2018, Natural Retreats' subsidiary Cairngorm Mountain Ltd (CML) had collapsed.
The Audit Scotland report said HIE carried out "due diligence and used financial guarantees to protect its position"
HIE said it was now focused on finalising a full business case to determine the next steps to deal with the funicular.
Highland MSP Edward Mountain has called on the Cabinet Secretary Tourism to address what he calls the "serious failings" at Cairngorm Mountain.
"The Auditor General’s report has made it clear that the current business model for the mountain doesn’t work"
"As the report stated, HIE have had to step in twice in ten years and it also appears the public agency did not understand its own lease with Cairngorm Mountain Limited"
"If this level of incompetence took place in private practice then it would lead to questions of professional misconduct"
"Serious remedies are now needed and Fergus Ewing must take action as soon as possible.”