Creaking tourist facilities are being thrown a £6million lifeline to help ease the pressure on increasingly-popular Highland hotspots.
Nicola Sturgeon will use her party conference speech to promise a share of the cash boost to holiday honeypots such as Skye and the North Coast 500 driving route.
The first minister will say a surge in visitors blamed in part on the “Outlander effect” is a welcome boost for rural economies.
But she will try to address growing concerns that remote areas are buckling under the strain.
The money will go towards improvement projects such as parking, camping facilities, recycling points, roads and footpath access over the next two years.
A fierce debate has raged all summer after claims Skye was “full” sparked renewed calls for a tourism tax to be considered.
Ms Sturgeon is expected to say: “The boom in tourism experienced in these communities, like those on the route of the North Coast 500, is great news.
“It means more jobs and investment in hard-pressed, often rural areas.
“But it also means pressure on transport, services and facilities. We are determined to help.
“Our new £6million rural tourism fund will work with communities and local councils to support projects that enable even more people enjoy Scotland, the most beautiful country in the world.”
The new fund is expected to launch in early 2018 and will be administered by public sector partners working with councils, with input from communities and the industry to identify projects requiring support.
It was welcomed by islanders – though some said it was only enough to begin to tackle the issues.
Elgar Finlay, local development officer for The Glendale Trust, said: “There are many communities out there which are faced with major infrastructure challenges because of the increase in tourism.
“There is a very limited budget available to apply to so any sort of funding for these sort of problems is welcome.
“£6million is quite a small pot, from our point of view I’m sure we would use that up. It is a great first step.”
Councillor Ronald MacDonald, based in Portree on Skye, said: “This is very good news indeed. We as a local council here are working on a very intense strategy for tourism infrastructure and we have developed a method of prioritising the needs in the area, so that is a very welcome move forward.”
