Aviemore

Aviemore

Aviemore, Rothiemurchus & Glenmore together make up a community of approximately 3000 people and are demographically considered to be the ‘youngest’ community in the Cairngorms National Park, with residents aged under 40 making up over 50% of the total residential population. Most of the inhabitants live in Aviemore village which has grown from a small railway junction in the 19th century to an internationally recognised ski resort, which now also offers an increasingly large number and variety of indoor and outdoor sports and activities. With this diverse range of winter and summer activities, together with a year-round programme of festivals and events, Aviemore, Rothiemurchus & Glenmore are now ‘open’ for 52 weeks of the year.

For a population of this size, the community punches well above its weight, attracting more than 1 million visitors every year. Aviemore itself has come a long way from its early beginnings and the redevelopment of the resort since the start of the Millennium has seen both residential and visitor numbers rising significantly, with growth in both tourism and conservation activity. Aviemore, Rothiemurchus & Glenmore play a vital part in the Scottish tourist industry and the area is the economic driver for Cairngorms National Park. The area is easily accessible by air, rail and road, and, due to the wide choice of accommodation provision, plays host to an increasing number of international and high-status conferences and events throughout the year.

Principal local attractions and key employers in the community are:

• MacDonalds Aviemore Resort, which site has been providing hospitality and leisure services to locals and visitors since the 1960s.
• Strathspey Railway, part of the old Highland line to Forres which was reopened in 1973 by a railway preservation society to provide journeys by steam train.
• Cairngorm Brewery founded on the Dalfaber Industrial Estate in 2000 and exporting their craft beers around the world.
• Rothiemurchus Estate and Glenmore Forest park offer a range of activities from water sports, walking and birdwatching to fishing, canoeing and mountain biking.
• Cairngorm Mountain: ski and snowboard station with funicular railway and lifts, floodlit slopes and equipment hire.

A new primary school and community centre opened in 2012 and the new-build Aviemore Community Hospital serving the strath opened its doors to patients in September 2021.

Other notable features in the village are The Olympians Statue which was unveiled on the village green in 2007 to commemorate the disproportionate number of Olympic medal winners who came from Badenoch and Strathspey, while a gold-painted pillar box on Grampian Road commemorates the gold medal won by rower David Smith at the London Paralympics of 2012.