BRITISH visitors to Scotland's national parks contributed almost a quarter of a billion pounds to the economy last year.
More than a million people from the UK who turned their backs on foreign beaches to holiday at home made a trip to either the Cairngorms or the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Parks.
New figures released by Visitscotland, the national tourist agency, show that collectively they spent £243m during 2012, an increase of 25% in spending on the previous year.
The Scottish National Parks Sector Review 2012 said that the Cairngorms park attracted 570,000 UK visitors while 482,000 spent time in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs park.
The report also found that of foreign visitors, Loch Lomond welcomed the most Germans while the Cairngorms was most popular with Americans.
Mike Cantlay, chairman of VisitScotland and former convener of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, said: "Our two national parks play a vital role in the Scottish tourism economy, and our domestic visitors contribute hugely to this.
"This year's celebrations for the Year of Natural Scotland have provided a fantastic opportunity to promote these treasured idylls, and we hope that these tremendous figures will grow even further."
Fiona Logan, chief executive of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park said: "We are committed to providing a high- quality visitor experience for the millions of people who come and enjoy the rich and diverse landscape Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park has to offer.
"We have worked hard to raise the quality of the national park as a destination and have invested in visitor infrastructure such as piers and pontoons, water-bus services and our national park ranger service. These latest visitor figures are credit not only to the stunning natural beauty of our national parks but also the quality service provided by our tourism businesses."
Grant Moir, chief executive of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, added: "The Cairngorms National Park is an outstanding holiday destination with fantastic scenery, an abundance of wildlife and great facilities available all year round. Whether it's action and adventure or peace and tranquillity that people are looking for, it's all here.
"Scotland's national parks are very young compared to others in the UK and across the globe – the Cairngorms National Park celebrates its 10th birthday this year, a mere youngster – yet it is making a significant contribution to the Scottish economy.
"It has certainly proved a very popular destination with the rise of the 'staycation' in recent years – and with the weather we've had recently, why go anywhere else?"
Aprtil 21 this year was the first-ever John Muir Day, which celebrated 175th anniversary of the birth of Scottish-born explorer and "father of national parks".
As part of the Homecoming 2014 celebrations there will be further events surrounding his life and legacy, including the opening of the new 100-mile John Muir Coast-to-Coast Trail.
To celebrate National Parks Week, which runs until Sunday, and the Year of Natural Scotland, VisitScotland is supporting the Get Active event at Loch Lomond Shores of Friday and Cairngorms Bike Festival on Sunday.
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