Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF)

What it is

The 2026–27 round has closed. This is not a direct business grant: only Local Authorities and National Park Authorities apply, sometimes with community partners. Businesses can benefit by getting their council to adopt a project for visitor infrastructure in rural Scotland under visitor pressure.

⚠️ no cash headline by design — not a direct business grant (councils and National Park Authorities apply; a business benefits by getting its authority to adopt a project). Verified 2026-08-21 on visitscotland.org RTIF page: 'RTIF is currently open for applications until Wednesday 2 September 2026 (12pm)' - a status CHANGE from prior records (between rounds as of 27 July 2026). 'Application guidance documents are available from the Local and National Park Authorities or by contacting the RTIF team' (RTIF@visitscotland.com); gov.scot round announcements confirm applicants are 'local authorities and National Park Authorities... or in partnership with their communities'. £24.5m awarded to 86 projects across seven prior rounds; listed awards ranged from ~£52,050 to £750,000 per project, but NO per-project minimum/maximum or intervention rate is published for the 2026-27 round, so no value range is claimed and capture is set to £0 - a private business cannot capture this money directly. Does not fund revenue activity (rangers, marketing, maintenance). The sector rule targets tourism-adjacent businesses for awareness; actual applicant eligibility (public bodies only) is not expressible in engine fields.