Homecoming Scotland has been blamed for plummeting visitor numbers in Perth and Kinross.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games and the plethora of city centre events held in Perth have also become scapegoats for reduced footfall at the region’s cultural attractions and leisure facilities.
It was hoped Scotland’s tourism will benefit in the long-term from each but in the short-term it appears they have captured the imagination of visitors and residents to the detriment of local services.
The latest council figures reveal it has been a poor summer for museums, libraries, gyms and leisure facilities all have been blighted by diminishing footfall.
An official report into the matter states: “The number of local and national events as part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and Homecoming Year and the number of other city centre events in 2014 may be a factor.”
It continues a worrying trend for the local authority, which has seen user numbers fall year-on-year for some time.
Senior staff believe it is too early to be concerned by the figures but the council is nonetheless already working to arrest the decline.
In a bid to explain the downturn, it has appeared to place some of the blame upon swingeing cuts it approved in April as part of a review of cultural and library services.
They saw opening hours slashed with Monday closures introduced and the chopping of a popular city centre library as the council manoeuvred to make savings of £280,000.
Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Liz Smith described the reduction in the number of people visiting and using council services as “concerning”.
She said: “It is vital that we invest in making our local visitor attractions more accessible and open to the public and showcase the rich culture and heritage that we have right under our noses in Perthshire and Kinross-shire.”
The figures contained within a report to the council’s lifelong learning committee are not wholly without cheer as online visits to library services have also more than doubled over the last year, from 24,766 to 59,522, with thousands of borrowers downloading books and magazines.
Another area in which there has been success has been in the monetisation of services, with visitor spend, whether through retail sales or donations, up by 42%.
They do, however, lay bare the difficulties faced by services as they bid to boost their user and visitor numbers, whether by attracting locals or visitors.
The figures show that in the year to August, there were 31,698 visitors to council funded or part-funded museums and galleries.
That compares with 47,751 visitors between the key April to August period in 2013 and is half the number set as a target by the council.
The number of visitors per 1,000 population was at a high of 762 in 2012-13, dropping to 486 in 2013-14 and just 214 in the year 2014-15 to date.
The report notes “museums and galleries no longer open on Mondays and so comparison with the previous year is not on a like for like basis”.
Meanwhile, the number of active borrowers at the region’s libraries has fallen marginally, with figures for sports and active recreation even less rosy, with increased competition, the enforced closure of the pool at Breadalbane and fine weather seeing people head outside all contributing factors.
The council’s service manager for cultural services, Helen Smout, said the local authority was looking at “the difficult and complex reasons why people have stayed away from services” and promised more would be done to attract visitors to museums and other attractions.
A council spokeswoman said: “A comprehensive review of our library service was carried out in 2013 and over the course of 2014 some changes to services have been made in light of the review findings.
“In the first two quarters of 2014-15 there has been a reduction in the number of people visiting library buildingsbut in our view it is too early to draw any conclusions from user numbers.”
The spokeswoman highlighted investment in mobile library services reaching many more rural schools and residential care homes and the growing usage of online library services.