| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 15/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 53 |
| Copyright: Other |
Scottish Tourist Board reports dip in visits to attractions
Scotland’s paid-for visitor attractions saw a slight drop in business last year compared to 1998, according to the Scottish Tourist Board’s annual survey.The survey found that 734 Scottish venues attracted a total of 38,649,635 visits last year, compared to 39,071,578 in 1998, a drop of 1%.
Nine out of the 14 area tourist boards saw a decline in visitors, with Ayrshire and Arran and Perthshire seeing the greatest drop in business – of 8%. Edinburgh and Lothians, Shetland, the Scottish Borders and the Kingdom of Fife all saw an increase last year over 1998.
The STB’s head of research Brian Hay said: “Some areas have done better than others and one of the things that came across time and time again in successful visitor attractions was that they had consistently invested in marketing and aimed at improving quality.”
Castles were the most visited paid-for attraction with almost 3.5 m visits, while interpretation and visitor centres had 3m and museums and art galleries 1.5m.
Edinburgh Castle retained its position as Scotland’s top tourist attraction, followed by the Royal Museum and Edinburgh Zoo. All three achieved over half a million visitors last year.
Four new attractions, Dynamic Earth, the Royal Yacht Britannia, the Royal Museum and the Museum of Scotland, entered the top 10. The latter leapt from 424,320 visits in 1998 to 759,579 last year.