A Royal Welcome for VisitScotland’s Expo

Notes to Editors

The Royal Yacht Britannia

An unforgettable attraction for visitors, as well as a prestigious evening events venue, Britannia is regarded as one of Edinburgh’s ‘must-see’ destinations. Britannia was home to Her Majesty The Queen and the Royal Family for over 40 years, sailing over one million miles around the world.

Following The Yacht’s decommissioning in 1997, Britannia is now berthed in Edinburgh, where visitors can follow in the footsteps of Royalty to discover the heart and soul of this most special of Royal residences.

The Royal Yacht Britannia has played host to some of the most influential people in the world, including Sir Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and Nelson Mandela.

2015 was an impressive year for the five-star attraction, with over 300,000 visitors (308,906 ) coming aboard, the busiest since their opening year and Britannia has officially been named Scotland’s Best Visitor Attraction for ten years’ running (VisitScotland), with a quality assurance score of 96%.

Providing the highest standards of customer experience to every visitor, regardless of age or ability, is at the heart of Britannia’s success, and recent developments have included the audio guide being available in British Sign Language, Braille and 27 languages, making it the most translated tour in the world.

With over 10,000 reviews, The Royal Yacht has held its position among TripAdvisor’s top 3 UK Landmark Attractions for two years’ running, actually taking the No.1 spot in 2014. The award-winning attraction has also received TripAdvisor’s Award for Excellence r 4 years in a row.

The Royal Yacht Britannia is owned by a charitable trust (SC028070) and all surplus funds are reinvested in protecting her for future generations. The Trust’s responsibility is to maintain and preserve Britannia in keeping with her former role and to display her to the public as a key part of British maritime history. The Trust is a wholly self-funding, not-for-profit, charitable organisation. Britannia is the official headquarters of the Association of Royal Yachtsmen.

The Royal Edinburgh Ticket

The Royal Edinburgh Ticket, is the best way to explore the Royal splendours of Scotland's capital.  Providing unlimited travel on board Edinburgh Bus Tours’ four+ city tours, fast track admission to Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Yacht Britannia and Palace of Holyroodhouse.  Saving over 20%.

Sales of The Royal Edinburgh Ticket have grown by 30% in 2015 from the previous year.

Mercat Tours

Mercat Tours is an award-winning walking tour company operating scheduled history and ghost tours of Edinburgh, including, exclusively, the Blair Street Underground Vaults.  Mercat Tours is a family business and original 5 star walking tour company in Scotland, operating since 1985.  Diversifying into bespoke group tours, coach guides, city tours and costumed interpretation new brand ‘Mercat Presents…’ launched in 2013.  Outbound educational tours to WWI & WWII battlefields of Europe are operated by Mercat Tours International.

For further information contact:

Jean Burke, Marketing Manager, Mercat Tours,jean@mercattours.com 0131 225 5445.

• Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
• VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
• The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
• This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
  1. Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland       to visit different parts of the country
  2. Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
  3. Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international       opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One       Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
  4. Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
  5. Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
  6. Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
  7. Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
• VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
• The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
• Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP.
• The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
• For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
• Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
• For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
• For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com

  
  Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016

• 2016 will shine a spotlight on Scotland’s achievements in innovation, architecture and design through a wide-ranging, variety of new and existing activity.
• The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design begins on 1 January 2016 and ends on 31 December 2016 and will build on the momentum generated by the current 2015 Year of Food and Drink as well as previous years including Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
• Through a series of exciting events and activity, the year will showcase Scotland’s position as an “innovation nation”, its outstanding built heritage, and its thriving, internationally acclaimed creative industries sector.
• The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, Architecture + Design Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).
• The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
• Join the conversation at #IAD2016
• Events can join the 2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design Partner Programme throughout the year by visiting http://www.eventscotland.org/YIAD_partner_programme