Press release -
All things white and beautiful
As the much-loved Scottish Snowdrop Festival returns from 31 January to 15 March, visitors this year can do more than admire these stunning flowers.
At Cringletie House, near Peebles, visitors have the unusual opportunity to actually taste specially created snowdrop scones, while visitors to Cambo Estate, near St Andrews, can explore enchanted illuminated woodland at Snowdrops by Starlight.
In order to make the most of the festival, VisitScotland is embarking on a wide range of marketing activity to help create awareness of the Festival and gardens that are involved.
Activity includes press advertising, posters in VisitScotland Information Centres and inspiring direct mail packs. Online, the Festival will be given wide support on VisitScotland’s social media channels, including a specially-created blog, ezines and digital banners on visitscotland.com.
Furthermore, for the month of February, a snowdrops prize draw, offering the chance to win a brilliant break for two in Fife, will feature on the back of Edinburgh Tram tickets – with an estimated reach of around 200,000 people.
VisitScotland research has found that in 2013, a total of 508,000 British holidaymakers visited a Scottish park or garden as part of their trip, with a further 32,000 coming to Scotland with the express purpose of sampling the country’s horticultural delights.
Those who enjoyed a stroll through Scotland’s gardens spent £176 million during their holiday, with over 65s comprising nearly a quarter (24%) of those people who visit a park or garden as part of their trip.
The Snowdrop Festival, now in its ninth year, is the perfect event to remind people of the beauty of Scotland in the winter months and is a welcome boost for gardens, woodlands and the surrounding tourism businesses as the industry goes through its traditionally quieter months.
Over 60 properties will offer beautiful displays of snowdrops in stunning natural settings. The collections are set among outdoor sculptures, ancient trees and abbeys, spectacular waterfalls and woodland walks.
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland said:
“The Scottish Snowdrop festival is great to kick off the new year, inspiring visitors to come and experience the breathtaking beauty of Scotland outside of the traditional peak holiday season.
“With over 60 properties taking part, the Festival has grown tremendously over the years and offers a fantastic opportunity to enjoy one of the natural highlights of the spring calendar.
“From admiring snowdrops at starlight to celebrating the Year of Food and Drink with a snowdrop scone, this is the perfect opportunity to get out there and visit the beautiful gardens across Scotland that are right on our doorstep.”
For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/scottishsnowdropfestival
For further information contact:
Jack Gorman
Corporate Press Officer
Tel: 0131 472 2283
jack.gorman@visitscotland.com
Out of hours media enquiries: 07699 766986
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- uk & ireland marketing
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- 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 has three key roles:
- To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
- To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
- To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
- 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.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- 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 tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Food and Drink 2015
- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/foodanddrink
