Press release -
Calling all muggles!
A scarf worn by Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has become a bestselling success in VisitScotland iCentres across the country.
Originally only stocked in the St Andrews iCentre in Fife, the national tourism organisation is now selling the famous Fair Isle scarf in centres across the country to keep up with demand from visiting Potter fans.
Now visitors and locals will get the chance to ‘meet the maker’ of the famous scarf, and other local suppliers, as the national tourism organisation launches its new retail initiative, Shop Local, at the St Andrews VisitScotland iCentre on Thursday 25 May 2017.
Produced by Kirkcaldy based Alan Santry, the scarf will be showcased alongside other Shop Local suppliers at an open afternoon including Wemyss Ware, Your Piece/Fife Jamming and Scottish Fine Soaps.
Other local businesses in the area, including Fisher and Donaldson, St. Andrews Brewing Company and Eden Mill, will also be in attendance to give visitors to the centre a taste of Fife’s amazing food and drink.
Initially launched as a pilot in 2016, Shop Local is now being rolled out across the country, offering the opportunity for communities, local businesses, craft makers, artists, designers and others to promote and sell their products to visitors via the VisitScotland iCentre network.
Alan Santry was one of the first suppliers on board during the pilot phase. Based in Fife, Alan’s range was initially only stocked in St Andrews, but is now countrywide due to its popularity with the scarf worn by Hermione accounting for 50% of Alan’s sales. Feedback from the recent VisitScotland survey suggests that Film Tourism was one of the key factors in influencing international visitors to visit Scotland.
First published 20 years ago next month (June 2017), Harry Potter has a number of connections to Scotland. Not only does author JK Rowling live in Edinburgh, where she wrote the original books, but Scotland features prominently in one of the biggest movie franchises of all time. Among the hugely popular set-jetting locations featured in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), are the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which is seen carrying the Hogwarts Express, Loch Shiel, which doubles for the Black Lake, and Glen Coe, the site of Hagrid’s hut.
Lynn Jack, Head of Information and Quality at VisitScotland said:
“Shop Local has been developed to provide a unique sales channel for small businesses producing ‘Made in Scotland’ products, offering visitors the chance to take an authentic, locally produced, piece of Scotland home with them.
“The iCentre in St Andrews has seen great growth in recent times thanks, in part, to some of the amazing Shop Local suppliers on show such as Alan Santry’s popular scarf. We hope to be able to replicate this success across the country, providing unique and exclusive local products to showcase talent and businesses across every single region.”
Alan Santry said:
“VisitScotland’s Shop Local has been excellent for me and my business, giving excellent exposure in a fantastic location. Born in St Andrews, it gives me great pride to sell our goods not only in my home town, but Scotland wide. We use traditional methods and the finest lambswool yarns to create unique hats, scarves, gloves and more!”
To find out more about the VisitScotland Shop Local launch day, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/visitscotland-shop-local-launch-registration-33818210177
Image credits:
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) with Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), who is seen wearing the scarf designed by Alan Santry, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by Warner Bros. Credit: Sputnik/Topfoto. NOTE: If you would like to publish this photograph, please email requests@topfoto.co.uk for licence information or, if your publication has an account, you can download it from www.topfoto.co.uk
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- shop local
- retail
- harry potter
- st andrews
- fife
- scotland
- film tourism
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’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:
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- 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
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- To ensure everyone can safely enjoy Scotland’s amazing countryside and landscapes, VisitScotland encourages all visitors to fully respect their surroundings by behaving in a responsible and appropriate way.
- 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
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- 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) 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
- 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017
